All this time poor Columbus felt bad enough.  Everything had gone wrong.  Now he must go away into a new land and do it all over again.  Kings and queens, he felt, were not to be depended upon, and he remembered a place in the Bible where it said:  “Put not your trust in princes.”  Sad, solitary and heavy-hearted, he jogged slowly along toward the mountains, wondering what the king of France would say to him, and whether it was really worth trying.

Just as he was riding across the little bridge called the Bridge of Pinos, some six miles from Granada, he heard the quick hoof-beats of a horse behind him.  It was a great spot for robbers, and Columbus felt of the little money he had in his traveling pouch, and wondered whether he must lose it all.  The hoof-beats came nearer.  Then a voice hailed him.  Turn back, turn back! the messenger cried out.  The queen bids you return to Granada.  She grants you all you ask.

Columbus hesitated.  Ought he to trust this promise, he wondered.  Put not your trust in princes, the verse in the Bible had said.  If I go back I may only be put off and worried as I have been before.  And yet, perhaps she means what she says.  At any rate, I will go back and try once more.

So, on the little Bridge of Pinos, he turned his mule around and rode back to Granada.  And, sure enough, when he saw Queen Isabella she agreed to all that he asked.  If he found Cathay, Columbus was to be made admiral for life of all the new seas and oceans into which he might sail; he was to be chief ruler of all the lands he might find; he was to keep one tenth part of all the gold and jewels and treasures he should bring away, and was to have his “say” in all questions about the new lands.  For his part (and this was because of the offer of his friend at Palos, Captain Pinzon) he agreed to pay one eighth of all the expenses of this expedition and of all new enterprises, and was to have one eighth of all the profits from them.

So Columbus had his wish at last.  The queen’s men figured up how much money they could let him have; they called him “Don Christopher Columbus,” “Your Excellency” and “Admiral,” and at once he set about getting ready for his voyage.

CHAPTER IV.  HOW THE ADMIRAL SAILED AWAY.

The agreement made between Columbus and the king and queen of Spain was signed on the seventeenth of April, 1492.  But it was four months before he was quite ready to sail away.

He selected the town of Palos as the place to sail from, because there, as you know, Captain Pinzon lived; there, too, he had other acquaintances, so that he supposed it would be easy to get the sailors he needed for his ships.  But in this he was greatly mistaken.

As soon as the papers had been signed that held the queen to her promise, Columbus set off for Palos.  He stopped at the Convent of Rabida to tell the Friar Juan Perez how thankful he was to him for the help the good priest had given him, and how everything now looked promising and successful.