"Nay, I doubt it." See, they are waving a branch from the Nina's
deck! Ho, the Pinta! "A stalk loaded with roseberries!" There must be
land--or else the devil himself puts these signs in our way. Alonzo
Pirzon, in the swift Pinta, kept ahead. Night came down. At ten the
admiral, peer into the darkness, saw a light--was it one of those
phantom lights reported to dance over these waters? A faint,
glimmering light! "Pero Gutierrez, come here. I see a light! Look that
way!"--"I see it too," said Pero. "Rodrigo Sanchez, come here--a
light!" But Rodrigo Sanchez does not stand in the right place, and
sees nothing at all. It was gone a moment. Then the admiral saw it
moving up and down. "It _may_ be an indication of land," admitted
Rodrigo Sanchez; but Columbus was certain, and his orders were prompt
and imperative: a strict watch to be kept upon the forecastle, and for
him who should first see land a silken jacket and the reward promised
by the king and queen.

62. At midnight the Pinta was still ahead. Ninety miles they had made
since sunset. Look out for land, Alonzo Pinzon. Midnight--look sharp.
No land. One o'clock--look sharp. No land. Two o'clock--what is it?
Rodrigo de Triana has seen land, land!_ Make the signals, Alonzo
Pinzon. Ho, the Santa Maria--_Land!_ Ho, the Nina--_Land!_ Take in the
sails, wait now for the dawn--first dawn for Europe in the new world.

63. In the morning--it was Friday, October 12th, five weeks since they
saw the last of the Canaries--they found that the land was a small
island with naked people on its shore. Here we are at last! We have
accomplished it! Think of the exultation! Land with fitting ceremony,
and take possession for the king and queen of Spain. Drop the small
boat from the Santa Maria (put in your guns, lest the natives prove
cannibals). Get in you, and you, and you, of the sailors; get in,