that the Zamorin of Calicut was not as easy to intimidate as they had expected. Despite the terror actions, the bombardment and the naval blockade, the Zamorin steadfastly refused to capitulate to Vasco da Gama's terms. On the contrary, the hiring of an Arab privateer fleet demonstrated a certain resourcefulness and willingness to continue fighting and take the fight to the Portuguese. The hiring of Cojambar was also a foreboding. The Zamorin clearly understood he had to appeal to foreigners to help close the technical gap between Indian and Portuguese forces. Surely it would only be a matter of time before the Zamorin got his hands on Arab, Turkish and Venetian technology, and more substantial support from these great powers than just a Red Sea pirate or two? If the battle of Calicut impressed something on Vasco da Gama, it was precisely that the Portuguese in India were living on borrowed time, that it was going to take more resources than he had to bring the Zamorin to heel and secure continued Portuguese access to the spice markets. And that was the message he would bring back to Lisbon. In the meantime, his priority was to do everything he could to maintain the Portuguese toe in India - that is, to protect the Portuguese factories and Indian allies of Cochin and Cannanore, from the Zamorin's inevitable revenge the moment the 4th Armada left. Return to Cannanore Arriving in Cannanore, Gama leaves Cabral's old factor Gonçalo Gil Barbosa, and two assistants, Bastião Álvares and Diogo Nunes. With the permission of the Kolithiri Raja of Cannanore, Gama erects a small palisade around the factory. Some 200 armed men (others report merely 20) are to remain with the factory. More troubling, however, is the India patrol squadron. Back in Lisbon, Vicente Sodré had been given a commission (regimento) by king Manuel I of Portugal instructing him to lead a patrol of five or six caravels in the Gulf of Aden, and prey on the rich Arab prizes going in and out of the Red Sea. But Vasco da Gama, realizing the vulnerability of Cochin and Cannanore, invokes rank as captain-major of the armada and orders Sodré to set that mission aside, and maintain his patrol on the Indian coast, to defend the Portuguese factories and their Indian allies against any reaction by the Zamorin. Return voyage Late February, 1503 Vasco da Gama sets