It is not necessary to detail the events of this expedition, except to say, that it proved a source of untold evil and suffering to the veteran navigator. After his arrival at Hispaniola, he was involved in inextricable difficulties with the colonists, the final result of which was, that he was sent home in chains. This shocking indignity was the unauthorized act of a commissioner, named Boadilla, sent out by the government to adjust the differences that had taken place. The king and queen of Spain thus became unwittingly the cause of his disgrace. This was too much for the kind and generous feelings of the queen in particular. Columbus was soothed by the assurances of her sympathy and sorrow for his trials. "When he beheld the emotion of his royal mistress, and listened to her consolatory language, it was too much for his loyal and generous heart; and, throwing himself on his knees, he gave vent to his feelings, and sobbed aloud."[4] As an indication of the continued confidence of the king and queen in his fidelity, wisdom, and nautical skill, they proposed to him a fourth voyage. To this he assented, with some reluctance at first; but, cheered by their assurances, he quitted the port of Cadiz on the 9th of March, 1502, with a small squadron of four caravels. This was his last voyage, and more disastrous than any which preceded it. Among other misfortunes, he was wrecked on the island of Jamaica, where he was permitted to linger more than a year, through the malice of Ovando, the new governor of St. Domingo. On his return, the 7th of November, 1504, after a most perilous and tedious voyage, he was destined to feel the heaviest stroke of all, in the death of his most constant and liberal supporter, the queen; and, with her death, to fail of that public justice which he had looked for as the crown of all his labors, hardships, and sacrifices. The king, always wary and distrustful, though he treated Columbus with high public consideration, seems to have regarded him "in the unwelcome light of a creditor, whose demands were never to be disavowed, and too large to be satisfied." The great discoverer lived only a year and a half after his return; and, though poorly compensated by the king in his last days, he bore his trials with patience, and died on the 5th of May, 1506, in the most Christian spirit of resignation. [Illustration] FOOTNOTES: [1] History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, by Wm. H. Prescott. [2] History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, by Washington Irving.