It may well be imagined that Albuquerque was not sorry to go to the rescue of the Portuguese prisoners. He would have postponed this duty in order to obey the king's express commands; but now that the winds forbade him to sail East, he determined to sail West. He started with eighteen ships, carrying 1400 men; and though he lost one galley at sea, he arrived safely at the port of Pedir in the island of Sumatra in May 1511 with the rest of his fleet. At that place he found nine of the Portuguese prisoners, who had escaped from Malacca, and he then made his way slowly to the great city, which was said to contain a population of over 100,000 inhabitants. For weeks negotiations went on with the Sultan of Malacca. The main point at issue was the surrender of Ruy de Araujo and his fellow-prisoners. Albuquerque declared he would make no treaty with the Sultan until the prisoners were delivered, and the {100} Sultan on his part was resolved not to give them up until a treaty of peace had been signed. Under these circumstances Albuquerque wrote to the Factor, telling him that he and his companions must bear their hardships with patience. Ruy de Araujo replied in terms which show the gallant spirit of the Portuguese at that period. 'God grant,' he said, 'that neither the fleet of the King of Portugal, nor his Portuguese should receive any affront or discomfiture in order to make his life secure, for he was also on his part bound to die for the service of God and his King, and for the liberty of his countrymen, and he held it to be a good fortune for him that Our Lord had placed him in a state where he could die for his Holy Faith; and as for himself and his companions, he should not fail to do what was best for the service of the King of Portugal, for they were now quite resigned to anything that could happen to them; and he would have Affonso de Albuquerque to know that the King of Malacca was making ready as fast as was possible, and that it was the Gujarátís who were at work day and night upon the fortification of the stockades, for these were the principal people who could not bear that the Portuguese should get a footing in the land; and if the Portuguese attack upon the city should be decided upon, it ought to be put into execution as quickly as could be, without wasting any more time in discussing terms of agreement or making demands for the surrender of the Christians; for he must know for certain that the King would not restore them except under compulsion; and he was now become so puffed up with pride when he surveyed the great number of foreign soldiers that he had, that he thought of nothing less than actually capturing the Portuguese fleet.'[1] [Footnote 1: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iii. pp. 92, 93.]