to go on so
doubtful a venture. The royal officers finally took to the reckless
course of pardoning all prisoners guilty of any crime short of murder or
treason, on condition of their shipping for the voyage. At least half
the sailors of the three ships were pressed men.

The _Santa Maria_, largest of the three caravels, was ninety feet long
and twenty broad. She was a decked ship; the others had only the tiny
cabin and forecastle. A caravel was never intended for long voyages into
unknown seas. Her builders designed her for coasting trade, not for a
quick voyage independent of wind and tide; but on the other hand she was
cheaper to build and to sail than a Genoese galley. The Admiral believed
that in the end the smallness of the ships would be no disadvantage.
Among the estuaries, bays and groups of islands which he expected to
find, they could go anywhere. Including shipmasters, pilots and crews
the fleet carried eighty-seven men and three ship-boys, besides the
personal servants of the Admiral, a physician, a surgeon, an interpreter
and a few adventurers. The interpreter was a converted Jew who could
speak not only several European languages but Arabic and Chaldean.

"A retinue of servants indeed!" observed Fonseca, the bishop, when the
door had closed upon the Admiral of the Indies. "Since all enlisted in
the expedition are at his service, why does he demand lackeys?"

But the head of the Genoese navigator had not been turned by his honors.
No man cared less for display than he did, personally. He knew very
well, however, that unless he maintained his own dignity the rabble
under his command might be emboldened to cut his throat, seize the ships
and become pirates. The men whom he could trust were altogether too few
to control those he could not, if it came to an open fight,--but it must
not be allowed to come to that. It was not agreeable to squabble with
Fonseca about the number of servants he was allowed to have, but he
must have personal attendants who were not discharged convicts.

On the open seas, removed from their lamenting and despondent relatives,
the crews gradually subsided into a state of discipline. The
quarter-deck is perhaps the severest test of character known. Despite
themselves the sailors began to feel the serene and kindly strength of
the man who was their master.

With a tact and understanding as great as his courage and self-command
Colon told his men more than they had ever known of the