ir way through to the ships and put
to sea. Their attacks on Tangier had been repulsed with heavy losses, he
told them, and if the enterprise was ever to be carried through they
must first seek reinforcements.

The men agreed with him, and prepared to sell their lives dearly.
Silently at the appointed time they crept up to the Moorish tents,
beyond which lay safety and the great galleons. But the chaplain,
unluckily, had been before them. As soon as darkness fell he had
deserted to the enemy, and the sight of the large force drawn up in
order of battle was the first sign of warning to the Christians that
they had been betrayed.

Even Enrique felt that in the face of such numbers fighting was useless,
but he placed his men in the best position and awaited events. All the
next day the Moors made no sign, but on the following morning envoys
left the ranks and proposed terms of peace. Considering all things, they
were not hard. Ceuta must be surrendered, the Moorish captives in
Portugal be released, and the Christian camp with everything it
contained abandoned to the captors. But the infantes wished to deal
directly with the kings of Fez and Morocco, in order to make sure that
the terms offered would be loyally carried out. They were still
expecting the return of the envoys which they had sent when the Moors,
who had grown more and more impatient at the long wait so close to their
enemies, could be restrained no more and fell on the Portuguese.

* * * * *

In spite of their small numbers, the Portuguese, commanded by dom
Enrique and the bishop of Ceuta, fought so fiercely that after six hours
the Moors were beaten back. After a short rest dom Enrique ordered every
man to repair the trenches and to throw up earthworks to protect the
camp, in case of another assault. They worked hard the whole of that
night, which was Saturday, and when by sunrise on Sunday everything was
finished, the soldiers sank down exhausted where they were, and cried
for food and water. It was long in coming. Then a horrible suspicion,
which turned the men's faces white, ran, no one knew why, from end to
end of the camp. Was there _any_ food? and, worse still, any water?

They had guessed truly; they had no provisions left, and the water had
been cut off by the Moors. For two days they held out, then dom Enrique
decided to accept the terms offered him. He would give up Ceuta and the
Moorish prisoners, would abandon t