But Pacheco had succeeded in imparting something of his own spirit to his men. Undeterred by the flight of the Nairs who should have supported him, he took advantage with his usual energy of the breathing-space secured by this first victory, ordered his men to make a show of revelry at intervals during the following night in order to impress the enemy, and next day with forty men set out and burnt a village. The enemy’s attacks were repeated on Good Friday and Easter Sunday and Easter Tuesday, and in the intervals of victory Pacheco kept on burning villages, to the delight of those in Cochin. The endurance of the defenders was tested to the utmost when the King of Calicut attacked on the same day in two places, at the ford and in a deep water channel. He seems to have made a mistake in not waiting to attack with his fleet until low tide enabled the infantry simultaneously to assault the ford, or, at least, the plan did not work out well, and Pacheco was able to deal first with the numerous fleet of boats, said to have been two hundred and fifty in number. The four little Portuguese ships seemed almost lost in the multitude of the enemy. The darts and arrows, says one of the early Portuguese historians, were in such quantity that they cast a shadow over the ships, and so loud were the shouts and cries that it seemed to be the end of the world. Again and again the enemy’s boats, chained together, came on to the attack, but they never succeeded in boarding the Portuguese _caravelas_, although many of the Portuguese were wounded. Meanwhile twelve thousand infantry had advanced against the ford. Message after message came to Pacheco for help, but the tide was still running out and he contented himself with answering that he was still engaged with the fleet but that this was “not the day of the King of Calicut.” At the turn of the tide, after having dealt faithfully with the fleet of the enemy’s boats, he went; but the water was still too shallow when he approached the ford and the ships grounded. He was able, however, to work great havoc with his artillery among the many thousands of assailants, although he could not come up to fight with them at close quarters. For a long hour the low water at the ford gave every advantage to the enemy. Crowds of them surrounded the stranded ships, thousands rushed forward to attack the ford. The water was tinged with red. And still the ships refused to move. At last they floated, and as the tide rose the danger of the attack grew less and less, till at dusk it ceased entirely.