The general, much concerned to find the king so much changed towards him, on account of not bringing him a present and amazed at this strange demand, said that the image of the Virgin Mary of which his highness had been told, was only of wood gilt, and not of gold; and besides, as this holy image had protected him during his long perils on the sea, and had brought him so far in safety, he was unwilling to part with it. The zamorin made no reply to this, but immediately demanded that he should produce the letters from the king of Portugal. One of these was written in the Portuguese language, and the other in Arabic; and the general explained that this had been done, because the king his master did not know which of these might be understood in the dominions of his highness: And, since he now knew that Portuguese was not understood in India, whereas Arabic was, he requested that some Christian of the Indies who understood Arabic might be employed to interpret the letter, because the Moors were known to be enemies to the Christians, and he was afraid lest they might purposely give it a wrong interpretation. The king gave orders to this purpose, but no Indian could be found who was able to read the letters, or at least who would acknowledge that he could read them. Seeing that it was now necessary that it should be read by the Moors, the general requested that Bontaybo should be one of those appointed for the purpose, placing more reliance on him than the others, as he was an acquaintance. The king accordingly commanded the letter to be read by him and other three Moors; who, having first read it over to themselves, interpreted it aloud to the king, to the following effect: "As soon as it became known to the king of Portugal, that the king of Calicut was one of the mightiest kings of all the Indies and a Christian, he was anxious to establish a treaty of amity and commerce with him, that he might procure spices, which were in great abundance in his country, and to procure which the merchants of many parts of the world trade thither: And, if his highness would give a licence to send for spices, he would send many things from his kingdom which were not to be had in the dominions of his highness; or if these things were not satisfactory, of which the general could shew him some samples, he was willing to send money, both gold and silver, to purchase the spices. And finally referring his highness to the general for farther information."
On hearing this letter interpreted, and being desirous that his revenues might increase by the resort of many merchants to his dominions, the zamorin evinced his satisfaction at what he had heard; and assuming a more friendly deportment towards the general, asked him what were the articles of merchandize that could be had from Portugal. De Gama named many different kinds; particularly mentioning such as he had samples of along with him, and likewise their money, and requested permission to go on board his ships that he might bring these things to his highness, offering to leave four or five of his men in his lodgings during his absence. Giving now more credit to the general than to what had been said by the Moors to his prejudice, the king told De Gama he might go on board when he pleased, taking all his men with him, as there was no call for any of them remaining on shore. He likewise said the general might freely bring his goods on shore, and sell them to the best advantage. The general was greatly satisfied with this permission, of which he had no hopes at the first, on seeing the unfriendly reception he had met with at the commencement of his audience. He went back, therefore, to his lodging, accompanied by the kutwal; and the day being near a close, he deferred returning on board that night.
De Faria gives a somewhat different account of what passed at this second audience435. "It was wonderful that the zamorin, not knowing how to be properly assured of the truth, should rely on the faith of him who was accused by his ministers. For, as if he had really known in what detestation the Portuguese hold a lie, although to their own advantage, he sent for De Gama, and told him plainly that he had been informed his embassy was all a counterfeit, and that he was some banished man or a fugitive: Yet at the same time offered, even if it were so, to give him a kind reception, and to make him handsome appointments in his service; and promised to rely entirely on his word for information respecting the truth of the whole story. De Gama heard the king to an end with a firm countenance, and declared himself highly sensible of the confidence reposed in him. He then proceeded to answer all that had been alleged against him, which he completely overturned by irrefragable argument in a long and eloquent speech, preserving the utmost gravity and composure throughout the whole. The zamorin eyed him steadfastly the whole time, hoping to be enabled to judge of the truth or falsehood of his assertion by his countenance; and concluded, from the unconcernedness of his looks, the eloquence of his words, and the firm gravity of his whole demeanour, that no deceit could lurk under such appearances of sincerity, that the Moors had accused him maliciously, and had imposed on his ministers. He therefore frankly allowed De Gama permission to return to his ships, and to land his merchandize, if he had any: Saying, that while that was doing, he would prepare a satisfactory answer to the letter of the king of Portugal."
