And so Columbus had no difficulty in fitting out a second expedition; men were eager to go, eager for gold, and, what was perhaps better, eager for glory; they did not have to be pressed into the service this time. In September, 1493, Columbus sailed from Cadiz with a fleet of seventeen ships and fifteen hundred men. But he had left his good fortune behind him; never again would such bright skies bend above him; never again would he sail under such benignant stars; henceforth his life was to be saddened by disappointment, and made bitter by the envy and hatred of those whom he had served. Many of the men who took ship with him on this second voyage were led to do so from the love of gold, and when they reached the New World and did not find the gold they sought, they grew angry and mutinous and quarrelsome, throwing the blame on Columbus, who, they said, had deceived them. It was not pleasant to govern such a lot of unruly, discontented men; but Columbus was a man who never flinched in the face of danger, no matter of what kind; he kept on his way in spite of the murmurings of his men, and was rewarded by the discovery of the Windward Islands, Jamaica and Porto Rico--then he founded a colony in Hayti, and leaving his brother, Bartolommeó, to govern it, sailed for Spain, reaching Cadiz about three years after his departure from it. Here he soon cleared himself of the complaints made against him, and silenced those who were jealous of his fame. Once, while sitting at table, a courtier said that, after all, it was not such a great thing to have discovered the new world, any one else could have done it. For answer Columbus asked him to make an egg stand on its end; the courtier tried, but could not do it. Columbus then struck the egg on the table, breaking the shell a little, and then stood it on the table. "Any one can do that," said the courtier. "When I have shown you the way," replied Columbus. The courtier was silent, he knew well what Columbus meant. And now there was to be still another voyage made. In 1498 Columbus left Spain with six ships, and sailed across the Atlantic, taking a route more southerly than he had before done. This time he discovered the mouth of the Orinoco, which he, still supposing that the country he had discovered to be Asia, thought was the river Gihon, which rose in the garden of Eden. He then skirted along the coast of South America, passing the islands of Trinidad and Margarita, and then turned toward Hispaniola, where he hoped to recruit his health. He found the colony in a sad state, and while trying to restore peace he again became the object of jealousy and malice. A commissioner named Francisco de Bobadilla was sent from Spain to settle the trouble, and his first act was to put Columbus and his brother in chains and send them to Spain. "Are you taking me to death, Vallejo?" asked Columbus, sadly, when the officer came to lead him from his cell.