e excited over this chance for glory and riches that
she had almost lost. "Quick! send for Columbus. Call him back!" said
she. "I agree to his terms. If King Ferdinand cannot or will not take
the risk, I, the queen, will do it all. Quick! do not let the man get
into France. After him. Bring him back!"

And without delay a royal messenger, mounted on a swift horse, was sent
at full gallop to bring Columbus back.

All this time poor Columbus felt bad enough. Everything had gone wrong.
Now he must go away into a new land and do it all over again. Kings and
queens, he felt, were not to be depended upon, and he remembered a place
in the Bible where it said: "Put not your trust in princes." Sad,
solitary, and heavy-hearted, he jogged slowly along toward the
mountains, wondering what the king of France would say to him, and
whether it was really worth trying.

Just as he was riding across the little bridge called the Bridge of
Pinos, some six miles from Granada, he heard the quick hoof-beats of a
horse behind him. It was a great spot for robbers, and Columbus felt of
the little money he had in his traveling pouch, and wondered whether he
must lose it all. The hoof-beats came nearer. Then a voice hailed him.
"Turn back, turn back!" the messenger cried out. "The queen bids you
return to Granada. She grants you all you ask."

Columbus hesitated. Ought he to trust this promise, he wondered. Put not
your trust in princes, the verse in the Bible had said. If I go back I
may only be put off and worried as I have been before. And yet, perhaps
she means what she says. At any rate, I will go back and try once more.

So, on the little Bridge of Pinos, he turned his mule around and rode
back to Granada. And, sure enough, when he saw Queen Isabella she agreed
to all that he asked. If he found Cathay, Columbus was to be made
admiral for life of all the new seas and oceans into which he might
sail; he was to be chief ruler of all the lands he might find; he was to
keep one tenth part of all the gold and jewels and treasures he should
bring away, and was to have his "say" in all questions about the new
lands. For his part (and this was because of the offer of his friend at
Palos, Captain Pinzon) he agreed to pay one eighth of all the expenses
of this expedition and of all new enterprises, and was to have one
eighth of all the profits from them.

So Columbus had his wish at last. The queen's men figured up how much
money they could let h