Birds and seaweed, seaweed and birds, for over two weeks. Then on September 25 the monotony was broken. Captain Martin Pinzon called out from the _Pinta_ that he saw land. Columbus says that when he heard this shout, he fell on his knees and thanked God. Scanning the horizon, he too thought he saw land; all of the next day they sailed with every eye fixed on a far-off line of mountains which never appeared any nearer. At last the supposed mountains literally rose and rolled away! It was nothing but low-lying clouds, such as those the Canary Islanders had mistaken for _terra firma_. Christopher's heart must have sunk, for they had come over seven hundred leagues, and for two days he had supposed he was gazing on the island of his search. In spite of this disappointment they kept on, for a plant floated by that had roots which had grown in the earth; also a piece of wood that had been rudely carved by man; and the number of birds kept increasing. One can readily see how even the most skeptical man on the expedition should have felt sure by this time that the man whom he used to consider a mild maniac was in truth a very wise person. And perhaps the crew did feel it; but also they felt angry at those signs that mocked them day after day by never coming true. They grumbled; and the more the signs increased the more they grumbled; till finally one morning Columbus came on deck and found that his own helmsman had turned the _Santa Maria_ eastward, and all the crew were standing by in menacing attitudes. The other two ships, as we have seen, were commanded by the Pinzon brothers; and they, being natives of Palos, had secured all the respectable Palos men who were willing to enlist; but Columbus had only the worst element--the jail-birds and loafers from other towns. And here they stood, saying plainly by their manner, "We are going back! What are you going to do about it?" We don't know exactly what he did do about it; Martin Alonzo Pinzon sent him advice to "hang a few of the rebels; and if you can't manage to hang them, I and my brothers will row to your ship and do it." But Christopher appears to have handled the situation without their help, and without hanging any one; for soon the helmsman swung the _Santa Maria_ around again. On October 10 trouble broke out afresh, and Columbus makes this entry in his diary:-- "The crew, not being able to stand the length of the voyage, complained to me, but I reanimated them."