reat banner of Spain, the simple
natives fell to the ground on their faces. They thought the gods had
come from heaven to visit them.

Some of the red-skinned natives wore ornaments of gold. They were asked
by signs where they had got this gold, and pointed south. Soon all were
on board again, the ships once more spread their sails, and swiftly they
flew southward before the wind.

Day by day, as they went on, new islands arose, some small, some large,
all green and beautiful. Columbus thought this must be India, which
he had set out to find, and he called the people Indians. He never
knew that it was a new continent he had discovered.

[Illustration: COLUMBUS AND THE EGG.]

The month of March of the next year came before the little fleet sailed
again into the port of Palos. The people hailed it with shouts of joy,
for they had mourned their friends as dead.

Fast spread the news. When Columbus entered Barcelona, where the king
and queen were, bringing with him new plants, birds and animals, strange
weapons, golden ornaments, and some of the red-skinned natives, he was
received as if he had been a king. He was seated beside the king; he
rode by his side in the street; he was made a grandee of Spain; all the
honors of the kingdom were showered on him.

We here recall the incident of Columbus and the egg. A dinner was given
in his honor and many great men were there. The attention Columbus
received made some people jealous. One of them with a sneer asked
Columbus if he did not think any one else could have discovered the
Indies. In answer Columbus took an egg from a dish on the table and
handing it to the questioner asked him to make it stand on end.

After trying several times the man gave it up. Columbus, taking the egg
in his hand, tapping it gently on one end against the top of the table
so as to break the shell slightly, made it balance.

"Any one could do that," said the man. "So any one can discover the
Indies after I have shown him the way," said Columbus.

It was his day of pride and triumph. Poor Columbus was soon to find out
how Spain treated those who had given to it the highest honor and the
greatest riches. Three times again he sailed to the New World, and once
a base Spanish governor sent him back to Spain with chains upon his
limbs. Those chains he kept hanging in his room till he died, and asked
that they should be buried with him.

They who had once given him every honor, now treated him with