he sphere of a court, and purchasing a mule, set out
again, reanimated by hopes, for the camp before Granada.

This time, after some delay, his mission was attended with success.
The generous spirit of Isabella was enkindled, and it seemed as if
the subject, for the first time, broke upon her mind in all its real
grandeur. She declared her resolution to undertake the enterprise, but
paused for a moment, remembering that King Ferdinand looked coldly on
the affair, and that the royal treasury was absolutely drained by the
war.

Her suspense was but momentary. With an enthusiasm worthy of herself
and of the cause, she exclaimed: "I undertake the enterprise for my
own crown of Castile, and will pledge my jewels to raise the necessary
funds." This was the proudest moment in the life of Isabella. It stamped
her renown forever as the patroness of the discovery of the New World.

THE MUTINY

BY A. DE LAMARTINE (ADAPTED)

When Columbus left the Canaries to pass with his three small ships into
the unknown seas, the eruptions of Teneriffe illuminated the heavens
and were reflected in the sea. This cast terror into the minds of his
seamen. They thought that it was the flaming sword of the angel who
expelled the first man from Eden, and who now was trying to drive
back in anger those presumptuous ones who were seeking entrance to the
forbidden and unknown seas and lands. But the admiral passed from ship
to ship explaining to his men, in a simple way, the action of volcanoes,
so that the sailors were no longer afraid.

But as the peak of Teneriffe sank below the horizon, a great sadness
fell upon the men. It was their last beacon, the farthest sea-mark of
the Old World. They were seized with a nameless terror and loneliness.

Then the admiral called them around him in his own ship, and told them
many stories of the things they might hope to find in the wonderful new
world to which they were going,--of the lands, the islands, the seas,
the kingdoms, the riches, the vegetation, the sunshine, the mines of
gold, the sands covered with pearls, the mountains shining with precious
stones, the plains loaded with spices. These stories, tinged with
the brilliant colors of their leader's rich imagination, filled the
discouraged sailors with hope and good spirits.

But as they passed over the trackless ocean, and saw day by day the
great billows rolling between them and the mysterious horizon, the
sailors were again filled with dr