Trouin had been permitted, with scarcely a blow in defence, to
make himself master of the situation, and he needed only to get his guns
in place to be able to batter the town to the dust.
He now sent a demand to the governor to surrender, saying that he had been
sent by the king of France to take revenge for the murder of Duclerc and
the inhuman slaughter of his men. De Castro answered that his duty to his
king would not permit him to surrender, and sought to show that the French
had been honorably killed in battle and Duclerc murdered by an assassin
beyond his control.
A poor affair of a governor De Castro proved, and the French were
permitted to go on with their works almost unmolested, the Portuguese
occupying hill forts, the fire from which did little harm to the enemy.
Trouin had already begun the bombardment of the city, and on receiving the
governor's answer he kept his guns at work all night. At the same time
there raged a tropical storm of great violence, accompanied by thunders
that drowned the roar of the guns, the frightful combination throwing the
people into such a state that they all fled in blind terror, the troops in
the town with them.
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