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'^'ftft^^ \V^ 95, "'ft ft ^^ # 9> "'ftft^^ xV^ ^ WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA a Xarratibe of i\)z jFirst Uogagc to tlje Mcstern Morlti DRAWN MAINLY FROM THE DIARY OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS BY /■ CHARLES PAUL MAC KIE When newes were brought that Don Christopher Colonus, the Genoese, liad discovered the coasts of India, whereof was great talke in all the Court of King Henry the 7, wlio then raigned, ... all men with great admiration affirmed it to be a thing more divine than humane, to saile by the West into the Easte, where the spices growe, by a chart that was never before knowen. — Sebastian Cabot AV '^'A \\V\\ '•■ V ' CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG AND COMPANY 1S91 Copyright, By a. C. McClurg and Co. A. D. 1S91. All rights reserved. ., • 6->3 // TO iFrtentis in tf)c SEnitel) States Wabg, IN RECOGNITION OF MANY KINDNESSES RECEIVED IN SOUTHERN SEAS. PREFACE, IN preparing this narrative we have preferred to deal only with the accounts left by Columbus himself and those directly associated with him in the enterprise which placed him among the true Immortals. Our effort has been, by following as closely as might be the language of the actual participants, to present a living picture of the events con- nected with that stupendous achievement. If in so doing we have lost somewhat of the dignity of graver methods, and departed in sundry particulars from those presentations of the great exploit which are deservedly famihar, our apology is that we have adopted the errors of the actors themselves. It has seemed well to the critical spirit of our day to question the accuracy of Columbus in more than one respect ; but that he and those who were his fellow-workers by land and sea did not faithfully relate what passed in con- nection with the discovery of the Indies, we have not the temerity to assume. Their written reports and the testi- mony given by many of them under oath lie before us as we write, and we have found no cause to doubt the exact- ness of their contents. That these reports are seldom ar- tistic, often confused, and not infrequently prolix in what now appear to be trivial matters, may be with propriety alleged ; but our object would not be attained were we to trim the language of the Admiral and his companions to suit our ideas of proportion. They planned the voyage and vi PREFACE. made it, and we are content to follow their account of what befell. The diary, letters, and other remaining writings of Co- lumbus picture for us with rare fidelity the man himself. As we turn over their leaves and read his words, — penned in a Latin, Spanish, or Italian whose very want of polish is its most palpable charm, — their author ceases to be a char- acter in history about the disposition of whose bones fierce controversies have raged, and becomes once more the earnest student, skilful mariner, and fearless explorer whose acts have freed his memory from limitations of time and place. We feel, as we follow his artless periods, that we are looking past the pen into the heart of the man, and recall with a new appreciation that he was the contemporary of the Great Captain and of Bayard the Matchless, in the days when great deeds were simply done and yet more simply told by their doers. Concerning himself, as freely as concerning others, he relates both good and bad alike ; his times of weak- ness as well as of strength, his failures as well as his success. When we remember that nearly all of his existing writings were addressed to his royal patrons of Castile, we may ad- mire the naked frankness with which he speaks, while we must regret the simplicity which trusted blindly to those who would so naturally regard their own interest rather than their servant's. Some of the incidents incorporated in our narrative have been found in the official documents bearing upon the Dis- covery ; others are drawn from the testimony in the law- suit brought against the Spanish Crown after the death of Columbus, by his son Diego, for the full recognition in the latter's person of all the dignities and emoluments origi- nally conferred upon his father but in later years so greatly abridged by King Ferdinand. \Vhatever the source, we have confined ourselves to the evidence of eyewitnesses, and have desired to be exact rather than elaborate. The conversations attributed to the Admiral are such as are re- ported, by himself or his companions, to have taken place. In his diary he usually entered them with sufficient fulness PREFACE. vii to permit their reconstruction ; but in those given in the prefatory chapters, which are merely recorded by the phy- sician Garcia Fernandez and others as having occurred, without details being given, we have put into dialogue form such extracts from Columbus's letters as illustrate his attitude toward the subjects discussed. The words placed in his mouth are, in this case, substantially those which his hand transcribed. No large portion of the reading public has either the time or the inclination to delve into the many tomes which, chiefly by the liberality of the Spanish Government and the devoted labors of Muiioz, Navarrete, and their successors, have been made available for the students of Columbus's life and works ; and yet, if we are not wholly in error, it is only from these original sources that any lifelike conception of the great discoverer's character can be formed. It is to this larger world of readers, who would gladly read the story of the renowned event of 1492 in the words of the chief actors, that our narrative is addressed. The Appendix contains a few notes upon the main points in dispute concerning Columbus and his career. Without wishing to enter into matters of controversy, it has seemed best to offer this small contribution toward the solution of the questions at issue. We have preferred to retain the Spanish form of the Admiral's name, Crist6val Colon, as being more in keep- ing with the spirit of our narrative than the anglicized Christopher Columbus. CONTENTS. Chapter Page I. The Father Superior's Sailor Guest . . ii II. The Shrewd Idea of the Young Physician 20 III. Notable Mission of the ex-Privateersman 32 IV. The Famous Mule of Juan the Hard-headed 42 V. Bargaining for a World 53 VI. " I, THE King ! " and " I, the Queen ! " . . 6^ VII. The Heavy Hand of Juan de Penalosa . 76 VIII. The Sea-breeze outside the Bar .... 89 IX. In the Path of the Sun 100 X. What the Moon Disclosed 113 XI. Under the Banner of the Green Cross . 128 XII. Among the Isles of Ind 140 XIII. In Search of Far Cathay 153 XIV. The Embassy to whom it might Concern . 166 XV. The Evil Deed of Martin Alonzo ... 180 XVI. Alpha and Omega 193 X CONTENTS. Chapter Page XVII. His Unclad Majesty 207 XVIII. A Gloomy Christmas 219 XIX. The First Frontiersmen 233 XX. The Return of the " Pinta " 247 XXI. Northeast by East, for Spain and Immor- tality 264 XXII. "There were no tempests in the Indies" 279 XXIII. The Graces of Civilization 290 XXIV. King and Commons 302 XXV. High Noon and the Tide at Flood . . 317 XXVI. Afterward 329 Appendix 343 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. I. THE FATHER SUPERIOR'S SAILOR GUEST. IN the little refectory of a tiny Franciscan convent, dedi- cated to Our Lady of the Madness, which still stands in the remote corner of Southern Spain where our narrative begins, two men sat conversing earnestly together on a cer- tain sunny afternoon many a long year gone by. The one, a monk wearing the coarse gown and cowl of the Order of Saint Francis, was rather over forty years of age ; the other, a layman clad in the ordinary dress of the period, — some- what the worse for wear and travel, — seemed to be ten years older. Against the tall back of the chair occupied by the older man, and listening respectfully to all that was said, leaned a lad of thirteen or fourteen years, whose features plainly proved him to be his son. A flagon of the common red wine of the country stood on the table before them, with the remains of a loaf of bread, a piece of cheese, and a broiled fish, — evidence that some one had been eating, al- though it was long past the hour for the simple midday meal of the worthy friars. The room was barren of all ornament. Its only furniture consisted of a dozen or more ponderous chairs and stools. 12 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. all more or less carved and covered with embossed leather, which stood against the whitewashed walls, and a heavy table of some hard polished wood which occupied the centre of the smooth stone floor. Bare though it was, the exqui- site cleanliness of everything around gave to the room an attractiveness of its own, which was heightened by the con- trast between the fresh coolness of its shaded atmosphere and the quivering heat of the glaring Andalusian sun out- side. From where the boy was standing he could look through the open doorway into the little courtyard of the convent, where the fig-trees and pomegranates stood motion- less in the hot sunshine ; or, by turning his head, could see through the grated windows of the refectory the great waves of the mighty western sea lazily rolling landward, waiting to be whipped into dancing whitecaps later on by the brisk breezes of the afternoon. But as he listened to the older men before him, his eyes sought oftenest the plain of heav- ing waters ; for their talk was wholly of that vast world of unknown ocean whieh stretched far out of sight toward the setting sun, and of what might lie beyond the level mocking line which lay between sea and sky, and ever receded, as now and then some daring sailor sought to reach its limits and learn what was there concealed. " Your Worship is not of Spain, I take it, Senor," the monk had said, when father and son had finished their light meal ; " if I do not offend in asking the question? " " No, Father," the layman answered, " I am from Genoa ; a true son of Saint George, — may he ever defend me ! " he added, crossing himself devoutly.' " I was bom Chris- toforo Colombo, though here in Spain men call me Cristoval Colon ; an unworthy servant, ever at your orders, reverend sir." " I hold myself happy in knowing your Worship, Serior Cristoval," the monk replied. **The sailors of our coast here often speak of your famous voyages to distant seas, and I have heard your name as well in the gossip from the Court." 1 For Columbus's statements concerning his birthplace, see Note A in the Appendix. THE FATHER SUPERIOR'S SAILOR GUEST I 3 " Your own kindness exaggerates my deserts, good father," said Colon. " Some of the hardy seamen from the southern ports have sailed with me on voyages of some length, 't is true ; and it is but natural that they should bear in mind the hard knocks and scanty fare they found while on their travels." " Your present journey is not a long one, Senor Cristoval, if I may judge by your boy accompanying you ? " the monk again queried, with a kindly glance at the young lad standing against his father's chair. " We come now but from Seville," the latter responded ; " and 't is no great distance, — the more as we have walked at ease, good father. Please God, our journey ends at Huelva, your neighboring town. But as we broke our fast betimes this morning, and have still some hours of road be- fore us, we have trespassed thus upon your hospitality which has been so bountiful." " You must stay now under our poor roof, Senor, at least until your boy has had some rest. It will be no easy thing to reach Huelva this evening ; and in the morning we can get a boatman to put your Worship across the bay, if you needs must leave us. Whatever Juan Perez, the humble su- perior of this little cloister, can do for your comfort, worthy sir, you may count upon as already done." " I thank your Reverence warmly," Colon replied ; "and we will tax your kindness still further, since you are so good. But Diego here is no court-bred youngster who cannot travel on his own legs. Which were the harder life in these days of war on sea and land, the life of the camps or that on shipboard, it were not easy to say ; but I have led both since he was born, so the colt has learned to go with the sire. Moreover, his lady-mother — may God give her rest ! — came of the stoutest-hearted stock in Portugal, and the lad should be no weakling. Mayhap you know one Pedro de Muliar, a townsman of Huelva, reverend father? He married a sis- ter of my dead wife, — may God rest her soul ! — and 't is he I seek on this present journey." "Seek you him, Senor? Then I greatly fear your labor will be fruitless ; for only lately I heard it said he was going 14 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. on a cruise to the Levant, with a brave company of seamen from our neighboring ports along shore, — Palos and Lepe and Huelva and Ayamonte. Still, he may not yet have sailed." A shade of annoyance crossed the frank brow of Colon at this news. " So much the worse for me. Father," he said. " I counted much on seeing him ; and God only can tell when he will be back now, or whether at all. Who sails the Mediterranean in these troublous times, be he Christian or Moor, should leave his testament ready made behind him. Yet will Pedro go in good company, for stouter men never handled rope than those from these shores." He sat some moments in silence, looking intently at the table. Then, turning his head upward toward his son, he said, — " Well, Diego, my son, and what shall I do with thee, now that thine uncle is gone ? It were too long a journey to take thee with me to France." "Yet would I gladly go, Seiior, if you will but take me," the boy replied eagerly. " Surely I could serve you well as page, and help you often in your journey." Colon nodded, seeming pleased with the lad's spirit. Then putting his hand on the leathern wallet which hung at his belt, and giving it a shake, he said with a touch of bitterness, — " 'T is scanty fare therein for one, my son, and I should ne'er see his Majesty of France were two to travel on it. The lad too is touched with the madness of the sea," he added, half sadly, as he turned again to the friar. " I grieve to hear you speak of leaving Spain, Sefior Cris- toval," the latter answered. " Surely their Highnesses our gracior.s sovereigns can ill spare such men as your Wor- ship in these times of strife and trouble." Colon raised himself erect in his chair, and grasped its carven arms nervously with his hands, as he looked straight at the monk out of his clear blue eyes. "Their Highnesses of Spain have no more faithful or devoted servant in their kingdoms than I, good father," he THE FATHER SUPERIOR'S SAILOR GUEST. 