eye was closed that night. As the evening darkened,
Columbus took his station on the top of the castle or cabin on the
high poop of his vessel, ranging his eye along the dusky horizon, and
maintaining an intense and unremitting watch. About ten o'clock he
thought he beheld a light glimmering at a great distance. Fearing his
eager hopes might deceive him, he called to Pedro Gutierrez, gentleman
of the king's bedchamber, and inquired whether he saw such a light: the
latter replied in the affirmative. Doubtful whether it might not be some
delusion of the fancy, Columbus called Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia,
and made the same inquiry. By the time the latter had ascended the
round-house, the light had disappeared. They saw it once or twice
afterwards in sudden and passing gleams, as if it were a torch in the
bark of a fisherman, rising and sinking with the waves, or in the hand
of some person on shore, borne up and down as he walked from house to
house. So transient and uncertain were these gleams, that few attached
any importance to them; Columbus, however, considered them as certain
signs of land, and, moreover, that the land was inhabited.

They continued their course until two in the morning, when a gun from
the Pinta gave the joyful signal of land. It was first descried by a
mariner named Rodrigo de Triana; but the reward was afterwards adjudged
to the admiral, for having previously perceived the light. The land was
now clearly seen about two leagues distant, whereupon they took in sail,
and laid to, waiting impatiently for the dawn.

The thoughts and feelings of Columbus in this little space of time
must have been tumultuous and intense. At length, in spite of every
difficulty and danger, he had accomplished his object. The great mystery
of the ocean was revealed; his theory, which had been the scoff of
sages, was triumphantly established; he had secured to himself a glory
durable as the world itself.

It is difficult to conceive the feelings of such a man, at such a
moment, or the conjectures which must have thronged upon his mind, as
to the land before him, covered with darkness. That it was fruitful was
evident from the vegetables which floated from its shores. He thought,
too, that he perceived the fragrance of aromatic groves. The moving
light he had beheld proved it the residence of man. But what were its
inhabitants? Were they like those of the other parts of the globe, or
were they some strange and monstrous ra