ory of what he had seen and done, addressed it to the king and
queen of Spain, put it into a barrel and threw the barrel overboard.

But the Nina was not shipwrecked, and on the eighteenth of February
Columbus reached the Azores. The Portuguese governor was so surprised
when he heard this crazy Italian really had returned, and was so angry
to think it was Spain and not Portugal that was to profit by his voyage
that he tried to make Columbus a prisoner. But the Admiral gave this
inhospitable welcomer the slip and was soon off the coast of Portugal.

Here he was obliged to land and meet the king of Portugal--that same
King John who had once acted so meanly toward him. King John would
have done so again had he dared. But things were quite different now.
Columbus was a great man. He had made a successful voyage, and the king
and queen of Spain would have made it go hard with the king of Portugal
if he dared trouble their admiral. So King John had to give a royal
reception to Columbus, and permit him to send a messenger to the king
and queen of Spain with the news of his return from Cathay.

Then Columbus went on board the Nina again and sailed for Palos. But his
old friend Captain Alonso Pinzon had again acted badly. For he had left
the Admiral in one of the storms at sea and had hurried homeward. Then
he sailed into one of the northern ports of Spain, and hoping to get all
the credit for his voyage, sent a messenger post-haste to the king and
queen with the word that he had returned from Cathay and had much to
tell them. And then he, too, sailed for Palos.

On the fifteenth of March, 1493, just seven months after he had sailed
away to the West, Columbus in the Nina sailed into Palos Harbor. The
people knew the little vessel at once. And then what a time they made!
Columbus has come back, they cried. He has found Cathay. Hurrah! hurrah!
And the bells rang and the cannons boomed and the streets were full
of people. The sailors were welcomed with shouts of joy, and the
big stories they told were listened to with open mouths and many
exclamations of surprise. So Columbus came back to Palos. And everybody
pointed him out and cheered him and he was no longer spoken of as "that
crazy Italian who dragged away the men of Palos to the Jumping-off
place."

And in the midst of all this rejoicing what should sail into the harbor
of Palos but the Pinta, just a few hours late! And when Captain Alonso
Pinzon heard the sounds of rejoic