Notable Voyagers | Page 7

the other open to general inspection, from which a certain number of leagues were daily subtracted from the sailing of the ships.
The crews, though no faint-hearted fellows, had not as yet learned to place confidence in him. The slightest thing alarmed them. When about one hundred and fifty leagues west of Ferro, they picked up part of the mast of a large vessel, and the crews fancied that she must have been wrecked drifting ominously to the entrance of those unknown seas.
About nightfall, on the 13th of September, he for the first time noticed the variation of the needle, which, instead of pointing to the north star, varied about half a point. He remarked that this variation of the needle increased as he advanced. He quieted the alarm of his pilots, when they observed this, by assuring them that the variation was not caused by any fallacy in the compass, but by the movement of the north star itself, which, like the other heavenly bodies, described a circle round the pole.
The explanation appeared so highly plausible and ingenious that it was readily received. On the 14th of September they believed that they were near land, from seeing a heron and a tropical bird, neither of which were supposed to venture far out to sea.
The following night the mariners were awestruck by beholding a meteor of great brilliancy--a common phenomenon in those latitudes. With a favourable breeze, day after day, the squadron was wafted on, so that it was unnecessary to shift a single sail.
They now began to observe patches of weeds drifting from the west, which increased in size as they advanced. These, together with a white tropical bird which never sleeps on the water, made Columbus hope that he was approaching some island; for, as he had come but three hundred and sixty leagues since leaving the Canary Islands, he supposed the mainland still to be far off.
The breeze was soft and steady, the water smooth. The crews were in high spirits, and every seaman was on the look-out, for a pension of ten thousand maravedis had been promised to him who should first discover land.
Alonzo Pinzon in the Pinta took the lead. On the afternoon of the 13th of September he hailed the Admiral, saying that from the flight of numerous birds and the appearance of the northern horizon, he thought there was land in that direction; but Columbus replied that it was merely a deception of the clouds, and would not alter his course.
The following day there were drizzling showers, and two boobies flew on board the Santa Maria, birds which seldom wander more than twenty leagues from land. Sounding, however, no bottom was found. Unwilling to waste the present fair breeze, he resolved, whatever others thought, to keep one bold course until the coast of India was reached.
Notwithstanding, even the favourable breeze began to frighten the seamen, who imagined that the wind in those regions might always blow from the east, and if so, would prevent their return to Spain.
Not long after the wind shifted to the south-west, and restored their courage, proving to them that the wind did not always prevail from the east. Several small birds also visited the ships, singing as they perched on the rigging, thus showing that they were not exhausted by their flight. Again the squadron passed among numerous patches of seaweed, and the crews, ever ready to take alarm, having heard that ships were sometimes frozen in by ice, fancied that they might be fixed in the same manner, until they were caught by the nipping hand of winter.
Then they took it into their heads that the water was growing shoaler, and expressed their fears that they might run on some sand-banks and be lost. Then a whale was seen, which creature Columbus assured them never went far from land. Notwithstanding, they became uneasy at the calmness of the weather, declaring that as the prevailing winds were from the east, and had not power to disturb the torpid stillness of the ocean, there was the risk of perishing amidst stagnant and shoreless waters, and being prevented by contrary winds from ever returning to Spain.
Next a swell got up, which showed that their terrors caused by the calm were imaginary. Notwithstanding this, and the favourable signs which increased his confidence, he feared that after all, breaking into mutiny, they would compel him to return.
The sailors fancied that their ships were too weak for so long a voyage, and held secret consultations, exciting each other's discontent. They had gone farther than any one before had done. Who could blame them, should they, consulting their safety, turn back?
Columbus, though aware of the mutinous disposition of his crew, maintained a serene and steady countenance, using gentle words with some, stimulating the pride and