meet two-headed men, they say, and lions, and beasts with men's
heads!" "Ay, but the gold, the gold!" "What will gold be to thee, man,
with a cannibal drinking thy blood?" "And there is somewhere there a
valley of devils!" "Hist about that, there's no need to speak." "Any
land were better than this dreary, endless ocean!" "Ay, ay, any land
were better than this endless ocean!--I go to look for land. The
admiral offers a reward to the man first discovering it." "Ho! for the
west, and the golden cities of Cathay!"

57. Monsters? devils? The admiral was a man of science and not of
superstition, but those wild stories may well have made the night
uncanny for him. Suddenly Alonzo Pinzon cried "Land!" and with
praiseworthy prudence hastened to claim the reward. The admiral fell
on his knees and thanked God. Alonzo Pinzon's crew sang the "Gloria";
the men of the Nina ran up the rigging, and shouted that the land was
truly there. All night the excited men talked of nothing but that
land, and the admiral changed their course to southwest, where it
appeared to lie. Fast they sailed till morning, till noon, till
afternoon, and then "discovered that what they had taken for land was
nothing but clouds!" Oh, the fearful reaction after that tense
twenty-four hours! "There is no further shore!" cried the sailors. "It
is as they said: the sea goes on forever, and we are going to death!"
The admiral quietly ordered, "Sail on into the west." They could not
gainsay him. He willed it, and they sailed on.

58. Weeds and birds still float and fly about the ships. "Fine weather
and the sea smooth, many thanks to God," says the admiral. Alonzo
Pinzon wished to seek the islands that might be near them. "No," said
the admiral, "we shall not change our course." Put the signs of land
again brought reviving spirits and new hope to the men, and again the