As soon as the ship got into Cadiz, Columbus sent off a letter to a
friend of his at the court in the beautiful city of Granada. This letter
was, of course, shown to the queen. And it told all about what Columbus
had suffered, and was, so full of sorrow and humbleness and yet of pride
in what he had been able to do, even though he had been disgraced, that
Queen Isabella (who was really a friend to Columbus in spite of her
dissatisfaction with the things he sometimes did) became very angry at
the way he had been treated.

She took the letter to King Ferdinand, and at once both the king and the
queen hastened to send a messenger to Columbus telling him how angry
and sorry they were that Bobadilla should have dared to treat their
good friend the Admiral so. They ordered his immediate release from
imprisonment; they sent him a present of five thousand dollars and asked
him to come to court at once.

On the seventeenth of December, 1500, Columbus came to the court at
Granada in the beautiful palace of the Alhambra. He rode on a mule. At
that time, in Spain, people were not allowed to ride on mules, because
if they did the Spanish horses would not be bought and sold, as mules
were so much cheaper and were easier to ride. But Columbus was sick and
it hurt him to ride horseback, while he could be fairly comfortable on
an easy-going mule. So the king and queen gave him special permission to
come on mule-back.

When Columbus appeared before the queen, looking so sick and troubled,
Isabella was greatly affected. She thought of all he had done and all he
had gone through and all he had suffered, and as he came to the steps of
the throne the queen burst into tears. That made Columbus cry too, for