On the next day, being the last of May, the kutwal sent a horse to the general to carry him to Pandarane; but having no furniture, he requested to be supplied with an andor, which was sent accordingly, when De Gama immediately set out for Pandarane, all his people accompanying him on foot. The kutwal remained at Calicut, but a considerable number of nayres escorted the general on his way. When the Moors learnt that the general was gone to the ships, they went together to the kutwal, making large offers of money to him, if he would pursue the general, and detain him a prisoner under some feigned pretence; when they would take some opportunity of having him slain, in such way that the blame should not attach to the kutwal. And when he objected that the zamorin might punish him for detaining the general contrary to his orders, they engaged so to deal with the zamorin as to obtain his pardon for that offence. Induced by a large bribe, and encouraged by this promise, the kutwal followed De Gama in such haste that he soon passed our men, who lagged behind on account of the great heat. On overtaking De Gama, he asked by signs why he was in such haste, and where he was running to? The general answered in the same manner, that he was running to avoid the heat. On coming to Pandarane, as his men were not come up, the general declined going into the town till they should arrive, and went into a house to get shelter from the rain. The people did not get to the town till near sunset, having lost their way; on which the general said if it had not been for their absence he would have been by this time on board. The general immediately desired the kutwal to order him to be furnished with an almadia or pinnace, to carry him and his people on board; but the kutwal said it was now late, and the ships so far away that he might miss them in the dark, for which reason he had better stay till next day. The general then said, if he were not immediately furnished with an almadia, he would return to the king and complain that he was detained contrary to his license, and even mentioned as if he meant to return immediately to Calicut. To dissemble the more, the kutwal said he might have thirty instead of one, if he needed them, and pretended to send out to procure almadias, while at the same time he commanded the owners to hide themselves that they might not be found.
In the mean time, while messengers were dispatched on pretence to seek almadias, the general, having a strong suspicion that evil was intended towards him, walked leisurely along the water side, and sent off Gonzales Perez and two other mariners, to go on before and endeavour to find Nicholas Coello with his boats, and to caution him to keep out of the way, lest the kutwal might send off to seize his boats and men. While Perez and the others were absent on this errand, it drew far into the night; and not choosing to go off till he learnt what success Perez had met with, he at length agreed to stay all night. Having placed De Gama in the house of a Moor for the night, the kutwal pretended that he would go in search of the three mariners who were absent; but he did not return till next morning. The general then required to have an almadia to carry him and his people on board. Before answering, the kutwal spoke some words to his nayres in their own language, and then desired the general to give orders to have the ships brought near the shore oh which he should have leave to depart. On this the general became still more afraid that some treachery was intended; yet answered boldly, that he would give no such order while he remained on shore, as that would make his brother believe he was a prisoner and had issued this order under restraint, on which he would immediately depart for Portugal without him. The kutwal then threatened stoutly that he should never be allowed to go off, unless he complied with this demand. The general, in return, declared he should immediately return to Calicut if not allowed to go on board, and make a complaint of his conduct to the king. The kutwal even dared him to do this, yet took care it should not be in his power, as he had ordered the doors to be kept shut and guarded by armed nayres, to prevent any of the Portuguese from going out. Yet it was the will of God that the kutwal dared not to kill the general or any of his men, although the Moors had bribed him with a great sum of money, and notwithstanding his great credit with the zamorin. His anxiety to have the ships brought near the shore was, that the Moors might be able to board them and kill all their people; and, seeing it in this light, the general was equally determined to prevent their nearer approach. Finding he could not prevail on the general to command the ships to be brought near the shore, and having no pretence to justify either keeping him prisoner or offering him any wrong, the kutwal next endeavoured to persuade him to order the sails and rudders on shore; at which the general only laughed, saying the king had given full permission to go on board without any such conditions, and assured him the king should be fully informed of all his unjust proceedings.