oners were released from jail on the promise of going with Columbus. Ninety persons were at length secured to man the three vessels. August 3, 1492, before sunrise, they set sail from Palos in the midst of sorrow and weeping. They stood southward to the Canaries. Before they reached the islands there were bad signs of trouble. The Pinta broke her rudder and Columbus suspected that its owners, who were on board, had purposely disabled it so that their vessel might be left behind. At the Canaries, Columbus stopped to repair the Pinta. These were Spanish islands and a safe place for Spanish ships to stop. But even here two things threatened danger. First, it was reported that some Portuguese ships were near to prevent Columbus sailing. A volcano on one of the islands had an eruption and caused a second terror to the superstitious sailors. But in spite of all these fears, on September 6, they set sail from the Canaries on the first great voyage out into the Atlantic. As they sailed westward they saw the lighted mountain behind them sending out fire and smoke. A short distance from the coast they were becalmed and made only thirty miles in two days. Then the breeze freshened and the islands passed out of sight. Many of the sailors cried and sobbed like children.

The weather was fine and but for the fears of the sailors this might have been a pleasant voyage. Many things happened to excite their anxious fears. Septem

ber 13 the ship crossed the line where the needle pointed straight north, and Columbus was astonished to see that the compass needle began to sway from the right to the left of the Pole Star. When the pilots found the compass acting so queerly, they thought it bewitched and playing a foul trick as a punishment

for their boldness. Columbus himself, though puzzled, soothed their fears with a shrewd explanation.

On September 16 the vessels entered a vast tract of floating seaweed and grasses, where many tunny fish and crabs were seen. 66 They had entered the wonderful Sargasso Sea, where vast tangles of vegetation cover

the surface of water more than two thousand fathoms deep." At first the ships went through this tangle with considerable ease, but, the wind becoming light, they found progress difficult. Then the crews became frightened and thought of stories they had heard of "mysterious impassable seas and of overbold sailors whose ships stuck fast in them." Some were afraid they might be stranded on shoals, but sounding they were astonished to find their longest line failed to reach the bottom. After a few days stronger winds blew and on September 22 the ships had passed the sea of grass.

Now a new fear was aroused in the sailors by the trade winds which blew steadily westward. Perhaps they would never be able to return in the face of these winds. After a while the wind changed to the southwest and their fears were quieted.

The crews were now impatient at not finding land. Columbus, fearing this, had kept two logs, one for himself and one for the crew. In the log for the crew he never told the full number of miles sailed each day and they did not know how far they really were from the Canaries. Lately many signs of land had appeared. Strange birds were seen flying through the air. A mirage showed what appeared to be a coast-line but the next morning it was gone, and then the men were sure they had reached an enchanted place. Some one

suggested pushing Columbus overboard in such manner that it would seem he had fallen while looking at the stars. The fear that the fleet might not be able to return to Spain without him probably saved his life.

On October 4 there were signs of mutiny and Columbus, to please his pilots, changed his course to the southwest. They were now 2724 miles from the Canaries, though the log for the crew showed only 2200 miles. This change to the southwest, although they did not know it, shortened the distance to land about two hundred miles, as the coast of Florida directly west of them was farther than the island they finally reached. On October 11 signs of land became unmistakable and all were much excited. A reward was promised to the one that first saw the land and all watched eagerly. About ten o'clock the admiral, standing on the high poop of his vessel, saw a moving light as if some one were running along the shore with a torch. A few hours later a sailor on the Pinta saw land and soon all could see the low coast some five miles away. This was at two o'clock in the morning of Friday, October 12th- just ten weeks since they had sailed from Palos and thirtythree days since they lost sight of Ferro. The sails were now taken in, and the ships lay to, waiting for dawn.

At daybreak Columbus, with most of his men, went