"It seems to me, says our author" (Azurara's favourite way of alluding
to himself), "that the recital of this history should give as much
pleasure as any other matter by which we satisfy the wish of our Prince;
and the said wish became all the greater, as the things for which he
had toiled so long, were more within his view. Wherefore I will now try
to tell of something new," of some progress "in his wearisome seedtime
of preparation."
"Now it was so that in this year 1441, as the affairs of the kingdom had
now some repose, though it was not to be a long one, the Infant caused
them to arm a little ship, which he gave to Antam Gonsalvez, his
chamberlain, a young captain, only charging him to load a cargo of skins
and oil. For because his age was so unformed, and his authority of needs
so slight, he laid all the lighter his commands upon him and looked for
all the less in performance."
But when Antam Gonsalvez had performed the voyage that had been ordered
him, he called Affonso Goterres, another stripling of the Infant's
household and the men of his ship, who were in all twenty-one, and said
to them, Brothers and friends, it seems to me to be shame to turn back
to our Lord's presence, with so little service done; just as we have
received the lest strict orders to do more than this, so much more ought
we to try it with the greater zeal.
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