was sent to Columbus to bring him once more to court. He
reached Granada in time to witness the surrender of the city by the
Moors, and negotiations were resumed. Columbus believed in his mission,
and stood out for high terms; he asked the rank of admiral at once, the
vice-royalty of all he should discover, and a tenth of all the gain, by
conquest or by trade. These conditions were rejected, and the
negotiations were again interrupted. An interview with Mendoza appears
to have followed, but nothing came of it, and in January, 1492, Columbus
actually set out for France. At length, however, on the entreaty of Luis
de Santangel, receiver of the ecclesiastical revenues of the crown of
Aragon, Isabella was induced to determine on the expedition. A messenger
was sent after Columbus, and overtook him at the Bridge of Pinos, about
two leagues from Granada. He returned to the camp at Santa Fe, and on
April 17, 1492, the agreement between him and their Catholic Majesties
was signed and sealed. This agreement being familiarly known in Spanish
history as "The Capitulations of Santa Fe."

His aims were nothing less than the discovery of the marvelous province
of Cipango and the conversion to Christianity of the Grand Khan, to whom
he received a royal and curious blank letter of introduction. The town
of Palos was, by forced levy, as a punishment for former rebellion,
ordered to find him three caravels, and these were soon placed at his
disposal. But no crews could be got together, Columbus even offering to
throw open the jails and take all criminals and broken men who would
serve on the expedition; and had not Juan Perez succeeded in interesting
Martin Alonzo Pinzon and Vicente Yanez Pinzon in the cause, Columbus'
departure had been long delayed. At last, however, men, ships, and
stores were ready. The expedition consisted of the Gallega, rechristened
the Santa Maria, a decked ship, with a crew of fifty men, commanded by
the Admiral in person; and of two caravels--the Pinta, with thirty men,
under Martin Pinzon, and the Nina, with twenty-four men, under his
brother, Vicente Yanez Pinzon, afterward (1499) the first to cross the
line in the American Atlantic. The adventurers numbered 120 souls, and
on Friday, August 3, 1492, at 8 in the morning, the little fleet weighed
anchor and stood out for the Canary Islands, sailing as it were "into a
world unknown--the corner-stone of a nation."

Deeply significant was one incident of their fi