1 5 said with emphasis, " stranger though I be. To the noble Queen Isabella I am beholden for great favors, and a kindly sympathy more valued still. May the holy saints ever have her Majesty in their safe keeping ! " and again he crossed himself. " But for six long years have I been suitor at their court, asking of them no grace save to take at my hands all the wealth of Asia, and to bring under their dominion and that of the holy Christian faith the lands of the heathen which now languish in hateful idolatry. Is not that a task fit for the kings of Castile and of Aragon, the conquerors of the Moors, think you, good father ? Nor was my only hope with them ; for I myself placed in the queen's hands the letters of three other princes, bidding me to their courts and proffering me the aid I sought. Yet their High- nesses of Spain will none of it ! The cares of the war in Granada ; the intrigues of the emissaries of Portugal, who seek to retain a monopoly of sailing distant seas and search- ing for new lands ; the ignorance and apathy and timidity of those who advise their Highnesses, — all these and a thousand more pitiful reasons have resulted in my suit being rejected, or, what is harder still to bear, being postponed and deferred from month to month and year to year until I have grown weary and hopeless. Now that their Majesties have pitched their camp before Granada, there is neither time nor disposition to hear of aught save war, and I go to the Court of France, whose king has said he would give me tlie z\aw and ruen I ne^d co f.ua the world v/nich ne= oe- vcnd yoa wescerr horizon." He gazed toward cne ocean, which heaved and sank beneath the afternoon sun, with a look in his eyes as though he clearly saw some distant headland lying low in the hazy west. " Something of this have I heard, Sefior Cristoval," said the friar, with an air of sympathy, " but had thought ere this your suit had prospered. Your Worship may not know that our good queen honored me for several years as her Highness's confessor. At the Court they called me the Fray Antonio of Marchena." 1 6 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. " Say you so, Father? " Colon replied with interest ; "then I hold myself doubly fortunate in meeting your Reverence. Often has that most excellent lady her Grace of Maya spoken of you, and wished you at Court to further my pe- tition. Yet had I good friends and powerful among their Highness's counsellors, and their number increased each year, as my proposals became more and more understood. But, Father," and he leaned toward the monk almost with an air of supplication, " the years are passing, and I grow old. It is God's will that I should make this voyage to the west, to find the great continent of Asia and bring its people to a knowledge of the true faith. If I wait on and on, it may be too late, and I shall go to my grave with my task undone." The monk looked at his guest with a frank admiration. The stranger's eye was kindhng as if from the inspiration of some noble thought, and the whole expression of his face was that of a lofty determination to dare all in doing the duty he felt to be plain before him. Such a light had the good friar often seen, when he followed the camp of Isa- bella, in the faces of the knights of Santiago as they set spurs into their chargers and dashed, lance in rest, against the Moorish horsemen, with a great shout of " Saint James for the Holy Cross and Spain ! " His heart was stirred now at the sight of his guest's enthusiasm ; but he spoke quietly enough as he answered Colon, — " There is wisdom in the words of the son of David, that much waiting weareth the soul, good sir ; yet doubt I not It would sorely grieve our gracious sovereigns were this quest to be made under any banner save that of the Lions of Castile. I am but a layman in the arts wherein you are master, Seiior Cristoval ; still, I have given much thought and study to the writings of the ancients who held that there is a lost continent far out in yonder Atlantic, and our sailors at times have told me strange tales of distant lands they have spied from the shores of the Canaries and Azores. To me, who know so little, it seems likely enough ; THE FATHER SUPERIOR'S SAILOR GUEST. 1 7 for I remember that the Canaries themselves were only- found in our fathers' times, though the ancients knew them well and called them the Fortunate Isles. Therefore glad would my heart be, Seiior, if my poor services could avail you anything. If it please your Worship, I would crave your warrant to bring to you my learned friend the physi- cian Garcia Fernandez of Palos, hard by, who, albeit young, has studied deeply the science of the earth and the heavens, and conferred much Avith the sea-faring men who frequent our ports. His judgment and counsel are weighty beyond his years, Seiior, or I should not give your Worship the labor of meeting him ; and we should hold it a high privi- lege to know more of your project." " It is no trial for me to meet those who use the minds that God has given them in trying to learn more of His works than what lies under their noses," Colon answered with vigor. " 'T is those who do not think, not those who differ from me, who have made my labors of none effect till now. Fourteen years did I pass at the Court of Portugal, ever pressing my plan save when I was on voyages. They took my charts and writings from me, saying they would ponder them ; but secretly they sent out the ships they had denied me. God drove them back on their own coasts, and punished their treachery ; but I could no longer tmst them. Two years I spent with that noble man the Duke of Me- dina Cell, and he would have gladly given me the ships I asked, but feared to affront the Crown by seeming bolder than his sovereigns. Six years have I spent at the Court of Castile, as I said but now, and all without result. In twenty years. Father, I have met scarcely more men than could be numbered twice on my fingers who have beheved in that western land as I believe in it. You shall judge, therefore, whether I count it a toil to converse with those who seek to share my faith." The monk rose as he said, " I will myself go to the vil- lage for my friend, Seiior. Will your Worship go with me ? It is but a short half-league, and the brothers will see that the lad gets the rest he seems to need j " and he nodded 2 1 8 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. smilingly toward Diego, who had seated himself on the arm of his father's chair and fallen fast asleep. " Willingly," Colon replied, " for I would gladly learn what I may about some of the men from this coast who sailed with me years and years ago." As they crossed the courtyard and passed through the portal of the convent into the space outside, they met the strong, steady press of the sea-breeze which had sprung up as the sun declined on its last quarter. The sharp swish of a few glittering palm-tops tossing overhead, sounded above the softer murmur of the light gale blowing through the pine-trees farther off. Away over the sea the white crests were riding landward, with here and there a glance of blinding sunbeams as some smoother wave cast back the nearly level rays. The sky was everywhere without a cloud, save that some few soft masses of rounded vapor hung on the sea-line directly in the path of the sun. A lovelier day never drew to its close even in favored Andalusia. As his practised eyes half closed to veil the brilliant light reflected from sea and sky, Colon drew his tall figure up to its full height, and laying one hand on the friar's arm, stretched out the other toward the dim outlines of the cloud-piles lying along the western horizon. " Saw you ever fairer scene than yonder ocean, Fray Antonio ? Yet shall you find nineteen men in every .score, be they seamen or men learned in the arts, who will main- tain that that fair ocean is filled with all the horrible mon- sters of hell ; and that he who sails more than a few hun- dred leagues from this same coast on which we stand, even if he escape them, shall fall into Chaos, or be burned up by the sun's heat, or wander forever like another accursed Jew, over a trackless waste of waters." The monk smiled kindly at his companion's enthusiasm, as he replied, — " But who better than yourself, Seiior Cristoval, knows the fickleness of this now so comely sea? 'Tis not on days like this that our mariners dread its terrors, or our scholars weave their legends ; but when the skies close down in THE FATHER SUPERIOR'S SAILOR GUEST. 1 9 leaden gloom, and the sea is naught but yawning gulfs of blackest pitch. Then the stoutest heart may well fear what lies ahead of the narrow distance the eye can pierce." " True, Father," said Colon, thoughtfully ; " yet who trusts in God and weathers the storm, shall find ever the sun shining on smooth seas beyond." And in friendly chat the two men passed down the winding path which led through the pines to the little village of Palos below.^ ' For the historical basis of this and the following chapter, see the Appendix, Notes C and D. TI. THE SHREWD IDEA OF THE YOUNG PHYSICIAN. THAT evening, shortly after vespers, the lamp which flickered on the table in Fray Antonio's room lighted up a group of men whose combined worldly possessions prob- ably did not amount to one hundred of the dollars of our day ; and yet they were planning, in all simplicity, to accom- plish the greatest work for their fellow-men the world has seen since the fishermen of Galilee laid down their nets and followed Him they called the Nazarene. Though the good father was superior of the convent, and therefore chief among the brethren, the bareness of his room showed that his vows of poverty and abstemiousness were no mere words. A low pallet-bed, with a crucifix on the white- washed wall above it, a few straight-backed armchairs like those in the refectory below, a water-jar and basin of coarse earthenware, and a massive table completed the furniture of the apartment. At one end of the table sat Colon, with a parchment map of no great size spread under his hands ; and on either side of him, following closely all he said and bend- ing down to distinguish the crabbed letters in the uncertain light, were Fray Antonio and his friend the physician of Pa- los, Garcia Fernandez. The latter was much younger than either cf his companions, being scarcely more than thirty years old ; and with the graceful courtesy of Spanish breed- ing, he showed a marked deference in manner and speech toward his seniors. But when he did speak it was with a clearness and conviction which showed that he had reflected SHREWD IDEA OF THE YOUNG PHYSICIAN. 