aid he, "what is easier than to do this which you said
was impossible? It is the simplest thing in the world. Anybody can do
it,--AFTER HE HAS BEEN SHOWN HOW!"

COLUMBUS AT LA RABIDA

BY WASHINGTON IRVING (ADAPTED)

About half a league from the little seaport of Palos de Moguer, in
Andalusia, there stood, and continues to stand at the present day,
an ancient convent of Franciscan friars, dedicated to Santa Maria de
Rabida.

One day a stranger on foot, in humble guise, but of a distinguished air,
accompanied by a small boy, stopped at the gate of the convent and asked
of the porter a little bread and water for his child. While receiving
this humble refreshment, the prior of the convent, Juan Perez de
Marchena, happened to pass by, and was struck with the appearance of the
stranger. Observing from his air and accent that he was a foreigner, he
entered into conversation with him and soon learned the particulars of
his story.

That stranger was Columbus.

Accompanied by his little son Diego, he was on his way to the
neighboring town of Huelva, to seek a brother-in-law, who had married a
sister of his deceased wife.

The prior was a man of extensive information. His attention had been
turned in some measure to geographical and nautical science. He was
greatly interested by the conversation of Columbus, and struck with the
grandeur of his views. When he found, however, that the voyager was
on the point of abandoning Spain to seek the patronage of the court of
France, the good friar took the alarm.

He detained Columbus as his guest, and sent for a scientific friend
to converse with him. That friend was Garcia Fernandez, a physician of
Palos. He was equally struck with the appearance and conversation of
the stranger. Several conferences took place at the convent, at which
veteran mariners and pilots of Palos were present.

Facts were related by some of these navigators in support of the theory
of Columbus. In a word, his project was treated with a deference in the
quiet cloisters of La Rabida and among the seafaring men of Palos which
had been sought in vain among sages and philosophers.

Among the navigators of Palos was one Martin Alonzo Pinzon, the head
of a family of wealth, members of which were celebrated for their
adventurous expeditions. He was so convinced of the feasibility of
Columbus's plan that he offered to engage in it with purse and person,
and to bear the expenses of Columbus in an applicati