Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/18

7 CXJLUMBUS IS OFF WITH 120 MEW. 7 little money to buy their outfits, but if they do not return we shall hold their lands; and then there is Eodrig de Triana, who is not worth a peso, but we have his fathers I. O. U, for the amount, and no doubt he wiE have to pay it!" And now a mother offers up a prayer for her son. "Holy Mbther, you can protect my boy andl bring him back to me. You know how much I love him. You were a mother yourself, and know how dear the child is to her who bore it. Amen. ' ' The only encouragement came from boys of twelve to eighteen, who had not arrived at the age of bal- ance, but who long for adventure, being fuD. of courage and energy, and nothing to lose in the way of funds. But the Captain of the 120 men was in heaven upon earth; his ambition was unbounded, having a superabundance of faith in the enterprise; all of which was very requisite to counteract the chilly encouragement usually received by him. At last all hands are on board. The Pinta, being: the fastest sailer, took the lead, and amid the prayers tears and sobs of those on the little island of Saltes the boats sailed down the river Tinto and out into: the Atlantic. . Although the Captain had studied Aristotle's account and map of the West, compiled 300 B.C., who then declared the world to be round, as well as Seneca the Spaniard who affirmed that India could be reached from the west, and had conversed with tihe noted Americus, now known as America, and the great geographer of Palos, whose name is lost but who was a friend of Father Perez of La Eabida