60 - How Antão Vasques engaged the Castilians in battle and defeated them

Summary

Next morning, on the Thursday, they all left and began to proceed on their way, seizing whatever cattle and prisoners they found wherever they went. They went to sleep the night on the bank of the River Chança, on the Portuguese side of the border, at a spot 5½ leagues away from where they had left. Then they all declared, ‘Now let anybody attack us, and let's fight, because we’re now on our own soil.’

Then they apportioned those on sentry duty to guard the encampment, and at some distance, on various watches throughout the night. The early morning watch fell to João Esteves Correia, whom we mentioned, and to other squires with him. João Esteves moved away from the others and went over to the other side of the river. Advancing a little bit further, he heard the sound of marching men and plunged into a clump of wild pear trees. Quite close by, a large mixed troop of foot soldiers and horsemen was making its way along the road. Next he mingled with them to find out what they planned, sometimes uttering just a few words in Castilian, though as few as possible. In this fashion he crossed the Chança back into Portugal, a little beyond from where his companions were at rest, and listened to the opinions that the Castilians were offering about the Portuguese and how they were going to rout them and the punitive acts they would inflict on them.

After the Castilians went past them, they made their way up a hill and saw where the Portuguese were at rest as morning began to break and said, ‘Here we’ve got the Portuguese pigs. Let's now draw up our battle line, because they’re bound to come this way.’ But others said, ‘We needn't do it that way. Let's charge at them headlong; it would be better to take the battle to them.’ When the squire realised that they were preparing to do battle, he spurred his horse and emerged from their midst, uttering a few insults as he went. The Castilians were riled by his scorn; they jeered at him and shot their crossbows at him, but he came through safely and rejoined the Portuguese, finding that they were already springing to arms.