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 rejoicing, and knew that his plans to take
away from Columbus all the glory of what had been done had all gone
wrong, he did not even go to see his old friend and ask his pardon. He
went away to his own house without seeing any one. And there he found a
stern letter from the king and queen of Spain scolding him for trying
to get the best of Columbus, and refusing to hear or see him. The way