Columbus by this time was about thirty-five. His reddish-brown hair had
turned white. He had no money; on the contrary, he was in debt. His good
wife Felipa had died, and he had to find some place where he could leave
his little son Diego while he went to court to ask for ships. Felipa had
a sister married to a Spaniard and living in Huelva. With this lady
Columbus decided to leave the boy.

They left Lisbon by ship, it is supposed; but instead of taking a ship
bound direct for Huelva, Christopher picked out one bound for Palos, a
port not far from Huelva; moreover, on landing, instead of conducting
the child at once to his aunt, he trudged a few miles back of Palos with
him to a lonely old convent among the sand dunes, called La Rabida
(pronounced Ra'bida). About his haste to reach this spot Christopher had
not breathed a word in the town where he had just landed; in fact, he
always remained silent about it; but it appears that he went there to
question a Portuguese monk named Marchena whom he had known in Portugal.
This monk was an excellent cartographer, or map-maker, and Christopher
wished to talk with him about the western lands.

This good monk may have already heard in Portugal about the pilot. At
any rate he was much interested in his visitor, and ordered that the
monks should feed the hungry little Diego while he and Diego's father
held council in one of the cool little cells of the convent.

"Tarry with us a while, Senor," said the monk, "and I will send for the
learned Doctor Fernandez of Palos, who has read much science, and for
the brave Captain Martin Alonzo Pinzon, who has made many voyages. Let
us hear what they have to say about the possibility of finding this
island which you believe to lie off in the western sea."