impoverished colonists who had returned from his ocean Paradise.  No doubt the Sovereigns ignored them as much as they possibly could; but when it came to ragged emaciated beggars coming in batches of fifty at a time and sitting in the very courts of the Alhambra, exhibiting bunches of grapes and saying that that was all they could afford to live upon since they had come back from the New World, some notice had to be taken of it.  Even young Diego and Ferdinand, the Admiral’s sons, came in for the obloquy with which his name was associated; the colonial vagabonds hung round the portals of the palace and cried out upon them as they passed so that they began to dislike going out.  Columbus, as we know, had plenty of enemies who had access to the King and Queen; and never had enemies an easier case to urge.  Money was continually being spent on ships and supplies; where was the return for it?  What about the Ophir of Solomon?  What about the Land of Spices?  What about the pearls?  And if you want to add a touch of absurdity, what about the Garden of Eden and the Great Khan?

To the most impartial eyes it began to appear as though Columbus were either an impostor or a fool.  There is no evidence that Ferdinand and Isabella thought that he was an impostor or that he had wilfully deceived them; but there is some evidence that they began to have an inkling as to what kind of a man he really was, and as to his unfitness for governing a colony.  Once more something had to be done.  The sending out of a commissioner had not been a great success before, but in the difficulties of the situation it seemed the only thing.  Still there was a good deal of hesitation, and it is probable that Isabella was not yet fully convinced of the necessity for this grave step.  This hesitation was brought to an end by the arrival from Espanola of the ships bearing the followers of Roldan, who had been sent back under the terms of Columbus’s feeble capitulation.  The same ships brought a great quantity of slaves, which the colonists were able to show had been brought by the permission of the Admiral; they carried native girls also, many of them pregnant, many with new-born babies; and these also came with the permission of the Admiral.  The ships further carried the Admiral’s letter complaining of the conspiracy of Roldan and containing the unfortunate request for a further licence to extend the slave trade.  These circumstances were probably enough to turn the scale of Isabella’s opinion against the Admiral’s administration.  The presence of the slaves particularly angered her kind womanly heart.  “What right has he to give away my vassals?” she exclaimed, and ordered that they should all be sent back, and that in addition all the other slaves who had come home should be traced and sent back; although of course it was impossible to carry out this last order.