high in the water, with a great deck at
the stern set like a small house up in the air, and with a great bow
that bore the figurehead of the patron saint of the sea, Saint
Christopher. Her sails were hung flat against the masts and were painted
in broad stripes of red and yellow. She was very magnificent to look
upon, but not very seaworthy.

The marble of Genoa's palaces dropped astern. The ship was sailing
south, and under favoring breezes soon lost sight of land. Constant
watch was kept for other vessels; any that might appear was more apt to
be an enemy than a friend, because Genoa was at war then with many
rivals, chief among them Naples and Aragon. Ships had been sailing
constantly of late from Genoa to prey upon the commerce of Naples, in
revenge for what the Neapolitans had once done to Genoa.

Colombo the captain was fond of his young kinsman Christopher, and at
the start of the voyage had him in his cabin and told him some of his
plans. The captain said he had orders to sail to Tunis to capture the
Spanish galley _Fernandina_. The galley was richly laden, and each
sailor would have a large share of booty. The boy listened with
sparkling eyes; this would be his first chance to have a hand in a fight
at sea.

The winds of June were favoring, and Colombo's ship soon reached the
island of San Pietro off Sardinia. Here the captain went ashore to try
and learn news of the _Fernandina_. He found friendly merchants who had
word from all the Mediterranean ports, and they told him that the galley
was not alone, but accompanied by two other Spanish ships. Colombo was a
born fighter, and this news did not frighten him. The more ships he
might capture the greater would be his own share of glory and of prize
money.

When the captain told his news to the sailors on his return from shore,
there was great consternation. The men had no liking to attack two
fighting ships besides the galley. At first they simply murmured among
themselves, but the longer they discussed the desperate nature of the
plan the more alarmed they grew. By the time that the ship was ready to
sail southward from Sardinia they had determined to go no farther, and
sent three of their leaders to speak to Colombo.

The captain was with Christopher studying a map of the Mediterranean
when the men came before him. They told him that they positively
refused to sail south and insisted that he put in at Marseilles for more
ships and men. Colombo saw that he