for Spain; they knew that even though he had not brought
home the great riches that were to have been gathered in the Indies, he
had still found for Spain a land that would surely, in time, give to it
riches, possessions and power.

So they sent knightly messengers to Columbus telling him to come and see
them at once, and greeting him with many pleasant and friendly words.
Columbus was, as you must have seen, quick to feel glad again the moment
things seemed to turn in his favor; so he laid aside his penitent's
gown, and hurried off to court. And almost the first thing he did was to
ask the king and queen to fit out another fleet for him. Six ships, he
said he should want this time; and with these he was certain he could
sail into the yet undiscovered waters that lay beyond Hayti and upon
which he knew he should find Cathay.

I am afraid the king and queen of Spain were beginning to feel a little
doubtful as to this still undiscovered Cathay. At any rate, they had
other matters to think of and they did not seem so very anxious to
spend more money on ships and sailors. But they talked very nicely to
Columbus; they gave him a new title (this time it was duke or marquis);
they made him a present of a great tract of land in Hayti, but it was
months and months before they would help him with the ships and money he
kept asking for.

At last, however, the queen, Isabella, who had always had more interest
in Columbus and his plans than had the king, her husband, said a good
word for him. The six ships were given him, men and supplies were put
on board and on the twentieth of May, 1498, the Admiral set out on his
third voyage to what every one now called the Indies.

There was not nearly so much excitement among the people about this
voyage. Cathay and its riches had almost become an old story; at any
rate it was a story that was not altogether believed in. Great crowds
did not now follow the Admiral from place to place begging him to take
them with him to the Indies. The hundreds of sick, disappointed and
angry men who had come home poor when they expected to be rich, and sick
when they expected to be strong, had gone through the land, and folks
began to think that Cathay was after all only a dream, and that the
stories of great gold and of untold riches which they had heard were but
"sailors' yarns" which no one could believe.

So it was hard to get together a crew large enough to man the six
vessels that made up the fle