ome to, of
making instant application to the court of France, by writing on his
behalf to Queen Isabella; and Columbus repaired to the court at Cordova
at her bidding.

[Illustration: CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS BEFORE THE DOMINICAN JUNTA AT
SALAMANCA, SPAIN.

From the celebrated painting by Senor V. Izquierdo.

(See page 16.)]

It was an ill moment for the navigator's fortune. Castille and Leon were
in the thick of that struggle which resulted in the final defeat of the
Moors; and neither Ferdinand nor Isabella had time to listen. The
adventurer was indeed kindly received; he was handed over to the care of
Alonzo de Quintanilla, whom he speedily converted into an enthusiastic
supporter of his theory. He made knowledge without a struggle.
Columbus argued his point, but was overwhelmed with Biblical texts, with
quotations from the great divines, with theological objections, and in a
short time the junta was adjourned. Senor Rodriguez Pinilla, the learned
Salamantine writer, holds that the first refusal of Columbus' project
was made in the official council at Cordova. In 1489, Columbus, who had
been following the court from place to place (billeted in towns as an
officer of the King and gratified from time to time with sums of money
toward his expenses), was present at the siege of Malaga. In 1490 the
junta decided that his project was vain and impracticable, and that it
did not become their Highnesses to have anything to do with it; and this
was confirmed, with some reservation, by their Highnesses themselves, at
Seville.

Columbus was now in despair. So reduced in circumstances was he that
(according to the eminent Spanish statesman and orator, Emilio Castelar)
he was jocularly and universally termed "the stranger with the
threadbare coat." He at once betook himself to Huelva, where his
brother-in-law resided, with the intention of taking ship to France. He
halted, however, at Palos, a little maritime town in Andalusia. At the
Monastery of Santa Maria de la Rabida[2] he knocked and asked for bread
and water for his boy Diego, and presently got into conversation with
Fray Juan Perez de Marchena, the prior, who invited him to take up his
quarters in the monastery, and introduced him to Garci Fernandez, a
physician and an ardent student of geography. To these good men did
Columbus propound his theory and explain his plan. Juan Perez had been
the Queen's confessor; he wrote to her and was summoned to her presence,
and money