Just as a lover's thoughts are hasty in the urge to possess the loved one, similarly a person who is full of hatred is no less keen to take vengeance on the one who is hated. Thus, just as, when one experiences deep love, a variety of thoughts spring up as to how to achieve the object of one's desire, similarly, when one feels deep rancour against a person, one does not stop devising a variety of ways in which to quench the deadly thirst that arises from one's anger. Thus, with womanly intent, which is generally very keen to seek revenge, and with the immense courage with which nature had endowed her, Queen Leonor could not at that time turn her mind to anything other than to recurrent thoughts about every means by which she could wreak full vengeance upon the Master. She was well aware that he was in a hurry to leave for England on ships that he had already provisioned. Having realised that none of the requests or entreaties from the people could in any way hold him back, she was convinced that the King of Castile could not come swiftly enough to arrive before the Master's departure by sea.

Consequently, setting aside her decision to avenge herself through the King of Castile's invasion, she decided to make different plans, whereby, either through death or imprisonment, the Master could not possibly escape. Her plans were as follows.

When she was quite certain that the Master was on the point of leaving the kingdom, she concluded that that was the most opportune moment for her to kill or arrest him. It is said that she gave orders for conversations to be held in great secrecy with the masters of those ships, especially the master of the nao in which he was intending to sail, promising them outstanding rewards if they agreed to carry out her proposals. These were that, when the ships were sailing off the coast of Atouguia, which is 14 leagues from Lisbon, the masters and their seamen were to take to their boats and head for land. Once the ships had been abandoned by their sailors, they were bound to be swept towards the shore, and the Master would inevitably be captured or killed. This scheme seemed to her to be the swiftest and most convenient way of achieving her objective.