And so he rode away from the lovely Moorish city, weary and dejected,
yet hoping for better treatment when he should lay his plans before the
French king. His ride took him across the fertile Vega (plain) of
Granada and into a narrow mountain pass where the bleak Elvira Range
towers three thousand feet above the road. But smiling plain and
frowning mountain were alike to the brooding traveler. He noticed
neither; nor, when he started across the ancient stone bridge of Pinos,
did he notice that horsemen were galloping after him. They were Queen
Isabella's messengers sent to bid the bold navigator return. They
overtook him in the middle of the bridge, and then and there his trip to
France ended.

The queen, they told him, would accept his terms unconditionally. And
Isabella kept her word. The next time Christopher Columbus rode forth
from Granada it was not with bowed head and heavy heart, but with his
whole soul rejoicing. We may be sure that he turned back for a last
affectionate look at the lovely mountain city; for it had given him what
historians now call "the most important paper that ever sovereign put
pen to, "--a royal order for the long-desired ships and men with which to
discover "lands in the west."




CHAPTER II

THE YOUTH OF COLUMBUS