All the seven long years during which he had waited, and hoped,
and prayed, in Spain had been wasted. Now he would go to the King
of France, and make his last appeal there.
But Columbus had left friends behind him, friends who had begun
to picture to themselves almost as vividly as he the splendours of
the conquest he was to make. Now these friends sought out the Queen.
In glowing words they painted to her the glory and the honour which
would come to Spain if Columbus succeeded. And if he failed, why,
what were a few thousand crowns, they asked. And as the Queen
listened her heart beat fast; the magnificence of the enterprise
took hold upon her, and she resolved that, come what might, Columbus
should go forth on his adventure.
Ferdinand, however, still looked coldly on. The war against the
Moors had been long and bitter, his treasury was empty. Whence, he
asked himself, was money forthcoming for this mad scheme? Isabella,
however, had done with prudence and caution. "If there is not money
enough in Aragon," she cried, "I will undertake this adventure for
my own kingdom of Castile, and if need be I will pawn my jewels to
do it."
While these things were happening Columbus, sick at heart, was
slowly plodding on the road to France. But he only went a little
way on his long journey. For just as he was entering a narrow pass
not far from Granada, where the mountains towered above him, he
heard the thud of horses' hoofs.
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