y, the squadron was wafted on, so that it
was unnecessary to shift a single sail.

They now began to observe patches of weeds drifting from the west, which
increased in size as they advanced. These, together with a white
tropical bird which never sleeps on the water, made Columbus hope that
he was approaching some island; for, as he had come but three hundred
and sixty leagues since leaving the Canary Islands, he supposed the
mainland still to be far off.

The breeze was soft and steady, the water smooth. The crews were in
high spirits, and every seaman was on the look-out, for a pension of ten
thousand maravedis had been promised to him who should first discover
land.

Alonzo Pinzon in the _Pinta_ took the lead. On the afternoon of the
13th of September he hailed the Admiral, saying that from the flight of
numerous birds and the appearance of the northern horizon, he thought
there was land in that direction; but Columbus replied that it was
merely a deception of the clouds, and would not alter his course.

The following day there were drizzling showers, and two boobies flew on
board the _Santa Maria_, birds which seldom wander more than twenty
leagues from land. Sounding, however, no bottom was found. Unwilling
to waste the present fair breeze, he resolved, whatever others thought,
to keep one bold course until the coast of India was reached.

Notwithstanding, even the favourable breeze began to frighten the
seamen, who imagined that the wind in those regions might always blow
from the east, and if so, would prevent their return to Spain.

Not long after the wind shifted to the south-west, and restored their
courage, proving to them that the wind did not always prevail from the
east. Several small birds also visited the ships, singing as they
perched on the rigging, thus showing that they were not exhausted by
their flight. Again the squadron passed among numerous patches of
seaweed, and the crews, ever ready to take alarm, having heard that
ships were sometimes frozen in by ice, fancied that they might be fixed
in the same manner, until they were caught by the nipping hand of
winter.

Then they took it into their heads that the water was growing shoaler,
and expressed their fears that they might run on some sand-banks and be
lost. Then a whale was seen, which creature Columbus assured them never
went far from land. Notwithstanding, they became uneasy at the calmness
of the weather, declaring that as t