Great pleasure was theirs when they came within sight of the Ilha das Garças and saw the four caravels which were lying at rest, in whatsoever guise they were there; for it mattered not whether they formed part of their company, since they knew them to be from the kingdom of Portugal, wherefore they hoped that their assistance would supply the want of the others which they expected before. The news of this sight ran through all the caravels, as they came up one after another, and in this all received great pleasure, and especially the common people, in that they saw the captains had taken their determination to attempt the enterprise, and would not now be hindered by the non-arrival of the others, as hath been written above. And as people who did not know how to conceal their gladness, they made their instruments to sound, and raised chants, and so fell to eating and drinking as men full of good confidence of victory. And arriving at the ships that lay anchored there, they charged their bombards and culverins, and made therewith a salute in signal of the pleasure of their hearts, in the which pleasure the others who were already lying there at rest were not without their share. But all this increased twofold the sorrow of the Moors who lay, as they had been put, under the decks of the vessels, for though they could not understand the language, yet the sound of the voices right well assured them of the opposite of what they desired. I will not occupy myself in describing the embracings of our men when they all met together, forasmuch as reason itself will tell you what they must have been at such a place and time; only let us imagine that we see them leap from ship to ship, and that those who had set out from Portugal more recently, now offered to their comrades who had gone before the food of which they knew they stood in need. And so, in doing this and in taking repose at night, they spent their time until the next day, when by the order of Lançarote they went on shore, in order that all might take counsel together. And when they were assembled, he said how all could right well perceive the delay of the other caravels, and how God willed that they should meet there those three ships which some time ago had set out from the kingdom, together with one of the five,[AA] which before they hoped to meet. And he showed them that now there lacked but one of their complement of fourteen. So that while they had already resolved to attack their enemies with nine ships, they could the more readily do so with thirteen, but that they should consider if it were well to depart straightway, or to wait some little time longer. [Footnote AA: _I.e._, the ship of Laurence Diaz.]