On his arrival in Seville, where one might say he had a right to rest
himself and do nothing else, Columbus engaged at once in efforts to see
that the seamen who had accompanied him in this last adventure should be
properly paid. Many of these men had been disloyal to him and unfaithful
to their sovereign, but Columbus, with his own magnanimity, represented
eagerly at court that they had endured great peril, that they brought
great news, and that the king ought to repay them all that they had
earned.

He says, in a letter to his son written at this period, "I have not
a roof over my head in Castile. I have no place to eat nor to sleep
excepting a tavern, and there I am often too poor to pay my scot." This
passage has been quoted as if he were living as a beggar at this time,
and the world has been asked to believe that a man who had a tenth
of the revenue of the Indies due to him in some fashion, was actually
living from hand to mouth from day to day. But this is a mere absurdity
of exaggeration.

Undoubtedly, he was frequently pressed for ready money. He says to his
son, in another letter, "I only live by borrowing." Still he had good
credit with the Genoese bankers established in Andalusia. In writing to
his son he begs him to economize, but at the same time he acknowledges
the receipt of bills of exchange and considerable sums of money.

In the month of December, there is a single transaction in Hispaniola
which amounts to five thousand dollars of our money. We must not,
therefore, take literally his statement that he was too poor to pay
for a night's lodging. On the other hand, it is observed in the
correspondence that, on the fifteenth of April, 1505, the king ordered
that everything which belonged to Columbus on account of his ten per
cent should be carried to the royal treasury as a security for certain
debts contracted by the Admiral.

The king had also given an order to the royal agent in Hispaniola that
everything which he owned there should be sold. All these details have
been carefully brought together by Mr. Harrisse, who says truly that we
cannot understand the last order.

When at last the official proceedings relating to the affairs in Jamaica
arrived in Europe, Columbus made an effort to go to court. A litter was
provided for him, and all the preparations for his journey made. But he
was obliged once more by his weakness to give up this plan, and he could
only write letters pressing his claim. Of