By this time a considerable number of men were collected by the enemy in the city of Diu, among whom were 500 Turks sent from Mokha by the king of Zabid, and Khojah Zofar came on with all his power, resolving to attack the sea bastion by means of three castles well stored with cannon and ammunition, which were built upon a ship of vast size; within the castles were 200 Turks, who were intended to distract the attention of the defendants by continually pouring in all sorts of artificial fireworks. This device was however abortive, as Jacome Leite went by night in two small vessels with twenty men, and though discovered he succeeded in setting the floating castle on fire, a great part of which blew up with all the Turks, and the remainder of the ship burnt with so great a flame that the enemy was seen in whole battalions running to quench the fire. Seeing the enemy in clusters, Jacome pointed his cannon among them and killed many: After this exploit, he proceeded to the mouth of the river, where he took some vessels loaded with provisions belonging to the enemy, with which he returned to the fort to the great admiration of the whole garrison, having seven of his men wounded in this gallant and successful exploit.
Though frustrated in this design, Khojah Zofar persisted in his intentions of besieging the castle, for which purpose he began to rebuild the wall which had been destroyed by De Sousa.[365] This could not be prevented, though many of the workmen were killed by the cannon of the fort, and being at last brought to perfection Zofar planted upon it sixty pieces of large cannon, besides many of a small size. One of these cannons was of such extraordinary magnitude that it shook the whole island every time it was discharged, and it was managed with much expertness by a renegade Frenchman in the service of Zofar. At this time Don Ferdinand de Castro, son to the governor arrived with a reinforcement. Mascarenhas having expressed a desire of acquiring some intelligence from the enemys camp, one Diego de Anaya Coutinno, a gentleman of note and of great strength, put on a helmet with a sword by his side and a spear in his hand, and let himself down from the wall under night. He soon discovered two Moors at some distance from the fort, one of whom he slew with his spear, and taking up the other in his arms ran with him to the gate of the fort, calling out for admission, and threw him in, to the great surprise and admiration of his companions. Coutinno had borrowed a helmet, which he had engaged his word to restore or die in its defence. It happened to fall off in the scuffle, and he did not miss it till demanded, by its owner. He immediately let himself down again from the wall to look for the helmet, which he found and restored.
[Footnote 365: This second siege of Diu appears to have commenced about the beginning of March 1545.--E.]
Shortly afterwards an extraordinary movement was observed in the besieging army, of which Mascarenhas was desirous to know the cause. On this account six men sallied out at night from the castle, and fell upon an advanced party of sixty Moors, some of whom they killed; but the rest awaking, and being joined by others, the Portuguese were forced to retreat after losing two of their number; but the remaining four brought in a prisoner along with them, who reported that the king of Cambaya was arrived from Champanel with 10,000 horse, on purpose to see the capture of the castle, which he was assured by Zofar must soon fall. This exploit so incensed the king and Zofar, that they pressed the siege with the utmost fury, and did much harm to the works of the castle by incessant discharges from their numerous artillery. But the renegade Frenchman, who managed their greatest gun, was slain by a chance shot, and the gunner who succeeded him was so ignorant that he did more harm to his own party than to the Portuguese. All the neighbourhood continually resounded with the incessant noise of the cannon, mixed with the cries and groans of dying men; when a ball from the fort happened to go through the kings tent, and sprinkled him all over with the blood of one of his favourites, who was torn to pieces close by him. This so terrified the king, that he immediately abandoned Diu, leaving the command of the horse to Juzar Khan a valiant Abyssinian.
Khojah Zofar continued to press the siege, and there was much slaughter and destruction on both sides; but this was more evident and prejudicial in the castle, owing to the small space and the weakness of the garrison. Mascarenhas on his part exerted every means for defence, always repairing to wherever there was most danger, as desirous of gaining equal honour with Silveyra who had so gallantly defended the same place only a few years before. He was no less fortunate in courageous women than Silveyra, as those now in the castle encouraged the men to fight valiantly, and both assisted and relieved them in the labour of repairing the walls. On one occasion that some Turks had got within the walls and had taken post in a house, one of these valiant females ran there with a spear and fought against the enemy, till Mascarenhas came up with his reserve and put them all to the sword. Zofar used every effort and device to fill up the ditches and to batter down the walls of the castle; but equal industry was exerted by the besieged to repair the breaches and to clear out the ditches, the prime gentry doing as much duty on those occasions as the private soldiers and masons; repairing every night such parts of the walls and bastions as had been ruined in the day.
