there, as you know, Captain Pinzon lived; there, too, he had other
acquaintances, so that he supposed it would be easy to get the sailors
he needed for his ships. But in this he was greatly mistaken.

As soon as the papers had been signed that held the queen to her
promise, Columbus set off for Palos. He stopped at the Convent of Rabida
to tell the Friar Juan Perez how thankful he was to him for the help the
good priest had given him, and how everything now looked promising and
successful.

The town of Palos, as you can see from your map of Spain, is situated at
the mouth of the river Tinto on a little bay in the southwestern part
of Spain, not far from the borders of Portugal. To-day the sea has gone
away from it so much that it is nearly high and dry; but four hundred
years ago it was quite a seaport, when Spain did not have a great many
sea towns on the Atlantic coast.

At the time of Columbus's voyage the king and queen of Spain were
angry with the port of Palos for something its people had done that was
wrong--just what this was we do not know. But to punish the town, and
because Columbus wished to sail from there, the king and queen ordered
that Palos should pay them a fine for their wrong-doing. And this fine
was to lend the king and queen of Spain, for one year, without pay, two
sailing vessels of the kind called caravel's, armed and equipped "for
the service of the crown"--that is, for the use of the king and queen of
Spain, in the western voyage that Columbus was to make.

When Columbus called together the leading people of Palos to meet him in
the church of St. George and hear the royal commands, they came; but at
first they did not understand just what they must do. But when they knew