grace the Bishop of Ceuta advised that Columbus should
be kept in suspense while a vessel was secretly dispatched in the
direction he pointed out, to ascertain if there was any truth in his
story. This was actually done, until the caravel meeting with stormy
weather, and an interminable waste of wild tumbling waves, the pilots
lost courage and returned.

Columbus, indignant at this attempt to defraud him, his wife having died
some time previously, resolved to abandon the country which had acted so
treacherously. He first sent his brother Bartholomew to make proposals
to Henry the Seventh, King of England; but that sovereign rejected his
offers, and having again made a proposal to Genoa, which, from the
reverses she had lately received, she was unable to accept, he turned
his eyes to Spain.

The great Spanish Dukes of Medina Sidonia and Medina Coeli, were at
first inclined to support him, and the latter spoke of him to Queen
Isabella, who giving a favourable reply, Columbus set off for the
Spanish Court, then at Cordova.

The sovereigns of Castile and Arragon were, however, so actively engaged
in carrying on the fierce war with the Moors of Grenada, that they were
unable to give due attention to the scheme of the navigator, while their
counsellors generally derided his proposals.

The beautiful and enlightened Isabella treated him from the first with
respect, and other friends rose up who were ready to give him support.

Wearied and discouraged by long delays, however, he had again opened up
negotiations with the King of Portugal, and had been requested by that
monarch to return there. He had also received a letter from Henry the
Seventh of England, inviting him to his Court, and holding out promises
of encouragement, when he was again summoned to attend the Castilian
Court, and a sum of money was sent him to defray his expenses, King
Ferdinand probably fearing that he would carry his proposals to a rival
monarch, and wishing to keep the matter in suspense until he had leisure
to examine it.

He accordingly repaired to the Court of Seville. While he was there two
monks arrived with a message from the Grand Soldan of Egypt, threatening
to put to death all the Christians and to destroy the Holy Sepulchre if
the Spanish sovereigns did not desist from war against Grenada.

The menace had no effect in altering their purpose, but it aroused the
indignation of the Spanish cavaliers, and still more so that of
Columbu