an idea that the
king and queen of Spain were tired of Columbus and would not feel very
bad if they never saw him again. He promised to send help, but did not
do so for fear he should get into trouble. And the relief that the poor
shipwrecked people on Jamaica longed for did not come.

Then some of the men who were with Columbus mutinied and ran away.
In fact, more things happened during this remarkable fourth voyage of
Columbus than I can begin to tell you about. The story is more wonderful
than is that of Robinson Crusoe, and when you are older you must
certainly read it all and see just what marvelous adventures Columbus
and his men met with and how bravely the little Ferdinand Columbus went
through them all. For when Ferdinand grew up he wrote a life of his
father, the Admiral, and told the story of how they all played Robinson
Crusoe at Sir Christopher's Cove.

At last the long-delayed help was sent by Governor Ovando, and one day
the brave Diego Mendez came sailing into Sir Christopher's Cove. And
Columbus forgave the rebels who had run away; and on the twenty-eighth
of June, 1504, they all sailed away from the place, that, for a year
past, had been almost worse than a prison to them all.

On the fifteenth of August, the rescued crews sailed into the harbor of
Santo Domingo. The governor, Ovando, who had reluctantly agreed to send
for Columbus, was now in a hurry to get him away. Whether the governor
was afraid of him, or ashamed because of the way he had treated him, or
whether he felt that Columbus was no longer held so high in Spain, and
that, therefore, it was not wise to make much of him, I cannot say. At
any rate he hurried him off to Spain, and on the twelfth of September,
1504, Columbus turned his back forever on the new world he had
discovered, and with two ships sailed for Spain.

He had not been at sea but a day or two before he found that the ship
in which he and the boy Ferdinand were sailing was not good for much. A
sudden storm carried away its mast and the vessel was sent back to Santo
Domingo. Columbus and Ferdinand, with a few of the men, went on board
the other ship which was commanded by Bartholomew Columbus, the
brother of the Admiral, who had been with him all through the dreadful
expedition. At last they saw the home shores again, and on the seventh
of November, 1504, Columbus sailed into the harbor of San Lucar, not far
from Cadiz.

He had been away from Spain for fully two years and a