how to tackle any task that might present itself, this was the occasion.
Yet the men who came forward lacked exactly these indispensable
qualities.

No doubt Columbus and Fonseca picked the best of them; but the
misfortune was that Columbus, who should have known what the business
ahead of them required, did not know how to judge men; and the shrewd
archbishop, who _did_ know how to judge men, had no idea what the
occasion was going to demand of them; and thus they chose men for the
second trip to the new lands who were utterly unsuitable.

Nearly all the two thousand who applied for permission to sail were
personally interviewed by the Admiral, which must have taken much time;
besides, he was busy buying wheat and flour, hard biscuit, salt pork and
fish, cheese, peas, beans, lentils, wine, oil, and vinegar, as well as
honey, almonds, and raisins for Don Cristobal's own table. It was just
about the same food that a sailing vessel would carry to-day, with the
exception of tea and coffee; for Portugal had not then discovered the
lands from which these two beverages were to be introduced into Europe.

All these preparations were watched by two eager-faced boys who no doubt
often said to each other, "I hope father will think us old enough to go
with him on his next voyage!" For the Admiral had brought little Diego
and Fernando along to Sevilla and Cadiz, so that he might see them every
day before the long separation.

Finally, on September 25, 1493, all was ready and the anchors were
hoisted. How different it was from that first fearful sailing out of
Palos in 1492. This time the fleet was magnificent; seventeen vessels,
all newly calked and painted; about fifteen hundred men, all happy and