But back in 1492 the thicker the seaweed, the surer were those sailors
that it indicated land.

Birds and seaweed, seaweed and birds, for over two weeks. Then on
September 25 the monotony was broken. Captain Martin Pinzon called out
from the _Pinta_ that he saw land. Columbus says that when he heard
this shout, he fell on his knees and thanked God. Scanning the horizon,
he too thought he saw land; all of the next day they sailed with every
eye fixed on a far-off line of mountains which never appeared any
nearer. At last the supposed mountains literally rose and rolled away!
It was nothing but low-lying clouds, such as those the Canary Islanders
had mistaken for _terra firma_.

Christopher's heart must have sunk, for they had come over seven hundred
leagues, and for two days he had supposed he was gazing on the island of
his search.

In spite of this disappointment they kept on, for a plant floated by
that had roots which had grown in the earth; also a piece of wood that
had been rudely carved by man; and the number of birds kept increasing.
One can readily see how even the most skeptical man on the expedition
should have felt sure by this time that the man whom he used to consider
a mild maniac was in truth a very wise person. And perhaps the crew did
feel it; but also they felt angry at those signs that mocked them day
after day by never coming true. They grumbled; and the more the signs
increased the more they grumbled; till finally one morning Columbus came
on deck and found that his own helmsman had turned the _Santa
Maria_ eastward, and all the crew were standing by in menacing
attitudes.