21 much on the subject in hand, and had sought to increase his knowledge from every source open to him. " This chart I had from my very learned friend and mas- ter in the geographical art, the Doctor Paolo Toscanelli of Florence, who sent it to me some fifteen years ago when I was seeking at the Court of Portugal the means with which to discover the lands which lie in the western ocean." As Colon said this, the young physician remarked that he spoke of the existence of those unknown lands as a cer- tainty, not as being merely probable or possible. " In drawing it, that wise and ingenious man has brought together all that the ancients knew of the world we live in, and has added to it what has been discovered in our own times of the coast of Guinea, and the islands which are found on the course thither. I myself have made some few additions to it, and in particular have laid down the great island of Cipango and the mainland of Cathay somewhat nearer to the shores of Europe than my learned master had done. You will, I fear, consider it but presumption on my part, good sirs, to amend the work of so great a scholar ; but all the computations I have made, and all the knowledge I have been able to gather, strengthen my belief that the confines of Asia which stretch farthest to the east are nearer to our European shores than any of our maps now show." Colon laid his finger on the chart at a spot distant by the scale some three thousand miles west of the coast of Portu- gal, where a large island was roughly drawn and marked " Cipango." About half-way to it, in the middle of what we now call the Atlantic Ocean, lay another uncertain out- line lettered " Island of the Seven Cities ; " while far to the south, near the equator, was a third, charted as " St. Borondon's Isle." The space we now know to be covered by North America was filled with a multitude of other isl- ands ; Java and the Celebes were placed nearly on the site of South America ; and the continent of Asia reached clear across the wide space where rolls the vast Pacific. There was no Africa south of Sierra Leone, nearly the whole of the map being marked as "unknown seas;" while in the 22 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. remote North, where hardy modern voyagers have sought the Pole, lay the island of Thule, the Iceland of now-a- days. The monk and the physician studied intently that portion of the chart to which Colon had pointed. " If this distance be in any measure exact, Seiior Cristo- val, naught can be plainer than that the shortest track to the Golden Indies Ues in sailing west," said Fray Antonio. " But, with your Worship's permission, it seems to me that the chief danger is in your finding no land after sailing a thousand leagues to the west, and being unable to return to these shores. I have heard men who were no idle chatter- ers, but men of thought and sense, say that beyond the hm- its of the known sea the ocean slopes so toward the west that no ship can hope to return eastward once it has passed the farthest hne." " I treat lightly the opinion of no man who has thought much or seen much, good father," replied Colon. " Should that slope of which men speak lie really there, I could but sail on and on until we reached our bourn." " Then you hold of no weight the tale some mariners tell of a great zone of dead calms lying in the west, where ships may lie as if at anchor from century to century? " the phy- sician asked. " That seems to me a grievous peril, Seiior, though I frankly grant there may be land somewhere to the west of us." Colon settled himself back in his chair before answering. When he spoke it was in the tone of one who weighs care- fully his words in the hope of carrying conviction, — " Sefior Doctor, once you are satisfied the land is there, all else seems little. There is no navigating without its share of peril, and he who would make sure of dying in bed must not go to sea. That there is no zone of calm I do not afifirm, since he is but foolish who denies all he has not seen. Rather, it seems to me that such a zone must lie far to the south, where the heat is greatest ; for when I sailed to the Guinea coast with the Portuguese, we found the airs grow lighter as we journeyed toward the Southern SHREWD IDEA OF THE YOUNG PHYSICIAN. 23 Pole. And unless I err in every thought, and my life has been spent thus far in vain, the land I seek is to be found by sailing ever west on the line of these our shores, or, at the most, that of the Canary Islands." The young physician spoke eagerly as Colon finished, — " Your own voyaging hitherto has then confirmed your faith, Sehor? You have encountered naught to cause you to doubt?" " Thirty years as boy and man have I followed the sea, worthy sir," Colon replied ; " and wherever keel has ploughed in the known world of waters, there have I sailed. I say it not boastingly ; but, as you know, much travelling on the ocean inclines a thoughtful man to ponder over its many and pro- found secrets. From the Pillars of Hercules to the farthest isles of Greece I have crossed and recrossed the Mediter- ranean Sea times without number, and visited all its coasts, whether of Africa, Europe, or Asia. To the English islands I have sailed more than once, and years ago I went to the utmost verge of the western sea which the ancients called Ultima Thule, but the people who dwell there call the Land of Ice. As far as men have sailed along the western coast of Africa I have also been on divers voyages, and passed much time in the islands the Portuguese name Azores, and in the Spanish archipelago of the Canaries. Wherever I have been I have sought to learn both from sailors and from learned scholars ; priests and laymen, Latins and Greeks, Jews and Moors, — all these and many of other sects have I known and had conversation with. And to this day, good sirs, I have met none who could show one good cause why, by keeping a straight course to the setting sun, I should not reach the boundaries of Asia and the empire of the Great Khan. Much to the contrary, month by month and year by year my belief has been strengthened and increased, un- til now I know I but follow the way the finger of God marks out for me to go." " There is, indeed, a mariner of our village, Seiior Cris- toval," said the physician, with some diffidence, " one Pedro Velasco, who has followed the sea for many years, 24 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. and declares that starting from the Azores some years ago he and his companions sailed due west for several days, and found the ocean ever the same in all its aspects as those it bears nearer home." "You must do me the service of procuring me speech with your neighbor, Seilor Garcia," said Colon, with inter- est, " for from such men I have learned much. When I was before on this coast, under the protection of my noble patron, his Grace of Medina Cell, in his port of Santa Maria, a one-eyed sailor, who from his appearance must have had a stormy life, told me that on a certain voyage when he was bound for Ireland, which is one of the Eng- lish isles, his ship was blown far off its course by constant easterly gales, until they came m sight of a western land they supposed to be the shores of Tartary. Being afraid to land, and the winds having changed, they made their way back again across the wide sea to these shores. Whether in fact they reached so far as Asia, or only lost their reckoning and sighted some nearer land, I cannot determine. But after- ward I met in Murcia a Portuguese sailor who had been on this same voyage, and he confirmed all the other had told me. I see nothing extravagant in their tale ; but they could find no other to believe them." " Others of our seafaring men have told me that return- ing from Guinea they have seen the dim outlines of some unknown land lying far in the western sky. Saw you any- thing of this, Senor Cristoval?" asked the younger man. " I trespass, perhaps, too far on your Worship's kindness in repeating such idle mariners' tales," he added, as if in apology. " 'T is a kindness done, not one you ask, young sir," Colon responded with heartiness. " These reports have I heard both in the Azores and in the Canary Islands, as this afternoon I was saying to his Reverence here ; but I never saw with my own eyes aught that looked like land. Some filmy shadows there sometimes were, to say truth ; but they seemed to my sight to be but distant clouds or some trick played by the sea-haze upon us. Clearer tokens that some- SHREWD IDEA OF THE YOUNG PHYSICIAN. 2$ thing lay beyond our vision in that direction were to me the strange trees and plants which from time to time the sea has cast on the shores of those islands. The father of my dead wife — may God have her in his glory ! — was governor for the Crown of Portugal of the island of Porto Santo for many years ; and when I was there his son showed me some canes or reeds of the thickness of a man's thigh, which had come ashore in a gale, and avowed to me that he himself had talked with those who had found the bodies of two men cast up by the ocean on the isle of Flores, who had yellow faces and straight black hair, such as we know the people of Asia to have. These evidences, and others which have been given up by the waves, weigh more with me, Seiior, than the doubtful tales of lands which have been seen so near and never found." Fray Antonio had listened with close attention to all that passed between his friend Garcia Fernandez and the stranger, nodding his head now and then as if to show that he agreed with some remark of one or the other. Now he turned to Colon and said, — " Then you see no cause to doubt that men may have already crossed this western sea, Seiior Cristoval, albeit no record remains of their voyages?" " It were much to say, reverend father, that since God made the world or since men have sailed the sea no gale has driven their ships westward to shores we know not of," Colon answered with an air of modesty ; " yet of this we know naught for certain ; nor have we any sign of men coming eastward over those western waters, save those two dead bodies on the beach at Flores Island.-^ You both have read the ancients, worthy sirs, and will doubtless remember that in their writings is frequent mention of a western con- tinent, which they called Atlantis, but which cannot be else ^ That Columbus was aware of the vague tales concerning involun- tary voyages across the Atlantic appears from various references in his writings. His position in regard thereto, and his possible debt to the Norsemen, or to later voyages in the Sea of Darkness, are alluded to in Note E of the Appendix. 26 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. than that side of Asia which Hes nearest to us on that course." The father superior answered, with a glance of sly amuse- ment at the physician, — " This young student by your side, Senor Cristoval, has given me many a sleepless night with his disputations over that very point, and his attempts to establish the geography of Pliny and Strabo and Herodotus by the tales of our sailors here, or of some wandering merchant who has come from the far Orient." " Nay, Father ; you are malicious," the younger man an- swered, laughing as he spoke. " You too were startled by the prophecy in the book my kinsman Martin Alonzo brought from Rome." " 'T is true, my friend," said the friar, soberly ; " I had forgotten that. Know you of such a book, Senor?" he asked, turning to Colon. " Martin Alonzo Pinzon, our neigh- bor of Palos, who owns both lands and ships, and has been much at sea, returned not long since from a voyage to Rome, and brought a book which he says he had from a gentleman of his Holiness's own household, and which is of the time of King Solomon. In that book it is written : ' Whoever shall sail by the Mediterranean Sea to the end of Spain, and from there toward the setting of the sun for fourteen hundred leagues, keeping always along a middle course between the north and the south, shall come to the land of Campa7iso, which is very fertile, and abounding in all good things ; and with it he shall conquer all Africa and Europe.' I may err in the words, but the sense is as I say." Colon leaned forward eagerly, as the monk repeated the paragraph. " I know not that book, good father, and shall be much your debtor if you will bring me to converse with this Senor Martin Alonzo," he replied. " Howbeit the distance named is twice too great ; for all my computations place the island of Cipango at only seven hundred, or at the most eight hun- dred, leagues from the Spanish coast ; and I doubt not the SHREWD IDEA OF THE YOUNG PHYSIC I AX. 2/ land called Campanso shall be the port of Quimsay in Cathay, which our later travellers to India — Marco Polo the Vene- tian and the monks who went before him to the remote East — have placed not far beyond Cipango, as you may see by this chart." He laid his finger on the spot as he spoke, and sat mus- ing for a few moments. " Nevertheless," he continued with emphasis, " that prophecy is not more notable, Sefiores, than the one of Seneca, who wrote in the times of Nero, — ' In the later years of the world shall come the days when ocean shall loosen the bonds of the unknown, and a great country shall be opened up. Another mariner like him who guided Jason shall discover a new world, and then shall Thule cease to be the limits of the earth.' " As he recited the sonorous lines of the Latin poet. Colon's face lighted up again with a look of lofty purpose, which seemed to his companions akin to the fire of inspiration. Lowering his voice slightly, he continued, — " Almost in our own times, worthy sirs, we have this as- surance repeated by the English knight Sir Mandeville, who, following