ied on board the gold that belonged
to Columbus. Was not that singular?

Then all the friends of Columbus cried: How wonderful! Truly the Lord is
on the side of the great Admiral!

But his enemies said: This Genoese is a wizard. He was mad because the
governor would not let him come into the harbor, and he raised this
storm in revenge. It is a dangerous thing to interfere with the
Admiral's wishes.

For you see in those days people believed in witches and spells and all
kinds of fairy-book things like those, when they could not explain why
things happened. And when they could not give a good reason for some
great disaster or for some stroke of bad luck, they just said: It is
witchcraft; and left it so.

CHAPTER XII. HOW THE ADMIRAL PLAYED ROBINSON CRUSOE.

While the terrible storm that wrecked the great gold fleet of the
governor was raging so furiously, Columbus with his four ships was lying
as near shore as he dared in a little bay farther down the coast of
Hayti. Here he escaped the full fury of the gale, but still his ships
suffered greatly, and came very near being shipwrecked. They became
separated in the storm, but the caravels met at last after the storm was
over and steered away for the island of Jamaica.

For several days they sailed about among the West India Islands; then
they took a westerly course, and on the thirtieth of July, Columbus
saw before him the misty outlines of certain high mountains which he
supposed to be somewhere in Asia, but which we now know were the Coast
Range Mountains of Honduras. And Honduras, you remember, is a part of
Central America.

Just turn to the map of Central America in your geography and find
Honduras. The mountains, you see, are marked there; and on the northern
coast, at the head of a fine bay, you will notice the seaport town of
Truxillo. And that is about the spot where, for the first time, Columbus
saw the mainland of North America.

As he sailed toward the coast a great canoe came close to the ship. It
was almost as large as one of his own caravels, for it was over forty
feet long and fully eight feet wide. It was paddled by twenty-five
Indians, while in the middle, under an awning of palm-thatch sat the
chief Indian, or cacique, as he was called. A curious kind of sail had
been rigged to catch the breeze, and the canoe was loaded with fruits
and Indian merchandise.

This canoe surprised Columbus very much. He had seen nothing just like
it among the o