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Being brought before the governor he said to him, with an undaunted countenance, "Behold here the laksamana for the first time overcome!" He was treated with respect but kept a prisoner, and sent on his own famous ship to Goa in order to be from thence conveyed to Portugal: but death deprived his enemies of that distinguished ornament of their triumph.
"Fiercely raged the battle, and when there was a breach in the walls, and the captain besar had ordered the attack, the Portuguese held the mighty Laksamana over the walls, and reviled the allied fleets with words of derision. "Not one moved, and all was still. Suddenly the Admiral raised his head, and gazed out and down at his followers.
The mighty Laksamana, who had fought a hundred battles, and had a hundred wives picked from the princesses of the kingdom, for there were none so noble but felt honored in his smiles, loved this dark-skinned foreigner. It was pitiful! "His great fleet, which was to have swept the very name of the Portuguese from the face of the earth, lay idle before the harbor.
"What became of the woman?" I asked. "The body of the Laksamana was thrown over the walls by the Portuguese," he said moodily. "It was embalmed and laid away. Two months from that day the woman was walking outside the walls. The war was over. There was no more gold. Three of my people sprang upon her and the Portuguese she was to marry."
"A foreigner smote him in the mouth, and a great cry arose from without the walls. "The war went on; but day after day did the Governor send a message to the Laksamana in the dungeon. 'Reveal the spot where thy gold is hidden, and thy life and liberty are granted. "Day by day the Dato replied, 'My life is a pollution in the nostrils of Allah. Take it.
The Portuguese were obliged to abandon several of their posts, one of which, after a defence of fifty days, was levelled with the ground, and from its ruins strong works were raised by the laksamana. The maharaja had seized another post advantageously situated.
"And then the woman raised her hand, and with one stroke of the axe an attendant severed from his body the head of the once mighty Laksamana of the fleets of Johore, Acheen and Maur. "So died the secret of Ophir. So fell Malacca forever into the hands of the foreigner." The Tuan Hakim's voice trembled as he closed.
The intention of appointing Abdallah to the office of bandhara was quickly rumoured abroad, and, coming to the knowledge of the king of Bintang, who was driven from Malacca and now carried on a vigorous war against the Portuguese, under the command of the famous Laksamana, he resolved to prevent his arrival there.
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