sailed better.

And so he went on for several days, with the wind veering always south
and south-west, and pointing pretty steadily to the north-east. On
February 4th he changed his course, and went as near due east as he
could. They now began to find themselves in considerable doubt as to
their position. The Admiral said he was seventy-five leagues to the
south of Flores; Vincenti Pinzon and the pilots thought that they had
passed the Azores and were in the neighbourhood of Madeira. In other
words, there was a difference of 600 miles between their estimates,
and the Admiral remarks that "the grace of God permitting, as soon as
land is seen, it will be known who has calculated the surest."

A great quantity of birds that began to fly about the ship made him think
that they were near land, but they turned out to be the harbingers of a
storm. On Tuesday, February 12th, the sea and wind began to rise, and it
continued to blow harder throughout that night and the next day. The
wind being aft he went under bare poles most of the night, and when day
came hoisted a little sail; but the sea was terrible, and if he had not
been so sure of the staunch little Nina he would have felt himself in
danger of being lost. The next day the sea, instead of going down,
increased in roughness; there was a heavy cross sea which kept breaking
right over the ship, and it became necessary to make a little sail in
order to run before the wind, and to prevent the vessel falling back into
the trough of the seas. All through Thursday he ran thus under the half
hoisted staysail, and he could see the Pinta running also before the
wind, although since she presented more surface, and was able to carry a
little more sail than the Nina, she was soon lost to sight. The Admiral
showed lights through the night, and this time there was no lack of
response from Martin Alonso; and for some part of that dark and stormy