that they had hated Columbus for making them build, while he was lashing
about on the furious waves, thinking his other three ships lost, and
expecting every minute a similar fate for his own!

The eighty-eight days, fortunately, were not continuously stormy; there
were occasional lulls. It was the end of June when Columbus had asked
for shelter; not till the middle of July did the first clear weather
come. Then the scattered, battered boats reunited as by a miracle, and
found themselves near the "Queen's Garden" islands south of Cuba. Let us
leave them there patching their boats and enjoying a bit of sunshine
while we see what has been happening at ungrateful San Domingo.

Ovando had been on the island a month and a half when Columbus came
along asking permission to land. Whether this was refused through the
new governor's ugly nature alone, or whether he believed Columbus's
prophecy of bad weather merely an excuse to land, is not known. Certain
it is that, although the Spanish monarchs thought San Domingo could get
along better without the Admiral, they never intended him to be turned
off when a violent hurricane was pending. Ovando evidently did not
believe in the hurricane; besides, he did not want Columbus to find out
that the new governors were managing no better than he had managed. In
this respect there was nothing to be proud of, else Ovando would surely
have believed in the hurricane. Bobadilla had been a miserable failure;
and he himself had not been there long enough to make any improvements,
except the detestable one of sending for African negroes to replace
Indian slaves!

One thing, however, had turned out a little better than any one
expected, and that was the gold mine near which the town of San Domingo
had been built. When Columbus's warning about the storm came, eighteen