It would appear that the men, themselves, were eager to stay.  The luxury of the climate and the friendly overtures of the people delighted them, They had no need to build substantial houses.  So far as houses were needed, those of the natives were sufficient.  All the preparations which Columbus thought necessary were made in the week between the twenty-sixth of December and the second of January.  On that day he expected to sail eastward, but unfavorable winds prevented.

He landed his men again, and by the exhibition of a pretended battle with European arms, he showed the natives the military force of their new neighbors.  He fired a shot from an arquebuse against the wreck of the Santa Maria, so that the Indians might see the power of his artillery.  The Indian chief expressed his regret at the approaching departure, and the Spaniards thought that one of his courtiers said that the chief had ordered him to make a statue of pure gold as large as the Admiral.

Columbus explained to the friendly chief that with such arms as the sovereigns of Castile commanded they could readily destroy the dreaded Caribs.  And he thought he had made such an impression that the islanders would be the firm friends of the colonists.

“I have bidden them build a solid tower and defense, over a vault.  Not that I think this necessary against the natives, for I am satisfied that with a handful of people I could conquer the whole island, were it necessary, although it is, as far as I can judge, larger than Portugal, and twice as thickly peopled.”  In this cheerful estimate of the people Columbus was wholly wrong, as the sad events proved before the year had gone by.

He left thirty-nine men to be the garrison of this fort; and the colony which was to discover the mine of gold.  In command he placed Diego da Arana, Pedro Gutierres and Rodrigo de Segovia.  To us, who have more experience of colonies and colonists than he had had, it does not seem to promise well that Rodrigo was “the king’s chamberlain and an officer of the first lord of the household.”  Of these three, Diego da Arana was to be the governor, and the other two his lieutenants.  The rest were all sailors, but among them there were Columbus’s secretary, an alguazil, or person commissioned in the civil service at home, an “arquebusier,” who was also a good engineer, a tailor, a ship carpenter, a cooper and a physician.  So the little colony had its share of artificers and men of practical skill.  They all staid willingly, delighted with the prospects of their new home.

On the third of January Columbus sailed for Europe in the little Nina.  With her own crew and the addition she received from the Santa Maria, she must have been badly crowded.  Fortunately for all parties, on Sunday, the third day of the voyage, while they were still in sight of land, the Pinta came in sight.  Martin Pinzon came on board the Nina and offered excuses for his absence.  Columbus was not really satisfied