although we are commanded to return we are not forbidden to fight. And to fight seemeth to me to be reasonable; for we are here thirty in number, and the Moors, as you have heard, are only 170 or 180 all told, of whom fifty or sixty should be fighting men; and so, if it seem good to you, let us not delay any longer, for the day is coming on quickly enough, and, if we delay, our expedition and purpose will be of little avail indeed." All replied that his counsel was very good, and that they would go forward at once. And when all this reasoning was done, they looked towards the settlement and saw that the Moors, with their women and children, were already coming as quickly as they could out of their dwellings, because they had caught sight of their enemies. But they, shouting out "St. James", "St. George", "Portugal", at once attacked them, killing and taking all they could. Then might you see mothers forsaking their children, and husbands their wives, each striving to escape as best he could. Some drowned themselves in the water; others thought to escape by hiding under their huts; others stowed their children among the sea-weed, where our men found them afterwards, hoping they would thus escape notice. And at last our Lord God, who giveth a reward for every good deed, willed that for the toil they had undergone in his service, they should that day obtain victory over their enemies, as well as a guerdon and a payment for all their labour and expense; for they took captive of those Moors, what with men, women, and children, 165, besides those that perished and were killed. And when the battle was over, all praised God for the great mercy that he had shewn them, in that he had willed to give them such a victory, and with so little damage to themselves. And as soon as they had their captives put safely in their boats, and others securely tied on land (because the boats were small and they were not able to store so many in them at once), they sent a man to go as far as possible along the shore, to see if he could get sight of the caravels. He set out at once; and one full league from the place where the others were staying, he had sight of the caravels coming; for Lançarote, as he had promised, had started as soon as it was dawn. Now the scout put a white ensign on his pike, and began to make signs to the caravels with it, and they as soon as they espied him, directed their course to that part where they saw the signal. And on their way they lighted on a channel through which the boats could easily go to the island, and forthwith they launched a small boat they had, and pulled to land to hear the news, which was told them every whit by the fellow who there awaited them. And he said also that they ought to land and help them to bring off to the caravels those captives who remained on shore under guard of seven men, who were staying with them on the island. For the other boats were already coming along the shore with the other Moors