Part 26 (1/2)

”How know we that the cavalier you mention, Senora, may not have his weeks of penance and his hours of prayer?” answered Luis, who had now found his voice. ”Should he be so fortunate as to enjoy a conscientious religious adviser, he can scarce escape both, prayer being so often ordered in the way of penance. He seemeth, indeed, to be a miserable dog, and I wonder not that his mistress holdeth him cheap. Is the name of the lady, also, given in your letter?”

”It is. She is the Dona Maria de las Mercedes de Valverde, nearly allied to the Guzmans and the other great houses, and one of the fairest maidens of Spain.”

”That is she!” exclaimed Luis; ”and one of the most virtuous, as well as fair, and wise as virtuous!”

”How now, Senor, is it possible that you can have sufficient knowledge of one so situated, as to speak thus positively of her qualities, as well as of her appearance?”

”Her beauty I have seen, and of her excellence one may speak by report.

But doth your correspondent, Senora, say aught of what hath become of the graceless lover?”

”It is rumored that he hath again quitted Spain, and, as is supposed, under the grave displeasure of the sovereigns, since it hath been remarked that the queen now never nameth him. None know the road he hath taken, but there is little doubt that he is again roaming the seas, as usual, in quest of low adventures among the ports of the east.”

The conversation now changed, and soon after the admiral and his attendants repaired to their different vessels.

”Of a verity, Senor Don Christoval,” said Luis, as he walked alone with the great navigator toward the sh.o.r.e, ”one little knoweth when he is acquiring fame, and when not. Though but an indifferent mariner, and no pilot, I find my exploits on the ocean are well bruited abroad! If your Excellency but gain half the reputation I already enjoy, by this present expedition, you will have reason to believe that your name will not be forgotten by posterity.”

”It is a tribute the great pay for their elevation, Luis,” returned the admiral, ”that all their acts are commented on, and that they can do little that may be concealed from observation, or escape remarks.”

”It would be as well, Senor Almirante, to throw into the scales, at once, calumnies, and lies, and uncharitableness, for all these are to be added to the list. Is it not wonderful, that a young man cannot visit a few foreign lands, in order to increase his knowledge and improve his parts, but all the gossips of Castile should fill their letters to the gossips of the Canaries, with pa.s.sages touching his movements and demerits? By the Martyrs of the East! if I were Queen of Castile, there should be a law against writing of others' movements, and I do not know, but a law against women's writing letters at all!”

”In which case, Senor de Munos, thou wouldst never possess the satisfaction of receiving a missive from the fairest hand in Castile.”

”I mean a woman's writing to a woman, Don Christopher. As to letters from n.o.ble maidens intended to cheer the hearts and animate the deeds of cavaliers who adore them, they are useful, out of doubt, and the saints be deaf to the miscreant who would forbid or intercept them! No, Senor, I trust that travelling hath at least made me liberal, by raising me above the narrow prejudices of provinces and cities, and I am far from wis.h.i.+ng to put an end to letters from mistresses to their knights, or from parents to their children, or even from wives to their husbands; but, as for the letters of a gossip to a gossip, by your leave, Senor Almirante, I detest them just as much as the Father of Sin detests this expedition of ours!”

”An expedition, certainly, that he hath no great reason to love,”

answered Columbus, smiling; ”since it will be followed by the light of revelation and the triumph of the cross. But what is thy will, friend, that thou seemest in waiting for me, to disburden thyself of something?

Thy name is Sancho Mundo, if I remember thy countenance?”

”Senor Don Almirante, your memory hath not mistaken,” returned the person addressed; ”I am Sancho Mundo, as your Excellency saith, sometimes called Sancho of the s.h.i.+p-Yard Gate. I desire to say a few words concerning the fate of our voyage, whenever it shall suit you, n.o.ble Senor, to hear me where there are no ears present that you distrust.”

”Thou may'st speak freely now; this cavalier being my confidant and secretary.”

”It is not necessary that I should tell a great pilot, like your Excellency, who is King of Portugal, or what the mariners of Lisbon have been about these many years, since you know all better than myself.

Therefore I will just add, that they are discovering all the unknown lands they can, for themselves, and preventing others, as much as in them lies, from doing the same thing.”

”Don John of Portugal is an enlightened prince, fellow, and thou wouldst do well to respect his character and rank. His Highness is a liberal sovereign, and hath sent many n.o.ble expeditions forth from his harbor.”

”That he hath, Senor, and this last is not the least in its designs and intentions,” answered Sancho, turning a look of irony toward the admiral, that showed the fellow had more in reserve than he cared to divulge without some wheedling. ”No one doubts Don John's willingness to send forth expeditions.”

”Thou hast heard some intelligence, Sancho, that it is proper I should know! Speak freely, and rely on my repaying any service of this sort to the full extent of its deservings.”

”If your Excellency will have patience to hear me, I will give the whole story, with all minuteness and particularity, and that in a way to leave no part untold, and all parts to be as easily understood as heart can wish, or a priest in the confessional could desire.”

”Speak; no one will interrupt thee. As thou art frank, so will be thy reward.”

”Well, then, Senor Don Almirante, you must know that about eleven years since, I made a voyage from Palos to Sicily, in a caravel belonging to the Pinzons, here; not to Martin Alonzo, who commandeth the Pinta, under your Excellency's order, but to a kinsman of his late father's, who caused better craft to be constructed than we are apt to get in these days of hurry, and rotten cordage, and careless caulking, to say nothing of the manner in which the canvas is”--