Of that heroic mule journey we have no record; but it brought results enough to compensate the good Prior for all his aching bones and rheumatic joints.  He was welcomed by the Queen, who had never quite lost her belief in Columbus, but who had hitherto deferred to the apathy of Ferdinand and the disapproval—­of her learned advisers.  Now, however, the matter was reopened.  She, who sometimes listened to priests with results other than good, heard this worthy priest to good purpose.  The feminine friends of Columbus who remembered him at Court also spoke up for him, among them the Marquesa de Moya, with whom he had always been a favourite; and it was decided that his request should be granted and three vessels equipped for the expedition, “that he might go and make discoveries and prove true the words he had spoken.”—­Moreover, the machinery that had been so hard to move before, turned swiftly now.  Diego Prieto, one of the magistrates of Palos, was sent to Columbus at La Rabida, bearing 20,000 maravedis with which he was to buy a mule and decent clothing for himself, and repair immediately to the Court at Santa Fe.  Old Perez was in high feather, and busy with his pen.  He wrote to Doctor Garcia Hernandez, and also to Columbus, in whose letter the following pleasant passage occurs: 

“Our Lord has listened to the prayers of His servant.  The wise and virtuous Isabella, touched by the grace of Heaven, gave a favourable hearing to the words of this poor monk.  All has turned out well.  Far from despising your project, she has adopted it from this time, and she has summoned you to Court to propose the means which seem best to you for the execution of the designs of Providence.  My heart swims in a sea of comfort, and my spirit leaps with joy in the Lord.  Start at once, for the Queen waits for you, and I much more than she.  Commend me to the prayers of my brethren, and of your little Diego.  The grace of God be with you, and may Our Lady of La Rabida accompany you.”

The news of that day must have come upon Columbus like a burst of sunshine after rain.  I like to think how bright must have seemed to him the broad view of land and sea, how deeply the solemn words of the last office which he attended must have sunk into his soul, how great and glad a thing life must have been to him, and how lightly the miles must have passed beneath the feet of his mule as he jogged out on the long road to Santa Fe.

CHAPTER XI

THE CONSENT OF SPAIN

Once more; in the last days of the year 1491, Columbus rode into the brilliant camp which he had quitted a few weeks before with so heavy a heart.  Things were changed now.  Instead of being a suitor, making a nuisance of himself, and forcing his affairs on the attention of unwilling officials, he was now an invited and honoured guest; much more than that, he was in the position of one who believed that he had a great service to render to the Crown, and who was at last to be permitted to render it.