such an expedition was impossible, and Columbus was poor. His only
hope was to win the help and friendship of a king or some other
great and wealthy person.

The Portuguese were in those days a sea-faring people, and their
ships were to be found wherever ships dared go. Indeed Prince Henry
of Portugal did so much to encourage voyages of discovery that he
was called Henry the Navigator. And although he was by this time
dead, the people still took great interest in voyages of discovery.
So at length Columbus determined to go to King John of Portugal to
tell him of his plans, and ask for his aid.

King John listened kindly enough, it seemed, to what Columbus had
to say. But before giving him any answer he said that he must
consult his wise men. These wise men looked upon the whole idea
of sailing to the west to reach the east as absurd. So King John
refused to give Columbus any help.

Yet although most of King John's wise men thought little of the
plan, King John himself thought that there was something in it.
But instead of helping Columbus he meanly resolved to send out
an expedition of his own. This he did, and when Columbus heard of
it he was so angry that he left Portugal, which for more than ten
years he had made his home. He was poor and in debt, so he left
the country secretly, in fear of the King, and of those to whom he
owed money.

When Columbus thus fled from Portugal, penniless and in debt, he
was a man over forty. He was a bitterly disappointed man, too, but
he still clung to his great idea. So he sent his brother Bartholomew