The Greatest Works of Charles Carleton Coffin. Charles Carleton Coffin
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"To reach the east by sailing west."
"Oh yes, I remember Father Talavera said something about it some time ago."
"He is no ordinary man. I have listened to his story with great interest: his project seems reasonable."
"I will direct Father Talavera to call a council of learned men to investigate the matter."
The council meets in the Convent of St. Stephen, in Salamanca. There are bishops, archbishops, and learned doctors from the universities, in the assembly, who hear what the sailor has to say.
"Do you mean to say that you can reach the east by going west?"
"Yes."
"It is a preposterous idea."
"But the ancient geographer Ptolemy, and the learned men of his time, maintained that the earth was round; and if it is round, does it not stand to reason that we can reach India b; sailing west?
"No. To say that the earth is round is contrary to the Bible, which says, in the Psalms, that the heavens are stretched out like a tent Of course it must be flat."
"The sun and moon are round, as we see; why not the earth?" the sailor replies.
"If the earth is a ball, what holds it up?" the cardinal inquires.
"We might ask what holds the sun and moon up," is the sailor's answer.
"The idea that the earth is round is absurd. How can men walk with their heads hanging down and their feet upward, like flies on a ceiling?" asks a learned doctor.
"How can trees grow with their roots in the air?" interposes another.
"The water would all run out of the ponds, and we should all fall off," says still another.
So the wise doctors reason.
"The idea is based on a false philosophy, and to say that the earth is round is heresy," says one.
That is their decision. Heresy! It is an ominous word. The men who ask questions make short work with heretics. The sailor must he careful about his belief. If be maintains that the world is round, when the doctors say it is flat, it will be worse for him.
Seven years past The sailor is growing old, but he has not given up his belief that he can reach India by sailing west. He has waited for Ferdinand and Isabella to drive the Moors from Spain. They have succeeded — have taken the last stronghold, Granada, and are now in the grand and beautiful Alhambra, with their little girl Katherine, who is four years old. They sit by the gurgling fountains, walk amidst the orange-groves, and stroll along the corridors where the Moorish kings have lived in luxuriance and pride. The sailor has thought, now that the war is over,Ferdinand and Isabella would aid him. Vain hope; he has had his last interview with them. The queen was almost persuaded to help him, but has at last declined. Never again will be trouble her. Ho is riding away, turning his back forever on Spain.
"Have you seen a man on a mule — a gray-bearded man — pass out of the gate?"
A horseman asks the question of the soldier guarding the entrance to the city.
"Yes; there he is, away on the plain," says the sentinel, pointing to the retreating form.
The horseman sees a little speck far away, strikes the spurs into the sides of the horse, and flies like the wind along the road.
"Halloo!"
The sailor reins in his mule.
"The queen has sent me to ask you to return."
Christopher Columbus turns once more to the city, and with him turns the world. It was Luis St. Angel, one of Columbus's friends, who saw him ride away so downhearted, who hastened to the queen to persuade her to call him back.
"Think how great the gain may be, at a trifling expense, if what the sailor believes should prove true," said the earnest man.
"It shall be done. I will undertake. I will pledge my jewels to raise the money. Call him back."
So the horseman rides after him. He goes back to the grand palace to hold one more interview with the king and queen. Perhaps, while they are turning over the project, he plays with the little girl Katherine, taking her in his arms, maybe, and telling her a story. Let us keep Katherine in remembrance, for we shall see her by-and-by.
All things are arranged. It is the 3d of August. Three little ships lie at anchor in the harbor of Palos. They are little larger than fishing-boats, and only the largest has a deck in the centre. The other two are built high, with decks at stem and stern, but open in the centre. There is a commotion on shipboard and on the shore. A great crowd has assembled, for the ships are about to sail away where ships never yet have sailed, over unknown seas — over that sea where the waves are boiling-hot. The sailors are loath to go. No one knows what dangers await them — what storms, what whirlpools, what mysterious agencies may destroy them. The admiral of the little fleet (the gray-bearded sailor, Christopher Columbus) says that the world is round; if so, how will they ever be able to return? Can a ship sail up-hill? The sailors have not volunteered to go, but have been forced into service by the king. On the shore their friends are weeping and lamenting their departure. Never again will they behold them. The vessels are the Santa Maria with the admiral's flag flying above it; the Pinta, commanded by Alonzo Pinzon; and the Niña commanded by Yanez Pinzon.
Columbus's ever-faithful friend, the good prior of La Rabiada, stands upon the deck of the Santa Maria to bestow his blessing. The last goodbye 16 spoken, the anchors are raised, the sails spread, and the vessels sail away, taping their course toward the. Canaries.
On the third day the Pinta's signal of distress is flying; her rudder is unhung and broken, but Captain Alonzo Pinzon is an able seaman, and secures it with ropes until the Canary Islands are reached, when a new rudder is obtained.
On Saturday, the 6th of September, the three vessels turn their prows westward. On Sunday morning they are still within sight of land; but a fresh breeze springs up, and soon the last glimpse fades away.
The sailors would be brave in a battle, but now they give way to their fears. The apprehension of experiencing something which no man has ever experienced — something strange and terrible — causes their cheeks to whiten and their eyes to fill with tears.
The admiral calms them by his description of India — a land abounding with gold and silver and precious stones, which they will surely visit.
Monday morning comes, and they discover the mast of a vessel floating in the sea, which is covered with sea-weed, and has been a long time In the water. The sailors give way to their lamentations. They too, surely, will be shipwrecked.
On the 13th of September the ships are two hundred miles west of the Canaries. Columbus notices, in the evening, that the compass no longer points to the north star, but has changed five degrees to the west What is the meaning of it? Is the guide to which they have always trusted to fail their now? He knows that the sun and moon are globes; he believes that the earth also is a globe; but he does not know that the earth turns on its axis every twenty-four hours — so bringing day and night. Such an idea has not yet dawned upon the mind of any man. There is a young man, however, up in Poland, Nikolaus Kopernik, nineteen years old, who is studying astronomy, and who a few years hence will propound the startling theory that the apparent movement of the sun around the earth is in reality the earth turning on its axis every twenty-four hours.
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