Part 24 (1/2)
”It is an honest face, friend, and no doubt speaketh for a true heart. I shall count on thee as a sure support, let things go as they may.”
”His Excellency hath not only a right to command me, as her Highness'
admiral, but he hath now the good-will of Monica, and that is much the same as having gained her husband.”
”I thank thee, honest Pepe, and shall count on thee, with certainty, in future,” answered Columbus, turning toward the other seaman--”And thou, s.h.i.+pmate--thou hast the air of one that the sight of troubled water will not alarm--thou hast a name?”
”That I have, n.o.ble admiral,” returned the fellow, looking up with a freedom that denoted one used to have his say; ”though it hath neither a Don, nor a Senor, to take it in tow. My intimates commonly call out Sancho, when pressed for time, and when civility gets the better of haste, they add Mundo, making Sancho Mundo for the whole name of a very poor man.”
”Mundo is a large name for so small a person,” said the admiral, smiling, for he foresaw the expediency of having friends among his crew, and knew men sufficiently to understand that, while undue familiarity undermined respect, a little unbending had a tendency to win hearts. ”I wonder that thou shouldst venture to wear a sound so lofty!”
”I tell my fellows, your Excellency, that Mundo is my t.i.tle, and not my name; but that I am greater than kings, even, who are content to take their t.i.tles from a part of that, of which I bear all.”
”And were thy father and thy mother called Mundo, also? Or, is this name taken in order to give thee an occasion to show thy smartness, when questioned by thy officers?”
”As for the good people you deign to mention, Senor Don Almirante, I shall leave them to answer for themselves, and that for the simple reason that I do not know how they were called, or whether they had any names at all. They tell me I was found, when a few hours old, under a worn-out basket at the s.h.i.+p-yard gate of old”--
”Never mind the precise spot, friend Sancho--thou wert found with a basket for a cradle, and that maketh a volume in thy history, at once.”
”Nay, Excellency, I would not leave the spot a place of dispute hereafter--but it shall be as you please. They say no one here knoweth exactly where we are going, and it will be more suitable that the like ignorance should rest over the places whence we came. But having the world before me, they that christened me gave me as much of it as was to be got by a name.”
”Thou hast been long a mariner, Sancho Mundo--if Mundo thou wilt be.”
”So long, Senor, that it sickeneth me, and taketh away the appet.i.te to walk on solid ground. Being so near the gate, it was no great matter to put me into the s.h.i.+p-yard, and I was launched one day in a caravel, and got to sea in her, no one knows how. From that time I have submitted to fate, and go out again, as soon as possible, after I come into port.”
”And by what lucky chance have I obtained thy services, good Sancho, in this great expedition?”
”The authorities of Moguer took me under the queen's order, your Excellency, thinking that this Voyage would be more to my mind than another, as it was likely never to have an end.”
”Art thou a compelled adventurer, on this service?”
”Not I, Senor Don Almirante, although they who sent me here fancy as much. It is natural for a man to wish to see his estates, once in his life, and I am told that we are bound on a voyage to the other side of the world. G.o.d forbid that I should hold aloof, on such an occasion.”
”Thou art a Christian, Sancho, and hast a desire to aid in carrying the cross among the heathen?”
”Senor, your Excellency, Don Almirante, it matters little to Sancho with what the barque is laden, so that she do not need much pumping, and that the garlic is good. If I am not a very devout Christian, it is the fault of them that found me near the s.h.i.+p-yard gate, since the church and the font are both within call from that very spot. I know that Pepe, here, is a Christian, Senor, for I saw him in the arms of the priest, and I doubt not that there are old men at Moguer who can testify to as much in my behalf. At all hazards, n.o.ble Admiral, I will take on myself to say that I am neither Jew, nor Mussulman.”
”Sancho, thou hast that about thee, that bespeakest a skilful and bold mariner.”
”For both of these qualities, Senor Don Colon, let others speak. When the gale cometh, your own eyes may judge of the first; and when the caravel shall reach the edge of the earth, whither some think it is bound, there will be a good occasion to see who can, and who cannot, look off without trembling.”
”It is enough: I count both thee and Pepe as among my truest followers.”
As Columbus said this, he walked away, resuming the dignified gravity that usually was seated in his countenance, and which so much aided his authority, by impressing the minds of others with respect. In a few minutes he and Luis descended to their cabin.
”I marvel, Sancho,” said Pepe, as soon as he and his messmate were left alone on the p.o.o.p, ”that thou wilt venture to use thy tongue so freely, even in the presence of one that beareth about with him the queen's authority! Dost thou not fear to offend the admiral?”
”So much for having a wife and a child! Canst thou not make any difference between them that have had ancestors and who have descendants, and one that hath no other tie in the world than his name?
The Senor Don Almirante is either an exceeding great man, and chosen by Providence to open the way into the unknown seas of which he speaketh; or he is but a hungry Genoese, that is leading us he knoweth not whither, that he may eat, and drink, and sleep, in honor, while we are toiling at his heels, like patient mules dragging the load that the horse despiseth. In the one case, he is too great and exalted to heed idle words; and in the other, what is there too bad for a Castilian to tell him?”
”Ay, thou art fond of calling thyself a Castilian, in spite of the s.h.i.+p-yard and the basket, and notwithstanding Moguer is in Seville.”