burying their flesh in the bellies of fish. But what importeth it to us if our bodies lack sepulture? since in our own flesh we shall see our Saviour, according to the determination of Holy Scripture, for it is the same thing whether we lie in the sea or the land, and whether we be eaten of fishes or of birds. Our chief concern is in those works of ours by which after our death we shall find the truth of all these matters that here we see in figure; and since we all believe and confess that the Pope is our Chief Vicar and Supreme Pontiff, through whose power we shall be able to receive absolution or condemnation, according to the authority of the Gospel, we are as true Catholics bound to believe that those whom he shall absolve, if they fulfil the conditions of his decree, will be placed in the company of the saints. Therefore we can say with justice to these men: "Beati mortui qui in Domino moriuntur." And moreover, all who read this history will obtain a reward from God, if they make a memorial of the death of these men in their prayers, for inasmuch as they died in the service of God and their lord, their death is happy. Now this youth whom I have mentioned was that same Airas Tinoco of whom I spoke above, and in him God put such grace that for two months together he directed the course of that ship; but all were doubtful what their end would be, for in all those two months they never caught sight of land. And at the end of this time they sighted a pinnace which was on warlike business, and they had great fear at the sight, for they thought it belonged to Moors; but after they found it pertained to a Galician pirate whose name was Pero Falcom, a new joy came upon them, and much more so when they were told that they were off the coast of Portugal, opposite a place belonging to the Master-ship of Santiago, called Sines.[N204] And so they arrived at Lagos, and thence they went to the Infant to tell him of the tragical fortune of their voyage, and laid before him the multitude of arrows by the which their companions had died. The Infant had great displeasure at the loss of these men, for wellnigh the whole number of them had he brought up, and although he well believed that their souls had found salvation, yet could he not prevent a sorrow for that humanity which was brought up in his presence for the space of so many years. And so, like a lord who felt that their deaths had come to pass in his service, he afterward had an especial care of their wives and children. CHAPTER LXXXVII. Of how Alvaro Fernandez returned again to the land of the Negroes, and of the things he accomplished there.