the footsteps of Maestro Marco, penetrated through the Holy Land and India to the farthest bounds of Asia and the remotest islands of the eastern seas ; for after he had gone from his own land of England through all of Europe and Asia until, according to his count, he had covered by land more than three fourths of all the distance around the globe of the earth, he returned after thirty years by a hke weary journey to his home. And of this long pilgrimage he has said : ' I tell you for a surety that if you but have good ships and men and prudent guidance, you may sail around all the world of this earth, as well on the side we inhabit as on the other, and return safe and sound to your own country ; and every- where you shall find men and countries and islands there as well as in our own part of the world.' Much more besides this does this wise and sagacious man say from the abun- dance of his knowledge to prove that the earth is round, and that he who will sail across the western ocean will find the 28 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. distant lands he himself saw or heard of, and that by a voy- age but one third as long as the mighty travel he made. This same belief is also held by my learned master Paolo Toscanelli, Seiiores," continued Colon ; " for in sending me this present chart, he wrote to me, saying : * Nor should men wonder that I call the Occident the region where the spices grow, which commonly is named the Orient ; for whoever shall sail by the ocean to the west shall find those same countries, and those who journey by land to the east shall come to them likewise, for they are but one and the same.' " " Wherefore, good sirs," added Colon, after a moment's pause, " for all these reasons, and for an infinite many more taken from the writings of the ancients, both sacred and profane, and from the voyages of travellers by land and sea in these later days, and from the knowledge God has given me, the humblest of His servants, have I maintained for all these years, and ever raust maintain, that he who will but venture to the west shall have the lands of the heathen for his possession ; for He has called me to this work, in giving me from my earliest days a love for the knowledge of strange lands, and in making me learned in the secrets of the sea and of the stars, and in vouchsafing to me wisdom in geometry and arithmetic, and skill in the making of charts and globes, and in leading me to study the writings of the wise men of old in their chronicles and histories and philosophies, and all else that was needful for this labor ; and to this knowledge and experience has He added His calling and commandment that I should undertake this enter- prise, and given me the strength and heart to accomplish it with His aid. To Him be the glory to the latest of the ages. Amen." As Colon concluded, he made the sign of the cross, and remained gazing beyond the narrow circle of light into the gloom of the room beyond, as if he saw there the land he spoke of. Fray Antonio had sat during the greater part of his guest's remarks with his face half covered by his hand, leaning his SHREWD IDEA OF THE YOUNG PHYSICIAN'. 29 elbow on the arm of his chair. He now looked up and said, with some emotion in his voice, — " And all this you have laid before our gracious sovereigns, Sefior Cristoval? " " AW this and more, reverend father, — both to their Highnesses in person and before the council they sum- moned to hear my cause at Salamanca. But it was the same there as it had been in other years with the council called by the Portuguese king, — some few believed, many remained in doubt ; but most laughed at me as a visionary, and ridiculed my proposals as the dream of a madman. Yet feel I still the fire from God burning in my heart, and until I cease to breathe must I follow His bidding." " May it not be, worshipful sir," inquired the physician, with much respect, " that their Highnesses cannot now sus- tain the costs of so great an undertaking, seeing that their realms are exhausted by the wars against the Moors? " " That did I weigh most heedfully, Sefior," replied Colon, with emphasis. " I asked them for but two or three small ships, — such as sail along our coasts ; for these I deem the best for a voyage of discovery. His Grace of Medina Celi had such a fleet, which he gladly would have given me were it not for the reasons I already named." "Two or three small ships," repeated the younger man, musingly ; " that were a small venture for such a vast return." " You say right, Senor Garcia," said Colon, sitting up- right, with his former look of exaltation kindling in his eyes ; " you say right. While the fleets of the King of Portugal are slowly creeping from headland to headland along the coasts of Guinea, getting here a little gold dust and there a few negro slaves, their Majesties of Spain would secure the direct road across the western ocean to the incalculable wealth of Asia. How long would it take, think you, for the gold and pearls, the gems and spices and silks of the golden Indies to repair all the costs of the Moorish wars, and make their Highnesses the chiefest powers of Christendom ? Yet is this the least part of the glory which awaits them ; for 30 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. while the ministers of the true faith taught the way of Hfe to the countless hordes of Asia, their Highnesses, with the vast treasure which would pour into their ports with every returning ship, would have the means to crown their pious work of driving the infidel Moors from Spain with the in- finitely more blessed one of freeing the Holy Sepulchre from the foul grasp of the vile dogs of Mahomet. This," con- tinued Colon, his rising voice echoing through the bare room, — " this is the grandest task ever given to Christian kings to accomplish ; and by doing this our noble king and queen would secure the high approval of Almighty God and the gratitude of endless generations. As for me," he added in a lower tone, " I have vowed to the Holy Trinity that in so far as lies in my power all the benefits from my discovery shall be dedicated to the rescue of Jerusalem from the Paynim." No one spoke for several minutes. The lamp on the table was sputtering fitfully as the wick drank up the last drops of oil, and monstrous shadows of the three men wavered along the walls and on the ceiling of the fast dark- ening apartment. The monk had followed every word spoken by Colon as though he listened to a prophet. He was the first to break the silence. " Seiior Cristoval, it grows late, and we have taxed your kindness unduly, I greatly fear. With your permission we will talk more of this to-morrow. It is barely possible that in your holy work even so humble an instrument as myself may be of some slight help. Let me show you to your chamber. 'T is no disloyalty, I am assured, to say that the poor convent of La Rabida is this night honored as though their Majesties themselves were sharing its lowly shelter." After conducting Colon to the room where his boy was sleeping, Fray Antonio walked to the convent wicket with the young physician. As they stood there alone in the quiet starlight, his friend said to him in a low tone, full of hidden meaning, — " Did you mark the Senor Colon said he wanted but two SHREWD IDEA OF THE YOUNG PHYSICIAN. 3 1 or three small ships, good father? Bear you in mind, as you ponder his words, that our port of Palos is under sen- tence of their Majesties' Council to furnish two ships and their crews for any service their Majesties may appoint. The cost of a third might not deter them, were two already provided." "You speak shrewdly, Garcia," the monk said, clearly much impressed ; " mayhap the hand of God is in that thought. Let us keep our own counsel for the night, and on the morrow I will come and confer further with you. Sleep you well, good friend ! " He remained a moment, watching the young physician recede into the darkness ; then, stepping within the wicket, walked thoughtfully to his chamber.^ 1 Note H, in the Appendix; "The Three Ships of Palos." III. THE NOTABLE MISSION OF THE EX-PRIVATEERSMAN. N' O sooner were the ser\'ices over in the httle chapel of the convent on the foUowmg morning, and his simple meal despatched, than the father superior excused himself from Colon, and leaving him in charge of the other breth- ren, betook himself to the house of his friend in the village of Palos. Early though the hour was, the hot sun of an almost tropical summer's day beat fiercely on the path he had to traverse, and rose in trembling air-waves from the low banks of the river and the red-tile roofs of the little town. The young physician was evidently awaiting the friar's visit with impatience ; for the latter had barely given him good-day and thrown himself into a chair with a sense of enjoyment at the freshness of the room, when the doctor exclaimed, — " Tell me, good father, what think you of our friend yonder, the Seiior Colon?" " I hope that we may help him. Friend Garcia, if so it please God. Her Highness our Most Catholic Queen has ever deigned to give much heed to such causes as I have felt justified in laying before her, and this benignant con- descension I have endeavored never to abuse. Now, it seems to me, were a worthy occasion for approaching her Majesty, and asking her renewed attention to the proposals of the Senor Colon, which, if they are but laid before MISSION OF THE EX-PRIVATEERSMAN. 33 her as a holy enterprise for the propagation of our true rehgion which shall greatly redound to the glory of God and the credit of Castile, I am assured will receive a new con- sideration. Moreover, my friend, your thought of the past night may well be used as an argument that the costs of the undertaking need prove no obstacle ; that is, provided always you mistake not m your belief about the two ships." The physician hastened to convince his friend that as to these there could be no doubt. The villagers of Palos, nearly all of whom were seamen, had more than once got themselves into trouble with the courts of the kingdom by deeds of piracy and contraband. Only lately, despite fre- quent warnings, they had infringed the rigid navigation laws which strictly established for the sailors and shipmasters of Spain the ports which they could visit, the goods they might carry, and prescribed every circumstance of the voyages they were permitted to make. This defiant " re-incidence " of their former offences against the Crown, as the Spanish laws called it, had exhausted the patience of the Royal Council, before which the case had come ; and they had, justly or unjustly, condemned the parish of Palos to furnish and equip two ships at the cost of its inhabitants, and hold them at the pleasure of the Crown, to be sent, with the crews required, on whatever service might be ordered within the term of one year. This sentence had caused no little grumbling in Palos and its neighborhood, for no one could foretell whose ships might be selected, or on what cruise they might be sent ; although the worst that could happen, so far as the knowledge of the mariners went, was that they should be sent on a voyage to the Canary Islands and back. As time passed, however, and no further commands came about the vessels, the community settled down into the belief that it was nothing more than a threat used by the Council to frighten them into better behavior. Little did the villagers imagine, as they passed the young doctor's house on that hot morning, going down to their boats along- shore or up into the vineyards on the hills above the town, or only lounging lazily toward the village wine-shop for a 3 34 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. friendly gossip, what a plot was hatching against their wonted peace of mind ! The friar listened attentively as the physician explained just how the matter of the ships stood. Then he answered, with a smile at the thought of the clamor that would be raised, — " I knew not all the circumstances of the affair, Garcia, and your exposition makes it clear that the ships are in truth available for the voyage the Sefior Colon proposes. But our neighbors here of Palos will surely make resistance if they be consulted beforehand, and it will be best to secure a particular order from their Highnesses, if we can but obtain it. Oftentimes has my worthy brother, Fray Martin Sanchez, the curate of your parish, told me of the stubbornness of his flock. You may yourself remember, since it is not many years ago, how they rebelled against the king's command to restore the vessel they had stolen from their neighbors of the port of Santa Maria ? 