in such hours of leisure as he had, strolling about the streets of
Genoa, listening to the talk, staring in at the shop-windows, or
watching the busy life in the harbor. That the latter had a strong
attraction for him there can be no doubt, for though he followed his
father's trade till early manhood, he finally found his real vocation as
a seaman. It was on the ocean that true romance dwelt, for it led to
strange lands and peoples, and no one knew what wonders and mysteries
lay behind each horizon. It was there, too, high courage was developed
and endurance, for it was there that men did battle hand to hand with
nature's mightiest forces. It was the one career of the age which called
to the bold and adventurous spirit. What training Columbus received or
what voyages he made we know not; but when, at about the age of thirty,
he steps into the light of history, it is as a man with a wide and
thorough knowledge of both the theory and practice of seamanship; a man,
too, of keen mind and indomitable will, and with a mighty purpose
brooding in his heart.

It was natural enough that his eyes should turn to Portugal, for
Portugal was the greatest sea-faring nation of the age. Her sailors had
discovered the Madeira Islands, and crept little by little down the
coast of Africa, rounding this headland and that, searching always for a
passage to India, which they knew lay somewhere to the east, until, at
last, they had sailed triumphantly around the Cape of Good Hope. It is
worth remarking that Columbus's brother, Bartholomew, of whom we hear so
little, but who did so much for his brother's fame, was a member of that
expedition, and Columbus himself must have gathered no little
inspiration from it.

So to Lisbon Columbus went, and his ardent spirit found a great stimulus
in the adventurous atmosphere of that bustling city. He went to work as