Columbus was now fairly afloat, and we may say with Milton, that--

The world was all before him, where to choose.
And Providence his guide.

His choice was made, however; and his Guide did not fail him.


CANARY ISLANDS REACHED.

He was about to change the long-continued, weary, dismal life of a suitor,
for the sharp intense anxiety of a struggle in which there was no
alternative to success but deplorable, ridiculous, fatal failure. Speaking
afterwards of the time he spent as a suitor at court, he says, "Eight
years I was torn with disputes, and in a word, my proposition was a thing
for mockery." It was now to be seen what mockery was in it. The following
account of the voyage is mainly taken from an abridgment of Columbus's own
diary made by Las Casas, who in some places gives the admiral's own words.

The little squadron reached the Canary Islands in a few days, with no
event worth recording, except that the caravel "Pinta," commanded Martin
Alonzo Pinzon, unshipped her rudder. This was supposed to be no accident,
but to have been contrived by the owners of the vessel, who did not like
the voyage. The admiral (from henceforth Columbus is called "the admiral")
was obliged to stay some time at the Canary Islands, to refit the
"Pinta," and to make some change in the cut of her sails. While this was
being done, news was brought that three Portuguese government vessels were
cruising in the offing with the intention of preventing the expedition.
However, on the 6th of September, Columbus set sail from Gomera, and