'T was a clear case of piracy, since our sailors seized both ship and crew while peacefully engaged, as was their right, in fishing along the coast ; yet our people resisted the order of the Council, and all but revolted before they would give up the ship." " They are loath to part with what they once hold. Father," replied the doctor, anxious to speak a word for his turbulent townsmen, " be it had by fair means or foul. But a direct mandate from our sovereigns to perform a bounden duty cannot be avoided, and they must yield in the end. Think you such an order can be had? " " We can but try, my son ; but on this matter we must hear the Seiior Colon. Will you go with me to the convent? " As soon as the force of the midday heat was past, the two friends made their way back to the cloister on the hill. They found Colon seated in the library, poring diligently over a heavy tome of one of the early fathers of the Church, apparently deeply absorbed in its contents. In a few words the superior explained to him the sug- gestion made by the physician on the previous night, and the result of their conversation in the village that morning. MISSION OF THE EX-PRIVATEERSMAN. 35 " Will the ships serve your purpose, worthy sir? " inquired the friar. '* If they will but answer, with your consent I will gladly lay the matter privately before her Majesty the Queen, in the hope that such feeble incitement as I may use may determine her Majesty not to permit so godly a work to pass into other hands." " The vessels in use along these coasts are such as best suit my needs, reverend father," Colon responded ; "since those of greater size and deeper draught cannot approach near to shallow shores or enter the mouths of many rivers. This much have I learned in voyaging to Africa. Moreover, I look not for stormy seas or great gales, since I should main- tain always the latitude of the Canary Islands, where soft breezes and moderate weather prevail. But two ships, I fear, are scanty provision with which to make such a voyage, since, should disaster overtake one, the other must return at once. Nevertheless," he added in a tone of decision, "if we can but obtain two, I shall make the voyage, putting my trust in the Holy Trinity, who have never yet forsaken me, Their servant." " It were long to put all this our cause on paper," said the friar. " If it please you, Senor Colon, I will rather but open the matter in a letter to her Highness the Queen, and crave her gracious permission to expound the subject at greater length to her in person." " I doubt not you do well. Father," Colon answered, " since written words, however true they be, must fall but coldly on her Majesty's sight in the press of anxieties forced upon her mind by the siege of Granada." " Seilor Garcia," the superior said, turning to his friend, " we shall need as bearer of this letter a man who is both stout of heart and discreet of mind. The road from here to the royal camp is none too safe in these days of turmoil, and it behooves us as well that our petition should reach her Majesty's hand without the knowledge of any of the Court. Know you a man whom we can trust? " The physician reflected a itv^ minutes, and then named two or three men of Palos and the neighboring town of 36 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. Moguer ; but some objection was made to them all. Finally he said, — " There is Sebastian Rodriguez, good father, — the pilot from Lepe. He is just now in our village, and I know him for a brave man and a prudent." " Is not he the brawler who seized a vessel and all its con- tents from one of our men of Palos, within sight of the port, not many years ago, my friend? " asked the priest. " The same, Father ; but he claims that Nieto, who owned the other boat and was privateering against the Moors, had done him a grievous wrong, and that he took his vessel away in a fair trial of strength. When the Council sentenced him to restitution, he gave up his spoils without resistance. I deem him to be an honest man and faithful." " If he took but what he believed to be his own, good father," interposed Colon, "in a fair and open contest, it should not be counted against him, think you? Such boldness is often a sign of a frank and open disposition among the men of the sea." " Nay, my friends," replied the friar, " I know nothing to his discredit ; and of a verity the ways of the sea are not as the ways of the cloister. If Garcia will bring the man to converse with us, he may prove to be the very one we need." The superior then explained in detail his plan, and asked Colon's sanction to make the attempt. He would write a letter to the Queen Isabella, relying on his former close re- lations with her Majesty as her confessor, and would ask a private audience to lay before her his reasons for urging her to consider favorably and give prompt despatch to the pro- posals of Colon. Knowing well the enthusiastic piety of the queen, he would dwell chiefly on the vast service to be rendered to the Christian religion by opening a direct road for its spread to the immense hordes of heathen Asia, and crowning her grand work of driving the Mohammedan Moors from Spain with the evangelization of all that enor- mous eastern continent. The pious monk also counted, in a more worldly manner, on removing the chief obstacle that had before been urged by the queen's advisers against the MISSION' OF THE EX-PRIVATEERSMAN. 37 project of Colon, — that is, its cost, — by showing that two vessels already lay at the orders of the Crown, and it would be an easy measure to put them at Colon's disposal for his undertaking. This he felt would have especial weight with King Ferdinand, who was disposed to be less open to the influences of sentiment than the queen. The same prudent and eminently practical monarch, the friar imagined, would realize that even as a speculation it would be worth while staking the small sum now demanded, in the hope of se- curing for the Spanish treasury the fabulous wealth of the Indies, which from time immemorial had come overland through the eastern ports of the Mediterranean, and enriched the sovereigns who controlled these, from Solomon of old to the merchant princes of Venice in the days of which we write. But as the good father was familiar with the mani- fold intrigues and jealousies of the Court, and shrewdly sus- pected that much of the opposition encountered by Colon had come from the latter's direct and straightforward methods and impatience of fawning and hypocrisy, he deter- mined to deal himself with the queen alone, giving to the bearer of his letter a note to her Majesty's present con- fessor, the Bishop Fernando de Talavera, merely requesting the latter to see that Fray Antonio's letter should reach the queen's hands promptly, as it related to important interests of the Crown. " In the mean time, honored sir," concluded the worthy superior, " our poor retreat of La Rabida will consider itself indeed fortunate if you will use its roof for your shelter until we hear the pleasure of our Lady Queen." "That will T, and gladly. Father," Colon replied with heartiness. " Were it not that I feel this call so strong upon me, I would myself long before this have worn the habit of Saint Francis." ^ "We can all serve God in our own fashion, good sir," answered the monk, with kindness. " So that we keep our hearts steadfast and our hands clean, and do the duty that ^ In his latter years Columbus wore the habit of a lay brother of this Order. 38 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. lies before us, it matters little whether we wear gown or doublet. For my part, I should rather be the meanest of your sailors on this voyage you wish to make, than be the Superior of La Rabida. But each must do the work that is nearest his hand." When the little conclave separated in the evening, it was settled that the physician should seek out Sebastian Rodriguez and bring him up to the convent, without telling him of the particular service wanted. Meanwhile the superior was to prepare his letters to the queen and her confessor. The next day the doctor appeared with the pilot of Lepe. As the latter came before Colon and Fray Antonio in the latter's room, he showed a strong, well-knit frame of the middle height, a face and neck burned to a deep reddish- brown by years of scorching sun, and a frank but deter- mined cast of features. Holding his woollen sailor's cap in his gnarled hands, he made a clumsy bow, and said, with- out any sign of embarrassment, — '* A poor servant of your Worships, Seiiores, at your orders." " Sebastian, my son," said the superior, adopting the priestly mode of address, " I want some one to do a piece of work for me which is not easy, and must be done by one who is both deaf and dumb. Wilt thou do it for me? " "Why not, your Reverence," answered the sailor, " if it pass not my powers? " " 'Tis on land, not on the sea. Son Sebastian," continued the friar ; " and it may take thee many a league from home." "So much the worse for me, then, reverend father," the sailor replied ; " for I am but half a man on dry land. Still, I will not go back on my given word." " Look you, Sebastian ! " the monk said, taking up a small packet from the table ; " here is a letter for his Grace the Bishop of Avila, which thou art to give into his own hands. He is now at the camp of their Highnesses, before the city of Granada. Thou wilt have no trouble in finding his Grace, for thou hast but to go toward the royal MISSION- OF THE EX-PRIVATEERSMAX. 39 pavilions on reaching camp, and any one will tell thee where to find him. I have marked the packet ' On their Majes- ties' Service ; ' and if any hinder thee on thy way, thou hast but to show it and say thou bearest a message to Court, to gain free passage. Make thy journey as quickly as may be, and hasten back with the reply that shall be given thee. Thou shalt have both thanks and reward. But above all, let not the parcel leave thy hands except for those of his Grace the Bishop. Here is money for thy needs." And the superior handed him some silver coins. " Have no fear, your Reverence," the pilot said cheer- fully ; " the writing shall reach its haven if my legs but hold out. I ask your blessing, holy father." He bent his head as the superior bestowed it upon him, and then departed with a hearty farewell to all present. -^ The little group remaining thought it would take three weeks for him to go to Granada and return with a reply, allowing him a week each way and a week for detention at Court. The way was not so very long, but led over the mountains, and was rugged throughout ; besides, it lay mostly through the territory from which the Moors had been expelled only the previous year ; and in the confusion and disorder of military occupation it might well be that a single messenger should meet with delay. During the days of waiting which followed, Colon was the least impatient of all the trio. He spent most of his time in the library of the convent and in conversing with the superior, though now and again he would join his son Diego in the garden, where the latter took great delight in working with the younger monks. The superior himself made no secret of the anxiety with which he attended the queen's reply ; while the young physician was back- ward and forward between the convent and the village two or three times each day. They all agreed that it was best for Colon not to go much to the village at present, lest some suspicion of his real purpose should be aroused ; for although in so small a place the presence at the convent of a stranger of his distinguished bearing could not fail to 40 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. excite some remark, it was no uncommon thing in those days for men of active hfe to seek for a period of rest in some religious house, and so no especial meaning need attach to Colon's sojourn with the superior. He also deferred for the present his desire to meet Martin Alonzo Pinzon and converse with him about his voyages, and also his search for the old companions of his own earlier cruises. Three or four sailors from the surrounding district did, indeed, climb the convent hill to seek him out, either because they had sailed with him in bygone years, or had heard of him as a famous captain when on their own voyages ; but to all such, beyond a warm welcome and an assurance of his gratitude for their offers of service, Colon only said that at present he was " in port for repairs," and could not yet say when he would command a ship again. It was no new thing for him to have to wait ; and he had in every fibre of his strong heart the deep-laid conviction that all would be well " in God's own time," as he was accustomed to say. Only two weeks had passed of the time allowed Sebastian Rodriguez to make his journey, when one morning that doughty mariner presented himself at the convent gate, ac- companied by the faithful Garcia Fernandez. On hearing of their presence the superior hastened to meet them, with a great fear in his heart lest some disaster had overtaken his messenger and prevented his reaching Granada. One look at the joyful face of the physician, however, was enough to dispel all doubts. The pilot had made the journey, and returned with the queen's reply. Sending them both to his room, the friar hastened to summon Colon before hearing Sebastian's report. When they were all together, the worthy mariner carefully drew a packet from the inner depths of his jerkin and handed it to the superior. The latter hurriedly broke its seals and ran his eye over it ; then giving it to Colon, exclaimed, — " Now, glory be to God, Senor Cristoval ! Our gracious queen has ever the same noble heart." Checking his enthusiasm at the sight of the pilot stand- ing motionless before them, he added, — MISSION OF THE EX-PRIVATEERSMAN. 