COLUMBUS AT THE COURT OF PORTUGAL.--He accordingly laid his plan before King John of Portugal, who, being pleased with the idea, referred it to the geographers of his court. They pronounced it a visionary scheme. With a lurking feeling, however, that there might be truth in it, the king had the meanness to dispatch a vessel secretly to test the matter. The pilot had the charts of Columbus, but lacked his heroic courage. After sailing westward from Cape de Verde islands for a few days, and seeing nothing but a wide waste of wildly tossing waves, he returned, ridiculing the idea. COLUMBUS AT THE COURT OF SPAIN.--Columbus, disheartened by this treachery, betook himself to Spain. During seven long years he importuned King Ferdinand for a reply. All this while he was regarded as a visionary fellow, and when he passed along the streets, even the children pointed to their foreheads and smiled. At last, the learned council declared the plan too foolish for further attention. Turning away sadly, Columbus determined to go to France. [Footnote: "It is absurd," said those wise men. "Who is so foolish as to believe that there are people on the other side of the world, walking with their heels upward, and their heads hanging down? And then, how can a ship get there? The torrid zone, through which they must pass, is a region of fire, where the very waves boil. And even if a ship could perchance get around there safely, how could it ever get back? Can a ship sail up hill?" All of which sounds very strange to us now, when hundreds of travelers make every year the entire circuit of the globe.] COLUMBUS SUCCESSFUL.--His friends at the Spanish court, at this juncture, laid the matter before Queen Isabella, and she was finally won to his cause. The king remained indifferent, and pleaded the want of funds. The queen in her earnestness exclaimed, "I pledge my jewels to raise the money." But her sacrifice was not required. St. Angel, the court treasurer, advanced most of the money, and the friends of Columbus the remainder,--in all about $20,000, equal to six times that amount at the present day. Columbus had succeeded at last. COLUMBUS'S EQUIPMENT.--Though armed with the king's authority, Columbus obtained vessels and sailors with the greatest difficulty. The boldest seamen shrank from such a desperate undertaking. At last, three small vessels were manned; the Pinta (peen'tah), Santa Maria (ma-re-ah), and Ninah (ne-nah). They sailed from Palos, Spain, Aug. 3, 1492.