Part 5 (1/2)
”I mean not that; but there is a loftiness in his dignified countenance that one is not accustomed to meet in those who are unused to power.”
”To me, he hath the air and dress of a superior navigator, or pilot--of a man accustomed to the seas--ay, he hath sundry symbols about him that bespeak such a pursuit.”
”Thou art right, Don Luis, for such is his calling. He cometh of Genoa, and his name is Christoval Colon; or, as they term it in Italy, Christoforo Colombo.”
”I remember to have heard of an admiral of that name, who did good service in the wars of the south, and who formerly led a fleet into the far east.”
”This is not he, but one of humbler habits, though possibly of the same blood, seeing that both are derived from the identical place. This is no admiral, though he would fain become one--ay, even a king!”
”The man is, then, either of a weak mind, or of a light ambition.”
”He is neither. In mind, he hath outdone many of our most learned churchmen; and it is due to his piety to say that a more devout Christian doth not exist in Spain. It is plain, son, that thou hast been much abroad, and little at court, or thou wouldst have known the history of this extraordinary being, at the mention of his name, which has been the source of merriment for the frivolous and gay this many a year, and which has thrown the thoughtful and prudent into more doubts than many a fierce and baneful heresy.”
”Thou stirrest my curiosity, father, by such language. Who and what is the man?”
”An enigma, that neither prayers to the Virgin, the learning of the cloisters, nor a zealous wish to reach the truth, hath enabled me to read. Come hither, Luis, to this bit of rock, where we can be seated, and I will relate to thee the opinions that render this being so extraordinary. Thou must know, son, it is now seven years since this man first appeared among us. He sought employment as a discoverer, pretending that, by steering out into the ocean, on a western course, for a great and unheard-of distance, he could reach the farther Indies, with the rich island of c.i.p.ango, and the kingdom of Cathay, of which one Marco Polo hath left us some most extraordinary legends!”
”By St. James of blessed memory! the man must be short of his wits!”
interrupted Don Luis, laughing. ”In what way could this thing be, unless the earth were round--the Indies lying east, and not west of us?”
”That hath been often objected to his notions; but the man hath ready answers to much weightier arguments.”
”What weightier than this can be found? Our own eyes tell us that the earth is flat.”
”Therein he differeth from most men--and to own the truth, son Luis, not without some show of reason. He is a navigator, as thou wilt understand, and he replies that, on the ocean, when a s.h.i.+p is seen from afar, her upper sails are first perceived, and that as she draweth nearer, her lower sails, and finally her hull cometh into view. But thou hast been over sea, and may have observed something of this?”
”Truly have I, father. While mounting the English sea, we met a gallant cruiser of the king's, and, as thou said'st, we first perceived her upper sail, a white speck upon the water; then followed sail after sail, until we came nigh and saw her gigantic hull, with a very goodly show of bombards and cannon--some twenty at least, in all.”
”Then thou agreest with this Colon, and thinkest the earth round?”
”By St. George of England! not I. I have seen too much of the world, to traduce its fair surface in so heedless a manner. England, France, Burgundy, Germany, and all those distant countries of the north, are just as level and flat as our own Castile.”
”Why, then, didst thou see the upper sails of the Englishman first?”
”Why, father--why--because they were first visible. Yes, because they came first into view.”
”Do the English put the largest of their sails uppermost on the masts?”
”They would be fools if they did. Though no great navigators--our neighbors the Portuguese, and the people of Genoa, exceeding all others in that craft--though no great navigators, the English are not so surpa.s.singly stupid. Thou wilt remember the force of the winds, and understand that the larger the sail the lower should be its position.”
”Then how happened it that thou sawest the smaller object before the larger?”
”Truly, excellent Fray Pedro, thou hast not conversed with this Christoforo for nothing! A question is not a reason.”
”Socrates was fond of questions, son; but _he_ expected answers.”
”_Peste!_ as they say at the court of King Louis. I am not Socrates, my good father, but thy old pupil and kinsman, Luis de Bobadilla, the truant nephew of the queen's favorite, the Marchioness of Moya, and as well-born a cavalier as there is in Spain--though somewhat given to roving, if my enemies are to be believed.”
”Neither thy pedigree, thy character, nor thy vagaries, need be given to me, Don Luis de Bobadilla, since I have known thee and thy career from childhood. Thou hast one merit that none will deny thee, and that is, a respect for truth; and never hast thou more completely vindicated thy character, in this particular, than when thou saidst thou were not Socrates.”