4 1 " My son, thou must have refreshment. If thou wilt go to the refectory, the brothers will gladly serve thee, and in a little while we will hear the account of thy travels. Such reward as it is in our power to give thou shalt surely have." " Whenever your Reverence pleases," Sebastian replied. " 'T was not so hard to do as I thought." And with a look of satisfaction he turned to leave the room. " Thou hast sailed a straighter course than thou knewest, comrade, good pilot though thou art," said Colon to him, heartily; "and I for one owe thee many thanks." " Nay, your Worship," said the sailor, evidently flattered ; " 't was but a ship-boy's cruise, — a fair wind and a smooth sea." "Yon goes a man after my own heart," said Colon, as the pilot stepped into the courtyard. Then spreading the queen's letter before him, he studied it intently. IV. THE FAMOUS MULE OF JUAN THE HARD- HEADED. THE letter of Queen Isabella thanked the father supe- rior cordially for the loyal and pious motives which had led him to address her, and directed him as soon as he received her Majesty's present reply to come to the royal camp before Granada and present himself before her. He was likewise commissioned to say to Colon, on the queen's behalf, that he should now be of good heart, and look for- ward with confidence to the speedy realization of all his hopes. " Her Highness is indeed gracious," said Colon, as he returned the letter to the friar ; " but I will recompense to the Crown a thousand fold whatever they advance for my voyage." At the first renewed sign of promise all the bitterness and disappointment of those long twenty years of waiting had vanished. To the ardent imagination of Colon all difficulties had been overcome, the voyage successfully ac- complished, and the treasures pf the Indies were flowing into the coffers of the Spanish monarchs. Sanguineness is usuallv counted as a fault ; but had this man been less san- guine he would never have done the work he did. " Her Majesty's commands admit of no delay, my friends," the superior said, the monkish spirit of prompt obedience asserting itself. " I must start at once for the THE MULE OF JUAN THE HARD-HEADED. 43 Court, unless, indeed, the Senor Colon should have a reason why I should wait upon him? " " Far be it from me to hold you for a single hour, Father," returned Colon, hastily. " If you will but continue the kindness to which I am already so much beholden, I will await your return, or such message as you shall send me, here among the godly brethren of La Rabida." "The advantage will be ours, Sefior," replied the friar. " But, Gossip Garcia, between us we must find some beast to carry me on the way ; for it will be neither prudent nor be- coming for me to make the journey to her Majesty on foot. And our little monastery is not yet so rich that it can main- tain a stable," he added, with a comical look of despair. " By no means. Father," the physician answered ; " the journey must be made with all possible haste. Though," and he looked puzzled in turn, " it is not easy to find among our neighbors here a beast fit for travelling, — unless, in truth, we ask the Pinzons, and for many reasons I would not do that could we avoid it." "You are very right, Garcia," said the superior; "until we know the wishes of her Majesty the Queen we must avoid anything which might allow a knowledge of this pro- ject to get abroad." " It may be that herein lies a way out of the dilemma, Father," suggested Colon. "Among the old sailors who have sought me out since I have been housed under your kind roof was one Juan Rodriguez Cabezudo, who many years ago made several voyages with me. Hard-headed is Juan Rodriguez in name, and hard-headed is he by nature ; but his heart is sound to the inmost core. In his offers of service, he particularly told me he had an excellent mule, which he much lauded as a good traveller. I bear it well in mind," and Colon laughed, " because it seemed to me that the old sea- wolf was anxious I should know that now he was a man of estate ; and I duly wished him well of his good fortune. I doubt not the worthy man will spare the mule if he knows it is a service done to me." " I know the good man well, SeRor Cristoval," the physi- 44 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. cian said. " He has a little vineyard between Palos and Moguer, and lives now quietly at his ease ; though men do say his life in other times was stormy enough." " With his past life we have naught to do, Friend Garcia," objected the friar, impatiently, " so he but have a good trav- elling beast and let us have its use. Think you we can compass this, Sehor Cristoval?" Here the young physician interposed, and said that if Colon would go with him to his own house in Palos, he would send for Juan Rodriguez, and they could converse there without risk of exciting attention, and without giving Colon the needless fatigue of the long walk to Moguer and back. To this Colon assented willingly, and a messenger was sent to the old sailor to go to the physician's house as soon as he could. Then the trio sought out Sebastian the pilot, and heard his report of the adventures which had be- fallen him on his journey to Granada, and of the wonderful sights he had seen in the royal camp ; where, according to his belief, the vast hosts of the Spanish sovereigns were going to sweep the Moors clean out of Granada and drown them all — king, knights, and rabble ; men, women, and children — in the deepest waters of the blue Mediterranean, Having dismissed the honest mariner with many hearty thanks and the promised reward, the three associates dis- cussed in detail the representations to be made by Fray An- tonio to the queen. Colon gave him the fullest liberty to speak for himself before her Majesty. " Such arguments as are familiar to my mind I have al- ready worn threadbare before their Highnesses and their counsellors, reverend father," he said with sadness. " My main hope now is that her Majesty will hearken to your pious exhortations as to the duty of their Catholic High- nesses, as the especial champions of the Church against all infidels and heathen, to exert themselves to carry the truths of our blessed religion into those distant lands which I be- lieve shall be found beyond the sea. Should you wish to con- sult with me, or should her Majesty desire my presence, I will hasten to the Court without the loss of a single moment." THE MULE OF JUAN THE HARD-HEADED. 45 The superior informed himself minutely of how this and that dignitary of the Court had stood with reference to Colon and his project. The latter stated clearly and concisely the position of the chief personages about the sovereigns re- garding himself, and, in especial, impressed upon the supe- rior that Alonzo de Quintanilla and Luis de Santangel, financial officers of the crown, and Fray Diego de Deza, tu- tor to the young Prince Juan, had shown themselves repeat- edly to be his sincere friends and supporters ; but that he had never felt that the Bishop Talavera, a prelate whom the worthy superior held in the highest esteem, was friendly to him or his cause. " Nay, then, Serior Cristoval," the friar urged, " have no fear on that score. I shall talk with no one, be he your friend or not, about this matter, save with the Queen Isa- bella alone. I did but wish to be advised, so that were her Majesty to show any new scruple about the enterprise, I might discover whence it took its source and overthrow it. The Holy Book commends to us the wisdom of the serpent as well as the gentleness of the dove, my son. But under her Majesty's express injunction that you should hold high your hope, Senor, I have but little fear of a new repulse." When the noontide heat was past. Colon and the physi- cian walked down to the latter's house in the village to await the reply of Juan Rodriguez. They had not been long seated, when that worthy himself appeared, clattering into the little courtyard of the modest house upon the very animal they were in quest of. Dismounting with the air of a man who had been accustomed to ride all his life, he entered the open door of the room where the others were sitting, and saluted them with profound gravity. Short of stature and dumpy of build, his weather-beaten and wrinkled face might have passed as that of a hard- working farmer, had not a certain habit of spreading his stumpy legs and a most preposterously loud voice stamped Juan as a man who knew more of ropes than of grape-vines. A head as round as any orange was set close on his shoul- ders by a thick and muscular neck, and covered with closely 46 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. curling locks of wiry hair, which with the short, stubby beard surrounding his face, was liberally sprinkled with gray. It was not necessary for the good man to open his mouth for one to know why he was surnamed Cabezudo, or hard- headed. His whole appearance justified the title. " Your servant, Master Cristoval, and yours, Seiior Doctor," he rumbled out. " They told me your Worships wanted to see me, and here I am at your orders. Is it a cruise. Mas- ter?" he asked, turning toward Colon. " Not so, Juan Rodriguez," the latter answered ; " but I want thee to make me thy debtor by lending me thy mule for a little, since thou wert so good as to make the offer to me." " There is no better mule between here and Seville than mine. Master," the other replied, with a glance of pride out into the courtyard. "She has a trot as easy as a cradle." " Then thou wilt lend me thy beast. Friend Juan? " Colon asked. " Master, the beast is a good beast, and I would not have harm come to her." " I will be thy warranty, Juan, against any harm befalling thy mule." " Your Worship is somewhat over-tall for the litde brute, — to make so bold, Master Cristoval," Juan said in a doubtful tone. " 'T is not I who will ride the mule, thou old fault-finder ! " Colon said with a laugh. "'Tis my honored friend the pious guardian of the convent up yonder, and his Reverence is less my size than thine. But I have his journey greatly at heart, Juan, for much will it advantage me ; and I offered to find him a beast to ride, counting upon thy goodness. 'T is no great distance he travels, and the mule shall be cared for as though she were my own." " They say at sea, Master, that 't is better to carry the crucifix aboard ship and leave i\\Q padre on shore," the old fellow said doubtfully. " I know not whether it be the same with the lading of a mule or not." " Now leave thy profane railings for the tavern, Juan THE MULE OF JUAN THE HARD-HEADED. 47 Rodriguez," Colon answered sharply. "Thou shouldst re- member I like not to hear Holy Church reviled. If thou wilt not let me have the mule, say so straightly, like the plain sailor thou art, — or used to be ; but if thou wilt, be not so tedious about doing thy kindness, for it but lessens the thanks I shall have to give." " Your Worship knows that I honor the Church, and am a humble votary of Our Lady of Montserrate," Juan said, with an attempt at looking pious ; " but it is no sin to know a good beast when you see it, and care for it as it deserves, ]\Iaster." " Thou hast been so much with thy mule, Juan," Colon answered in despair, " that thou art growing like her. Wilt thou let me have thy beast or not? " " Surely, Master Cristoval, all I have is at your Worship's service, and proud will I be to wait upon you in anything you may wish. Yet that little mule is like a child to me ; were aught to befall it, I would not know where to get another." "Then thou canst not lend me the mule, colleague?" Colon said. " Nay, Master, I said not so." "Then thou wilt lend her to me. Friend Juan? " " Why, and it please you. Master, 't was what I plainly meant to say, only I have not the trick of easy speech. It would ill become me to refuse your Worship any service I can do." "There spoke the man I used to know," Colon replied heartily. " I told his Reverence thou wouldst serve us in this, and that thy head was harder than thy heart. Thou hast my thanks, Juan Rodriguez, and I will ansv ix that the little beast is treated as thou wouldst have her." Having given, with many protestations of respect and excuses for his boldness, a great variety of cautions and suggestions as to the care and management of his precious mule, the old sailor trudged away. He was well satisfied with having served "the Commander;" but now and again a twinge of regret shot through his mind as he thought that 48 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAX SEA. for some time he must forego the proud pleasure of riding through