contend with. It was enough to daunt the stoutest heart and wear out
the most enduring patience. Convinced that somewhere across the ocean
to the west there must be a new and undiscovered world, and that it
would be the most glorious of enterprises to find that new world and
plant the standard of the Cross among its people, he never wavered in
his one all-absorbing purpose of voyaging to those unknown shores and
winning them for Christ. And yet, from the very first, he met with
every possible discouragement, and had obstacle upon obstacle piled up
in his path. He was laughed to scorn as a half-mad enthusiast;
denounced as a blasphemer and gainsayer of Scripture truth; cried down
as an ignoramus, unworthy of the slightest attention from men of
science; tantalised by half promises; wearied by vexatious delays: and
yet never did his courage fail nor his purpose waver. At last, after
years of hope deferred and anxieties which made him grey while still in
the prime of life, he was permitted to set sail on what was generally
believed to be a desperate crusade, with no probable issue but death.
And just picture him to yourself, Walter, as he set out on that voyage
amidst the sullen murmurs and tears of the people. His ships were three
`caravels,' as they were called,--that is, something the same as our
coasting colliers, or barges,--and there was no deck in two of them.
Besides, they were crazy, leaky, and scarcely seaworthy; and the crews
numbered only one hundred and twenty men, most of them pressed, and all
hating the service. Nevertheless, he ventured with these into an ocean
without any known shore; and on he went with one fixed, unalterable
purpose, and that was to sail westward, westward, westward till he came
to land. Days and weeks went by, but no land was seen. Provisions ran
short, and every day's course made return home more hopeless. But still
his mind never changed; still he plunged on across that trackless waste
of waters. The men mutinied--and one can hardly blame them; but he
subdued them by his force of character,--they saw in his eye that which
told them that their leader was no common man, but one who would die
rather than abandon his marvellous enterprise. And you remember the
end? The very day after the mutiny, a branch of thorn with berries on
it floats by them. They are all excitement. Then a small board
appears; then a rudely-carved stick; then at night Columbus sees a
light, and next day