th his route well-outlined and his plans carefully matured, Columbus
turned naturally to the King of Portugal, John II., as a man interested
in all nautical enterprise, and especially interested in finding a route
to the Indies. That crafty monarch listened to Columbus attentively and
was evidently impressed, for he took possession of the maps and plans
which Columbus had prepared, under pretense of examining them while
considering the project, placed them in the hands of one of his own
captains and dispatched him secretly to try the route. That captain,
whose name has been lost to history, must afterwards have been chagrined
enough at the manner in which he missed immortal fame, for, after
sailing a few days to the westward, he turned back and reported to his
royal master that the thing could not be done. His was not the heart
for such an enterprise.

Columbus, learning of the king's treachery, left the court in disgust,
and sending his brother, Bartholomew, to lay the plan before the King of
England, himself proceeded to Spain, whose rulers, Ferdinand and
Isabella, were perhaps the most enlightened of the age. Of Bartholomew's
adventures in England little is known. One thing alone is
certain--England missed the great opportunity just as Portugal had. And
for long years it seemed that, in Spain, Columbus would have no better
fortune. The Spanish monarchs listened to him with interest--as who
would not?--and appointed a council of astronomers and map-makers to
examine the project and to pass upon its feasibility. This council, not
without the connivance of the king and queen, who were absorbed in war
with the Moors, and who, at the same time, did not wish the plan to be
taken elsewhere, kept Columbus waiting for six years, alternating
between hope and despair, and finally reported that the project was
"vain and impossible of execution."

Indignant at thought of the years he had wasted, Columbus determined to
proceed to Paris, to seek an audience of the King of France. His wife
was dead, and he started for Palos, with his little son, Diego,
intending to leave the boy with his wife's sister there, while he
himself journeyed on to Paris. Trudging wearily across the country, they
came one night to the convent of La Rabida, and Columbus stopped to ask
for a crust of bread and cup of water for the child. The prior, Juan
Perez de Marchena, struck by his noble bearing, entered into
conversation with him and was soon so interes