the neighborhood ''like a somebody," as he said to himself in the Spanish phrase. Colon and Garcia Fernandez returned to the convent, whither the mule was shortly afterward brought by a neigh- bor of the physician. In order to avoid observation, the superior had determined to make his start after nightfall ; this plan having the additional advantage of enabling him to escape the burning heat of the summer sun in crossing the plains which lie between Palos and the mountains. All was soon ready for his departure. The affairs of the convent, in his absence, had been intrusted to the brother next in rank, and Colon and his son were commended to the hospitable care of the little community. At the evening service in the chapel the superior himself had officiated, his two friends devoutly taking part in the exercises, and Colon in particular committing this enterprise of the friar's, which was of so great moment to himself, to that Divine Providence whose aid he continued to invoke until the last moment of his life. Then, the evening being well advanced, with many hearty farewells and prayers for his success, the father superior mounted the mule of Ji^ian Rodriguez, and started on his journey in the bright starlight of the southern night. We may be sure that he made his way as rapidly as was practicable over the broad plains and rugged mountains which lay between him and the last stronghold of the Moors in Spain ; though of the incidents of his journey we have no record. Arriving at the royal headquarters, which were then established at that town of Santa F^ which the sover- eigns had built close to the walls of Granada as a token that they meant not to turn their backs on the city until the Cross had supplanted the Crescent, Fray Antonio caused his arrival to be announced to the queen without loss of time. He was soon summoned to her Majesty's presence, and greeted as a tnisted friend and faithful counsellor. In as few words as possible he described the reason of his per- sonal appeal to the queen in behalf of Colon ; the deep THE MULE OF JUAN THE HARD-HEADED. 49 impression made upon him by the latter ; the vast field for the spread of the Catholic religion which would be opened up were the kingdoms of Asia in reality to be reached by a short cut across the western ocean ; and, finally, the in- significance of the cost and preparations involved if the two vessels available at Palos were pressed into this service. For the present he purposely refrained from dwelling on the more material side of the project. He had gained an in- timate knowledge of the characters both of the king and queen, when the latter's confessor, and knew that while Isabella was most easily to be persuaded to any undertaking by considerations of religion, her royal husband had ever an eye to the main chance, and would be more likely to give his approval to the once rejected proposal by the induce- ment of cargoes of gold and silks and spices and new dominions, which would raise Spain to a higher rank among the powers of Europe. As he had intimated to Colon, the prudent monk accordingly reserved these arguments to meet the objections he was sure would be made by King Ferdi- nand to any revival of Colon's scheme at that time. The queen herself listened with evident interest to all Fray Antonio said. She did not attempt to disguise her sympathy for Colon and his aims, or her belief in their practicability. But she showed the monk, in a few frank sentences, how almost impossible it had been for her to undertake an enterprise of the magnitude of that which Colon proposed, at a time when her own realm was en- gaged in a life-and-death struggle with the Moorish kings, when her treasures were exhausted, and when, with few exceptions, all her most trusted advisers, including King Ferdinand himself, had opposed the project as doubtful both of execution and advantage. " You should remember, reverend sir," the queen had said, " that for fifty years our neighbors of Portugal have been making voyages of discovery along the African coast in search of a path to Asia, and therein have spent a vast treasure and lost great numbers of their stoutest seamen, with no return in any wise proportioned to these sacrifices. 4 50 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. With such an experience so near our borders, it is not cause for wonderment that our Council should shrink from embark- ing in so perilous a venture at a season when every man and every maravedi are so sorely needed here at home." Now, however, the queen continued, since Providence had so blessed the Spanish arms that the war was almost ended, and it was only a question of time when Granada, the last refuge of the Saracens, must yield, the queen was anxious to advance the plans of Colon, if it should be in any way feasible ; and most particularly did she wish to dissuade him from making any application to the other sovereigns of Europe. All this Fray Antonio was to communicate to Colon, and to add a renewed message of hope, and the queen's pledge that as soon as the affairs of the siege permitted, his proposals should have immediate attention. Meantime the superior himself was to remain at the Court, where he could be consulted by their Majesties as they might find leisure to treat of the affair. The good father took the first opportunity to inform Colon by letter of the friendly disposition shown by her Majesty, and the encouragement she held out to him of a speedy solution of his anxieties. The receipt of this news filled Colon with a quiet confidence and assurance of suc- cess to which his mind had long been a stranger ; while the more excitable physician could hardly contain his impatience from day to day, so eager was he for further word from Fray Antonio. It came, not long afterward, in a letter to Garcia Fernandez himself, saying that the queen had sent a summons to Diego Prieto, the alcalde mayor, or chief officer, of the village of Palos, ordering him to appear without delay at the Court, on the service of the Crown. The superior explained to Garcia Fernandez in his letter that the object of this summons was to inquire into the convenience of fitting out an expedition for Colon from that port ; but that no hint had been, or would be given as yet of its destina- tion, it being spoken of only as " a voyage to be made in their Majesties' interests." This piece of news proved too much even for Colon's THE MULE OF JUAN THE HARD-HEADED. 5 I disciplined self-control. The convent library lost its restful charms, and he found himself wondering why he had not been sent for by the queen, and picturing the intrigues and obstacles which would be invented by the opponents of his scheme to hinder its realization as soon as they should know that it had been revived and received with favor by Queen Isabella. Fortunately this anxiety was not to be of long duration ; for within a fortnight Diego Prieto, the alcalde, himself returned from Granada, bringing with him another letter from Fray Antonio to his friend the physician, and, what interested the little community a great deal more, word that their Majesties had raked up that old sentence of the Council, and were likely at any day to demand the two ships and their crews, and send them off on a voyage somewhere. But to all the clamorous inquiries of his fellow -townsmen as to the destination of the cruise, and the details about it, the worthy magistrate would only answer, with a plentiful show of temper, — " Now ask that of Our Lady in your prayers, good people, for I know not. Since when did our gracious sovereigns whisper to me the secrets of the kingdom ? For all I know, ye idiots, the ships are to seek the Isles of the Blessed that our sailors tell their idle tales about." Within the harmless-looking packet which Fray Antonio had asked the alcalde to take with him " by very special favor " to his good friend the physician Garcia, was con- tained the explanation of the whole matter. Therein lay a letter to Colon, calling him, on the queen's invitation, to the Court without delay, and enclosing no less a sum than twenty thousand maravedies in golden florins of Ara- gon, to provide for the purchase of a mule for his journey and a wardrobe suitable for his appearance at Court. All this was sent under cover to the young physician, so that the recent inquiries about the ships should not be coupled with Colon's name in advance of the completion of the queen's intentions. Where Colon found this second mule our documents do 52 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. not show ; ' but with a heavy purse and a light heart we may rest assured he did not waste as many words over it as over the first one. That his preparations were soon made we do know, and also that, leaving the lad Diego in the kind keep- ing of the brothers of La Rabida, and asking the young physician to see to the boy's welfare also, he bade farewell to son and friend, and set out for the Court of their Most Catholic Majesties, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. 1 Some of the more critical historians of late have derided the tes- timony of Juan Rodriguez Cabezudo, which was given twenty years after the incident here recorded, on the ground that it was absurd to suppose that he would remember the loan of his mule after so great a lapse of time. They overlook the fact that a good mule was worth from eight thousand to ten thousand maravedies in those days, and the owner of one was a marked man in a rural community. The evi- dence concerning the visit of Colon to La Rabida is directly as we have related it, notwithstanding the version given by Prescott and Irving in their brilliant volumes. Those who care to judge for them- selves may find the details of the testimony in the Appendix. V. BARGAINING FOR A WORLD. IN the vivid pages of Prescott and Irving and Lockhart we have a series of pictures, as clear as those of the camera, of that camp before the Moorish capital where Colon now arrived. Eighty thousand mail-clad Christian soldiers surrounded, as by a girth of iron, the " infidel " de- fenders, who, do what they might, could neither break the blockade and escape from their city, nor open it long enough to receive the help they so much needed from without. In those days of helmet and breastplate, of cross-bow and lance, when nearly all the fighting was still hand to hand, and the bonds of discipline were so much looser than now, an army like that of the Spanish monarchs would make a greater impression on the beholder than one of half a million men to-day. Add to this the vast array of camp-followers, servants and hangers-on which the military methods of the age allowed, and the large civil and ecclesiastical element present in attendance on the royal Court, and we can well believe that the plain of Granada bore a stirring appearance as Colon entered it on that autumn day, four hundred years ago. Since their city of Santa Fe had progressed far enough to afford them shelter, their Majesties had abandoned the more exposed life of the camp pavilions for the greater security of walls of stone and roofs of tile ; and over their new pal- ace now floated the standards of Aragon and Castile. To the king and queen tliis siege meant all the word implied. 54 IVITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA It was indeed a "sitting down" before the Moorish walls; and there they plainly intended to remain until the pressure of famine or a realizing sense of the uselessness of further resistance should induce their stubborn adversary, Boab- dil the Unlucky, to open his gates, own himself beaten, and give up Granada, and with it the dominion of his race in Spain. Colon sought out the lodgings of his friend the superior, and was soon in possession of all that had passed between that good ally and the queen. Fray Antonio also related to him all that he had been able to gather as to the disposi- tion of her Majesty's advisers toward the project, and told Colon with emphasis that he need have no fear that any opposition would now divert the queen from her determina- tion to grant him the means he required. But, knowing the impetuous nature of the man he addressed, the friar warned Colon that he should bear in mind the excessive de- mands now made upon their Majesties' attention, and not yield to a feeling of impatience if delays were still encoun- tered. Those who were in a position to be best informed were of the opinion that the war was nearing its close ; that it was only a matter of a few weeks when the city must sur- render, and the Moors be banished once and forever from the kingdom. This done, the queen would be free to carry into execution the proposal of Colon, and, the friar asserted, would assuredly do so. Meantime her prompt and generous response to the representations made by Fray Antonio and her summons of Colon to the Court were sufficient evidence of the sincerity of her purpose toward him. To all of these suggestions Colon yielded a ready ac- quiescence. Now that he had positive assurances of her Majesty's intention to forward his undertaking, it was far more easy to wait than it had been in former years, when he was in doubt as to whether she would, after all his patience, give him the aid he solicited, or dismiss his whole scheme as impracticable. With a heart made lighter and his reso- lution still further confirmed by the encouraging words of his friend. Colon caused his arrival to be announced to BARGAhVING FOR A WORLD. 