Having arranged these matters, Gonçalo Eanes went to speak to Martim Afonso, saying that he had the gate in readiness, and that he should get ready whenever he saw fit. Seeing so many perils overcome, and that Martim Afonso was making him wait, he wrote a letter to the king, who had already left Bragança and was now in Santarém, about how he had everything prepared just as he had written to him, but since Martim Afonso had delayed, he could not be held to blame if the town were lost and he could not gain it.

The king wrote immediately to the constable, who was in Arraiolos, who [in turn] summoned Martim Afonso to come to him at night, in secret. Having discussed the matter, they asked Gonçalo Eanes where the forces needed to carry out this plan should meet, and he said at the mastic tree in the grove of holm oaks in Arronches. They would follow the river downstream and go to the ford at Mouro; from there they would proceed on foot to the town.

With this agreed, Martim Afonso departed for Campo Maior, and took his uncle, Rodrigo Afonso, with him one night to show him where they were to scale the castle of Alburquerque and its barbican. When they returned, he had the scaling ladders set up in Campo Maior in his presence, he himself advising and showing how he would place them, arranging who should go first, second, and third. Some should seize the watchmen, others should go to the castle gate that was open and they should place large stones against each of the doors, so that they could not be shut. Others were to go to the barbican gate that led into the town. Having given these instructions, he went to speak to Vasco Lourenço, the bailiff in the Guadiana valley, saying how he had arranged to take Badajoz and Alburquerque, both together. He asked him, as a service to the king, and out of good friendship, to be his companion in this, and he would let him know the night the deed was to be undertaken. He should take no one with him, except criados whom he could trust implicitly. He showed him the place to dismount when he received the message to do so. Then Martim Afonso returned and warned those whom he was to take with him to make themselves ready.