Of how Rodrigueannes and Dinis Diaz returned to the kingdom,[BW] and of
what befell them on their voyage.
And though it be that I have already told of noble and great deeds in
this Chronicle, of a surety it is not without a cause that I add the
toil of those fourteen men to the praise of all the good, for their
merits are worthy of great honour among the living, and much more I
believe before the face of that Eternal Lord (whose centre, as
Hermes[N167] saith, is in every part in an infinite manner and whose
circumference is nowhere), for from Him shall their souls receive
glorious bliss. And to make an end of the actions of these two caravels,
I will say briefly that as soon as this fight was over, the captains
agreed to return straight to the Kingdom. But when they reached the Cape
of Tira, they both came to an accord to put on shore certain men, to see
whether they could still make any booty, though they knew for certain
that the land had been searched many times before. And so when these
were landed, to the number of fifty, they began to make their way along
the beach until they met with the footprints of men that led towards the
interior, and as the tracks appeared recent, they informed their
captains of it. And from them they received commandment to set aside
some of their number who should go forward and follow up the track until
they came upon the Moors who had made it. And as the land was very
level, the Moors caught sight of our men from a distance and began to
flee, and though the Christians ran hard after them they were never able
to follow them; but it happened that two youths of the company met with
a Moor whom they brought back with them as an evidence of their great
toil. And thence they forthwith made sail to Lisbon, where having paid
to the Infant his due, they had of him honour and reward.
[Footnote BW: Of Portugal.]