55 the queen, and awaited in some impatience her Majesty's orders. These were not long delayed. Queen Isabella com- manded that he should be ushered at once into her pres- ence. So kindly and courteous was the reception given him, that Colon never to his dying day recalled it without a declaration of his gratitude. Frankly and earnestly her Majesty set before him, as she had already done with Fray Antonio, the difficulties and embarrassments which at the moment surrounded her. Let these once but lessen some- what, the queen said, and her attention should be devoted to the project which Colon had so much at heart. Mean- while it was her desire that he remain attached to the Court, and as opportunity could be found she and the king would discuss with Colon the details of his enterprise. With these and many assurances of her confidence and sympathy, her Majesty dismissed him for the time being, commending him to her officers as one entitled to particular consideration and regard. In the weeks which followed Colon for the first time fully felt the grateful sensation which was supposed in olden times to attend those fortunate beings who enjoyed their sover- eign's favor. Royalty had set the seal of its approval upon his " pretension," and the suppliant of last year was the suc- cessful suitor of this. To the sincere welcome of the few who had ever been his steadfast friends Colon now saw added the flattery of many who, without knowing or caring anything about his plans, recognized only that he had the queen's confidence, and smiled on him accordingly. But with him such approaches were thrown away ; for he re- membered how for year after year the very same individuals had ignored his earnest arguments or scoffed at his urgent pleadings, and he valued their present protestations of friendship at exactly what they were worth, — nothing. Cheered and encouraged by the certainty of his near suc- cess, and sustained by the devotion of his real friends, — who, if scant in number, were both faithful and influential, — Colon saw the days pass without either restiveness or misgiving. 56 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. In the almost daily assaults and forays which took place around the besieged city, either to weaken the Moors or to repulse their sallies, he several times took part, and proved himself to be as brave a soldier as he was a skilful and in- trepid sailor. He had no love of fighting for its own sake, and his whole life showed that he was sparing of men's blood even under circumstances when, according to the morals of his time, he would have been applauded for shedding it ; but to him a Moor was a limb of Satan, and it was a Chris- tian's duty to fight him wherever he was found. So, having had plenty of experience in his younger days, he offered his sei-vices now ; and his long arm and practised muscles made the Moorish helmet upon which his sword fell ring again. Thus, with constant discussion and consideration of his great project among his friends, and occasional conferences with their Majesties or some one deputed by them, as to the practical details of its accomplishment, Colon passed the time waiting for his day to come. "Time and I against the world," the Spaniards say ; and at length he heard the hour sound when his great work was to be consummated. On the second day of January, 1492, Muley Boabdil the Moor delivered to King Ferdinand the keys of the city which had for so long resisted the Spanish arms, and after saluting the queen, started with his suite toward the distant sierra, where, as the legends say, he turned to take a last look at the beautiful capital he loved so well. Few passages in history are more pathetic, none is more worthily told, than this turning of the exiled king to gaze for the last time on the land of his fathers and the home of his faith. And yet even the eloquence of an Irving should fail with us of the New World in arousing any feeling of regret over the unfortunate monarch's woes ; for " The Last Sigh of the Moor" dispersed forever the mists which had shrouded our half of the earth since the day of its creation. The queen kept punctually her promise to Colon, notwith- standing the thousand and one matters requiring the royal decision. The disposition to be made of the conquered BARGAINING FOR A WORLD. 57 Moors ; the establishment of an administration, civil, military, and ecclesiastic, for the new province ; the rewards for those who had distinguished themselves in the campaign ; the financial and other measures to be considered in view of the cessation of the long war, — all these, with the constant requirements of the rest of her kingdom, were enough to excuse the queen from adding to her cares the expedition planned by Colon. What possible consideration could a Stanley or a Nordenskjold have hoped for had he laid his plans for a journey across Africa or a voyage to the North Pole before the Emperor William the very week that Paris fell ? Yet in the midst of just such a season of busy excite- ment and triumphant confusion did Queen Isabella recall her pledge to the Genoese navigator, and take from her manifold other duties the time to consider his petition and appoint a commission of her officers to agree with him upon the details of his enterprise. These negotiations progressed but slowly, despite the well-known sympathy of the queen. In the first place, yielding to the fanatic zeal of their priestly advisers, the Spanish monarchs had decided to expel from their king- doms all the Jews who were settled therein, to the number of several hundred thousand, and send them after the Moors ; and the practical method of carrying out this meas- ure called for much discussion and consideration on the part of their Majesties' counsellors. In the second place, the commissioners considered that Colon's demands were ex- travagant, and even impudent. He asked to be made ad- miral of their Majesties in the western ocean, with sole authority over the lands he might discover therein, and re- ceive besides one tenth of all the profits arising from what- ever discoveries he might make. Until now most of the members of the commission, and especially its chief, Fer- nando de Talavera, had disputed the feasibility of Colon's plans, and looked upon them as the dream of a visionary. But once he had the audacity to aspire to the high dignity of an admiral of Castile, with all of its elaborate privileges and honors, it was clear that he must be taught to know his 58 WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. place ; and the question of the discovery of a new road to Asia became a matter of no importance in comparison with the colossal presumption of this foreign sailor. This much did the worthy prelate, Talavera, say to Colon in no very gentle words. Having himself just been promoted to be Archbishop of Granada, the idea of any other mortal aspir- ing to an equally high office in another branch of the royal service seemed to him especially absurd. " I say not, most reverend sir," was Colon's reply, " that I am wholly worthy of so great an honor at their Majesties' hands ; but this I do affirm, and must maintain, that in order honorably to represent their Majesties before the potentates of Asia, and to preserve a proper discipline in the new lands I shall discover, and to have that weight of authority without which the expedition I propose must surely end in disaster and distress, I must be clothed with a fitting dignity. Since this enterprise is to be conducted by means of ships and upon the sea, I conceive the most ex- pedient form for this authority I need to be the office of Admiral for their Highnesses. As for the tithe which I exact from the fruits of my discovery, 't is but justice, and no more ; moreover it is dedicated to a holy purpose by my vows, and cannot be abated. I crave your Eminence's par- don, if I speak with unseemly boldness ; but from my words I cannot turn back." There was much discussion in the commission as to this stand of Colon's. His own friends urged him to accept some other title, or make such concession as might be re- quired to secure a prompt adjustment of his contract with the Crown ; but while grateful for their interest, he was inflexible. " I may not alter my position because I must not, hon- ored fiiend," he answered to Quintanilla, the queen's audi- tor-general, who pressed him strongly to abate his demands. " With less authority I cannot fitly serve our sovereigns in those distant lands, and with less reward I cannot fulfil the vows I have made to redeem the Holy Sepulchre. If I find for the Crown of Castile the continent of Asia, what I ask is BARGAINING FOR A WORLD. 59 little enough ; if I find it not, the Crown loses naught. But this I fear not. It is written that I shall not fail," he added with a grave smile. What passed between the new archbishop and Queen Isabella we do not know ; but when the commission again convened he announced that her Majesty concurred in thinking the claims of Colon excessive, and therefore they could not be granted. This was a hard blow to Colon ; but he would not yield a hair-breadth. Taking his leave of the queen's commissioners, he sought out his friends, and bade them farewell. His plans were not yet made, he told them ; but he thought he should seek the Court of France as he had started to do the year before. " What has moved her Majesty to take this view I know not," he said to his friend Fray Diego de Deza ; "but this I do know, that her generous aid and sympathy shall ever be borne in my mind, and my children's children shall bless her name. I pray you make my humblest acknowledgments to her Majesty." With this he set out from the city, intending to return to the little convent at Palos, and there think out new plans in conference with the two good friends who had shown so in- telligent and disinterested a sympathy with his aims. But his friends at Court were no less devoted ; for no sooner had he left them than Luiz de Santangel hastened to lay be- fore the queen the injustice and unwisdom of losing all the benefits expected from this enterprise for the sake of a point of etiquette which might amount to nothing, and so revived her sympathies that she despatched a messenger to recall Colon with the assurance that her Majesty herself would answer for the acceptance of his conditions. Three months had passed in these dilatory and provoking discussions. On the 30th of March the edict expelling the Jews was published, and on April 17 the "capitulation," or formal contract, between Colon and the Crown was signed by their Majesties on the bases which he had originally proposed to the King of Portugal and so steadfastly insisted upon in all his long negotiations with the Court of Castile. 6o WITH THE ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA. The document itself was short enough, considering its weighty matter. Colon had only asked for three ships, pointing out that two of these were already practically available if use were made of the penalty laid upon Palos, and had estimated the whole cost of his undertaking at the moderate sum of a single cuento, or one million of mara- vedies.^ These the sovereigns had consented to furnish, and there only remained to be executed the agreement as to Colon's reward in the event of his enterprise proving suc- cessful. Their Majesties accordingly had instructed Juan de Coloma, one of their principal secretaries, to draw up this contract in proper official form, and present it to them for ratification ; and this had now been done. The proposal of Colon being in the nature of a petition, the " capitula- tion " assumed the character of a reply thereto ; and hence it was that the document finally submitted to Ferdinand and Isabella for their approval was couched in the following language : — " THE matters petitioned for, which Your Highnesses hereby grant and bestow upon Don Cristoval Colon, in partial compensa- tion for what he is about to discover in the Ocean Seas and for the voyage which he is now, with the help of God, about to make therein upon Your Highnesses' service, are those which follow: " Firstly.2 Your Highnesses, as Sovereigns (which you are) of the said Ocean Seas, hereby constitute Don Cristoval Colon your Admiral in all those islands and mainlands which by his skill or efforts shall be discovered m the said Ocean Seas, for himself during his lifetime, and, after his death, for his heirs and succes- sors from one to the other forever; with all the dignities and prerogatives pertaining to the said rank, according as Don Alonso Henriquez, Your Hi