s, and made them burn with ardent zeal once more to revive the
contest of faith on the sacred plains of Palestine. Columbus had indeed
resolved, should his projected enterprise prove successful, to devote
the profits from his anticipated discoveries to a crusade for the rescue
of the Holy Sepulchre from the power of the infidels.

During the latter part of the year 1490 Ferdinand and Isabella were
engaged in celebrating the marriage of their eldest daughter, the
Princess Isabella, with Prince Don Alonzo, heir apparent of Portugal.
Bearing these long and vexatious delays as he had before done, Columbus
supported himself chiefly by making maps and charts, occasionally
assisted from the purse of his friend Diego de Deza.

The year was passing on. Columbus was kept in a state of irritating
anxiety at Cordova, when he heard that the sovereigns were about to
commence that campaign which ended in the expulsion of the Moors from
Spain. Aware that many months must pass before they would give their
minds to the subject if he allowed the present moment to slip by, he
pressed for a decisive reply to his proposals with an earnestness that
would admit of no evasion.

The learned men of the council were directed to express their opinion of
the enterprise. The report of each was unfavourable, although the
worthy friar Diego de Deza, tutor to Prince John, and several others,
urged the sovereigns not to lose the opportunity of extending their
dominions and adding so greatly to their glory.

Again, however, Columbus was put off. Having no longer confidence in
the vague promises which had hitherto been made, he turned his back on
Seville, resolved to offer to the King of France the honour of carrying
out his magnificent undertaking.

Leaving Seville, his means exhausted, he travelled on foot, leading his
young son Diego by the hand, to the sea-port of Palos de Moguer in
Andalusia. Weary and exhausted, he stopped to ask for bread and water
at the gate of the ancient Franciscan convent of Santa Maria de Rabida.

The Prior, Juan Perez de Marchena, happening to come up, and remarking
the appearance of the stranger, entered into conversation with him. The
Prior, a man of superior information, was struck with the grandeur of
his views, and when he found that the navigator was on the point of
abandoning Spain to seek patronage in the Court of France, and that so
important an enterprise was about to be lost for ever to the country,
hi