Astonished to see all the defences thus restored, and angry at the obstinate resistance of so small a garrison, Zofar made a furious assault upon the castle, but had his head carried off by a cannon-ball. "In this violent death he fulfilled the prediction of his mother at Otranto, who having in vain endeavoured to prevail upon him to return into the bosom of the church, used to superscribe her letters to him in the following manner. To Khojah Zofar my son, at the gates of hell." He was succeeded by his son Rumi Khan, who inherited his fortune and command, and was as eager as his father to reduce the castle of Diu. Being in great straits, Mascarenhas was under the necessity of applying to the governor-general at Goa and the commanders of the neighbouring garrisons for reinforcements, on which occasion a priest was employed, who run great danger, as the sea was at this season scarcely navigable: But then Portugal had some decii and reguli, while it now has only the grief of wanting such patriots[366].
[Footnote 366: It is hardly necessary to observe that this is the expression of D. Faria in the seventeenth century, when Portugal groaned under the yoke of the Austrian sovereigns of Spain.--E.]
In the mean time Rumi Khan and Juzar Khan gave a general assault, particularly directing their efforts against the bastions of St John and St Thomas, where they found a vigorous resistance and lost a prodigious number of men. Yet numbers at length prevailed, and the enemy gained a temporary possession of the bastion of St Thomas. The garrison adding fury to despair, made so desperate an effort to recover the bastion, that they made a wonderful slaughter of the numerous assailants who had penetrated their works, throwing headlong from the wall such as had escaped the sword, insomuch that the bastion and the ditch below were heaped with dead bodies. Rumi Khan spent the succeeding night in prayers and processions to propitiate Mahomet, and next morning renewed the assault with equal fury. But after mounting the two bastions, he was at length forced to retreat with the loss of near 2000 men, among whom was Juzar Khan the Abyssinian general, who was succeeded in his command by his uncle of the same name. In this action the Portuguese lost seven men. Several other assaults were given with similar success. In one of these the fire was so close and furious that several of the Portuguese who were clad in cotton garments had their clothes set on fire, on which they ran and dipt themselves in water, after which they returned to their posts. Such as happened to have skin coats escaped this danger; and as Mascarenhas noticed this circumstance, he caused the gilt leather hangings of his apartments to be made into coats for his soldiers.
As the enemy had raised a mount near the castle which overlooked the walls, whence they greatly annoyed the enemy, Don Juan and Don Pedro de Almeyda sallied out with an hundred men and destroyed that work, killing 300 Moors. At another time Martin Botello went out with ten men to endeavour to make some prisoners, to procure intelligence. This party fell upon a post of the enemy occupied by eighteen men, all of whom fled except one Nubian, who bravely endeavoured to defend himself against the whole eleven. Botello closed with him, and finding him hard to overcome while he touched the ground with his feet, raised him in his arms as Hercules did Anteus, and carried him to the fort by main strength. The assaults were frequently renewed, and the besieged were worn out with fatigue and reduced to the last extremity by famine, being forced to feed even upon naseous vermin. A crow or a vulture taken while feeding upon the dead bodies was so great a dainty for the sick that it sold for five crowns. Even the ammunition was almost spent. In this extremity, the enemy gave a fresh assault and forced their way into the bastion of St John, whence they were driven out. Scarcely had they retired when the bastion blew up with a vast explosion, carrying up 73 of the garrison into the air, ten of whom came down alive. Among these was Diego de Sotomayor, who fell into the fort with his spear still in his hand. One soldier fell in a similar manner among the enemy, and was immediately slain. It was no fable that armed men were seen in the air on this occasion[367]. Foreseeing the danger, as he believed from the retirement of the enemy so suddenly that they had secretly caused it to be undermined, Mascarenhas gave orders for the Portuguese soldiers to retire from the bastion; but one Reynoso prevented them from doing so, unaware of what was intended, upbraiding them for cowardice.
[Footnote 367: This is an evident allusion of De Faria to the ridiculous reports so often propagated among the Portuguese and Spaniards of those days, of heavenly champions aiding them in battle against the infidels.--E.]