In the morning of the 5th, the enemy had gained very little way upon us. We spent this day, as before, in riding or sailing, as the tide answered. This night the viceroy gained much ground upon us, and by this time we had got a good way from the coast, and had advanced well to the southwards, so that I was now satisfied the Portuguese forces could not this year give any annoyance to Surat. I considered that my purposes in these parts, both by the authority of my king, and to fulfil the designs of my employers, were, in merchant ships, fitted indeed for defence, to seek honest commerce, without striving to injure any; wherefore I held it fit for me to proceed soberly and discreetly, neither basely to flee from the enemy, nor to tempt danger by proudly seeking it, if it might be honourably avoided. The viceroy was quite differently situated. He had been sent by his master with the principal ships of all India, and all the gallants and braggarts of these parts, not only to disturb and intercept the peaceable trade of the English with the subjects of the Mogul, but to take and burn them in the harbours of that great king. The viceroy was furnished with abundance of all things the country could afford, and only wanted an upright cause. He found what he was in search of,--four poor merchant ships, having few men, many being dead, and more sick; and these bragadocios, measuring our hearts by their own, thought we could never stand against what they esteemed so superior a force; and, seeing their intent, I baited my hook, which the fish presently ran after. The Hope, being heavily laden, was in tow of the Hector, and being sternmost, three of the Portuguese ships, and thirty or forty of their frigates, as I had expected, boarded her with the flower of all their chivalry. But, by the hand of God, and to their great amazement, they received such a blow that few of them escaped, and these by extraordinary chance, and three of their ships were burnt.[130] Thus it pleased God to baffle this their first assault. Ever after, though they beleaguered us round about for many days together, with all sorts of ships, our people still in action, and sadly worn out with continual labour, even shifting goods from ship to ship in that time, yet did they never gain from us even the value of a _louse_ in all that time, except our bullets, which we most willingly gave them roundly, their fire-boats always failing, and nothing prospering in all their efforts. For many days together I sent the viceroy a defiance once every twenty-four hours, which must needs lie heavy on the stomach of so courageous a gentleman. Craving pardon for this digression, I now proceed with my narrative. [Footnote 130: I strongly suspect this to be a mere recapitulation of what happened in Swally roads, as already related, as this second attack on the Hope by the Portuguese is entirely omitted by Elkington and Dodsworth.--E.]