Part 22 (1/2)
”And you, too, Senor?” turning quickly to Luis de Bobadilla; ”is it to serve G.o.d that you also go on this unusual voyage?”
”If not at the orders of G.o.d, himself, my good woman, it is, at least, at the bidding of an angel!”
”Dost thou think it is so, Pepe? Have we been thus deceived, and has so much evil been said of the admiral and his motives, wrongfully?”
”What hath been said?” quietly demanded Columbus. ”Speak freely; thou hast naught to dread from my displeasure.”
”Senor, you have your enemies, as well as another, and the wives, and mothers, and the betrothed of Palos, have not been slow to give vent to their feelings. In the first place, they say that you are poor.”
”That is so true and manifest, good woman, it would be idle to deny it.
Is poverty a crime at Palos?”
”The poor are little respected, Senor, in all this region. I know not why, for to me we seem to be as the rest, but few respect us. Then they say, Senor, that you are not a Castilian, but a Genoese.”
”This is also true; is that, too, a crime among the mariners of Moguer, who ought to prize a people as much renowned for their deeds on the sea, as those of the superb republic?”
”I know not, Senor; but many hold it to be a disadvantage not to belong to Spain, and particularly to Castile, which is the country of Dona Isabella, herself; and how can it be as honorable to be a Genoese as to be a Spaniard? I should like it better were Pepe to sail with one who is a Spaniard, and that, too, of Palos or Moguer.”
”Thy argument is ingenious, if not conclusive,” returned Columbus, smiling, the only outward exhibition of feeling he betrayed--”but cannot one who is both poor and a Genoese serve G.o.d?”
”No doubt, Senor; and I think better of this voyage since I know your motive, and since I have seen you and spoken with you. Still, it is a great sacrifice for a young wife to let her husband sail on an expedition so distrusted, and he the father of her only boy!”
”Here is a young n.o.ble, an only son, a lover, and that, too, of impetuous feelings, an only child withal, rich, honored, and able to go whither he will, who not only embarketh with me, but embarketh by the consent--nay, I had better say, by the orders of his mistress!”
”Is this so, Senor?” the wife asked, eagerly.
”So true, my good woman, that my greatest hopes depend on this voyage.
Did I not tell thee that I went at the bidding of an angel?”
”Ah! these young lords have seductive tongues! But, Senor Almirante, since such is your quality, they say, moreover, that to you this voyage can only bring honors and good, while it may bring misery and death on your followers. Poor and unknown, it maketh you a high officer of the queen; and some think that the Venetian galleys will be none the more heavily freighted, should you need them on the high seas.”
”And in what can all this harm thy husband? I go whithersoever he goeth, share his dangers, and expose life for life with him. If there is gold gained by the adventure, he will not be forgotten; and if heaven is made any nearer to us, by our dangers and hards.h.i.+ps, Pepe will not be a loser. At the last great reckoning, woman, we shall not be asked who is poor, or who is a Genoese.”
”This is true, Senor; and yet it is hard for a young wife to part from her husband. Dost thou wish, in truth, to sail with the admiral, Pepe?”
”It matters little with me, Monica; I am commanded to serve the queen, and we mariners have no right to question her authority. Now I have heard his excellency's discourse, I think less of the affair than before.”
”If G.o.d is really to be served in this voyage,” continued the woman, with dignity, ”thou shouldst not be backward, more than another, my husband. Senor, will you suffer Pepe to pa.s.s the night with his family, on condition that he goeth on board the Santa Maria in the morning?”
”What certainty have I that this condition will be respected?”
”Senor, we are both Christians, and serve the same G.o.d--have been redeemed by the same Saviour.”
”This is true, and I will confide in it. Pepe, thou canst remain until the morning, when I shall expect thee at thy station. There will be oarsmen enough, without thee.”
The woman looked her thanks, and Columbus thought he read an a.s.surance of good faith in her n.o.ble Spanish manner, and lofty look. As some trifling preparations were to be made before the boat could quit the sh.o.r.e, the admiral and Luis paced the sands the while, engaged in deep discourse.
”This hath been a specimen of what I have had to overcome and endure, in order to obtain even yonder humble means for effecting the good designs of Providence,” observed Columbus, mournfully, though he spoke without acrimony. ”It is a crime to be poor--to be a Genoese--to be aught else than the very thing that one's judges and masters fancy themselves to be! The day will come, Conde de Llera, when Genoa shall think herself in no manner disgraced, in having given birth to Christofero Colombo, and when your proud Castile will be willing to share with her in the dishonor! Thou little know'st, young lord, how far thou art on the road to renown, and toward high deeds, in having been born n.o.ble, and the master of large possessions. Thou seest me, here, a man already stricken in years, with a head whitened by time and sufferings, and yet am I only on the threshold of the undertaking that is to give my name a place among those of the men who have served G.o.d, and advanced the welfare of their fellow-creatures.”