ndez that it was the happiest day
of his life, for that he had never hoped to leave the place alive.

The mission of Mendez, then, had been successful, although he had had to
wait for eight months to fulfil it. He himself, in accordance with
Columbus's instructions, had gone to Spain in another caravel of the
fleet out of which he had purchased the relieving ship; and as he passes
out of our narrative we may now take our farewell of him. Among the many
men employed in the Admiral's service no figure stands out so brightly as
that of Diego Mendez; and his record, almost alone of those whose service
of the Admiral earned them office and distinction, is unblotted by any
stain of crime or treachery. He was as brave as a lion and as faithful
as a dog, and throughout his life remained true to his ideal of service
to the Admiral and his descendants. He was rewarded by King Ferdinand
for his distinguished services, and allowed to bear a canoe on his
coat-of-arms; he was with the Admiral at his death-bed at Valladolid,
and when he himself came to die thirty years afterwards in the same
place he made a will in which he incorporated a brief record of the
events of the adventurous voyage in which he had borne the principal
part, and also enshrined his devotion to the name and family of
Columbus. His demands for himself were very modest, although there is
reason to fear that they were never properly fulfilled. He was
curiously anxious to be remembered chiefly by his plucky canoe voyage;
and in giving directions for his tomb, and ordering that a stone should
be placed over his remains, he wrote: "In the centre of the said stone
let a canoe be carved, which is a piece of wood hollowed out in which
the Indians navigate, because in such a boat I navigated three hundred
leagues, and let some letters be placed above it saying: Canoa." The
epitaph that he chose for himself was in the following sense:

Here lies the Honourable Gentleman

DIEGO MENDEZ

He greatly served the royal crown of Spain in
the discovery and conquest of the Indies with
the Admiral Don Christopher Columbus of
glorious memory who discovered them, and
afterwards by himself, with his own ships,
at his own expense.
He died, etc.
He begs from charity a PATERNOSTER