A few days after the Master's release, he being in Veiros as we have said, some of the English captains held a council of war about making an incursion into Castile. They then settled among themselves the day on which everyone should assemble with their troops, in a town called Arronches, which lies 2 leagues away from their enemies’ kingdom. These were the captains: a bastard son of the King of England, named [Sir John Southeray], ‘the Canon’ [Thierry de] Robersart, ‘the Soudan’ of La Trau, Sir John Falconer, and others.

As they made their way to the agreed meeting place, an English knight called Sir Roger Othiquiniente came to where the Master was at the time, and asked the following, ‘My lord, do you know anything about what we are doing in this region where we are?’

‘No,’ said the Master.

‘You should know,’ said the English knight, ‘that we intend to gather a group of knights and enter Castile. If you wish to take part, you can gain much honour.’

He then told him the day on which everyone was to assemble and when they were to set off. The Master answered as follows: ‘That pleases me very much. It gives me great joy, and I thank you warmly for what you have told me. I shall make ready immediately, so that I can be with those lords on the day you mentioned.’

The knight then bade him farewell. The Master did not delay and gathered his men together rapidly and as many from that area as he could, among them Vasco Peres de Camões, taking with him lances and jennets, in all 200 horsemen and 4,000 foot soldiers. He reached Arronches, where the English were, and was well received by them. They made themselves ready for the incursion, and in all they numbered 800 lances, 500 archers and 6,000 foot soldiers.

Then they set out and took the road to Ouguela, arriving that night at a river where there is a hermitage called São Salvador da Matança. Some of them slept there in shelters that they made from branches, but most of them slept on the grass. For all of them, the sky was their roof because there were no other tents there to shelter them from inclement weather.

The next day, they arrived at a castle called Lobón, in which there were up to sixty men.