the queen, and I will write to her; I was her confessor once."

40. He wrote with such force that he was summoned to the queen at
once, and his earnest pleading determined Isabella to send again for
Columbus. But again disappointment came, for they took offense at
Columbus's high demands and would not grant them. The Spanish
sovereigns were to furnish the largest share of the equipment; he
should be admiral of the seas, and he and his sons after him were to
rule, under the king, the countries discovered, and share in all the
profits of the enterprise. Bold demands from an adventurer! Seventeen
years of waiting might have taught him common sense; but with his
absurd faith and uncommon sense he would accept no other terms, and
turned away again with his Idea and his determination.

41. "Too bad, too bad!" said St. Angel, the tax-collector; "_I_ will
plead with the queen. She must not let slip this chance of enriching
the king--_and_ converting the khan. I will myself lend the money
necessary, if the king can't afford it." Said Isabella to St. Angel:
"I think as you do. This is a wonderful plan. Let them say what they
will, by my own right I am queen of Castile, as well as queen of
Spain, and I pledge the crown of Castile to raise for Cristoforo
Colombo a suitable equipment to sail to the Indies by the west. Let
him make his own terms."

42. At last the fretting applications, the repeated explanations, the
harrowing suspense, the long restriction are over, and the strong
wings of the sea-bird are free to bear away over the Atlantic.

THE VOYAGE.