ears as an officer of the
garrison. This was an excellent school for the training of an
officer, and Albuquerque there learnt not only his military duties
but his hatred for the Muhammadans. It was in the garrisons in
Morocco that the Portuguese soldiers and captains, who were to prove
their valour in the East, served their apprenticeship to war; and the
ten years which Albuquerque spent there were not years thrown away.

In 1481, when his friend John II succeeded to the throne, Affonso de
Albuquerque returned to Portugal, and was appointed to the high court
office of Estribeiro-Mor, which is equivalent to the post of Master
of the Horse or Chief Equerry. This office he held throughout the
reign of John II, and his close {46} intimacy with that wise and
great king ripened his intellect and trained him to thoughts of great
enterprises. John II was always thinking of the direct sea route to
India; Albuquerque shared his hopes, and there can be no doubt that
the grand schemes for establishing Portuguese influence in Asia which
he afterwards conceived, had their origin in his intimacy with _The
Perfect King_. He served on the fleet sent to the Gulf of Taranto to
defend King Ferdinand of Naples against an invasion of the Turks; and
in 1489 he commanded the defence of the fortress of Graciosa, on the
coast of Morocco, against an attack of the Moors.

On the death of John II, in 1495, Affonso de Albuquerque, like the
other intimates of the deceased sovereign, was looked upon coldly by
King Emmanuel. This cannot be wondered at, for John II had murdered
Emmanuel's elder brother with his own hand, and had even thought of
ousting Emmanuel himself from the throne by legitimatising his
natural son Dom Jorge. In 1495, Affonso de Albuquerque returned to
Arzila and served there for some time longer against the Moors. At
this period his younger brother Martim was killed by his side in a
foray, and the boy's death further increased Albuquerque's personal
hatred for all Muhammadans. After this catastrophe Affonso went back
to Portugal, and since King Emmanuel was now firmly fixed upon the
throne, he did not further hesitate to use the services of so
experienced an officer.

{47} In 1503 Affonso de Albuquerque was for the first time despatched
to the Indian seas, in which he was at a later date to perform his
great feats of arms. In this year he only commanded, as has been
said, a little squadron of three ships, and played a part inferi