seventeen ships of his fleet, large and small; fifteen hundred men
joyfully crowded his decks, while thousands left at home wished that
they might go with him, too. He had soldiers and sailors, horsemen and
footmen; his ships were filled with all the things necessary for trading
with the Indians and the great merchants of Cathay, and for building the
homes of those who wished to live in the lands beyond the sea.

Everything looked so well and everybody was so full of hope and
expectation that the Admiral felt that now his fondest dreams were
coming to pass and that he was a great man indeed.

This was to be a hunt for gold. And so sure of success was Columbus that
he promised the king and queen of Spain, out of the money he should make
on this voyage, to, himself pay for the fitting out of a great army of
fifty thousand foot soldiers and four thousand horsemen to drive away
the pagan Turks who had captured and held possession of the city of
Jerusalem and the sepulcher of Christ. For this had been the chief
desire, for years and years, of the Christian people of Europe. To
accomplish it many brave knights and warriors had fought and failed. But
now Columbus was certain he could do it.

So, out into the western ocean sailed the great expedition of the
Admiral. He sailed first to the Canary Isles, where he took aboard wood
and water and many cattle, sheep and swine. Then, on the seventeenth of
October, he steered straight out into the broad Atlantic, and on Sunday,
the third of November, he saw the hill-tops of one of the West India
Islands that he named Dominica. You can find it on your map of the West
Indies.

For days he sailed on, passing island after island, landing on some and