Coasting eastward, the _Pinta_ sailed away and left the other vessels, and it was with deep chagrin that Columbus saw no attention paid his signals to return. Pinzon had heard of gold-fields in advance of him, and he was going to reap them. The wreck of the _Santa María_ a month afterward, leaving the admiral only the little _Niña_, made his situation all the more critical, and made him feel more keenly than ever the desertion. Nor was this the first indication of mutiny and disruption among his people during the voyage. If the truth must be told, the character of the man, though inured to the cruel hardihood of the age, seems here to be undergoing change; else it was not originally as either he or his friends have estimated. The new and varied experiences amidst the new and varied phenomena attending the idea and its consummation make it a matter of no wonder that his head began to be a little turned. He had pondered painfully on what Aristotle taught regarding the sphericity of the earth, on what Seneca said about sailing to the Indies westwardly, and on the terrestrial paradise placed by Dante at the antipodes of the holy city; and now he was here among those happy regions of which so long ago philosophers had spoken and poets sung. Under the inspiration of rare intelligence, and by wonderful courage and force of will, this Genoese sailor had brought to his own terms the world's proudest sovereigns. Success, in his mind the most perfect, the most complete, was by this time proved beyond peradventure. At the outset he had suspected himself the special agent of the supernatural; now he was sure of it. It was meet, therefore, that all men should fear and obey him. Impelled to activity, he was impelled, if necessary, to severity. During the passage he had deemed it expedient several times to mislead the sailors, who were consequently backward about reposing in him the respect and confidence due a commander. Suspicious of the Spanish sovereigns from the first, his fears constantly increased as the magnitude of his discovery slowly unfolded before him, that he should eventually be robbed of it. He was jealous lest any of those who had shared with him the perils of the adventure should secure to themselves some part of the honor or profit attending it. He had quarrelled with the Pinzons, who, having staked their money and lives on what was generally regarded a mad risk, thought some consideration from the commander their due. The admiral's temper was tamed somewhat by the very boldness of Pinzon's act; for when the _Pinta_ returned from her cruisings, little was then said about it; but if ever the opportunity should come, her commander must pay dearly for his disobedience. [Sidenote: SAILING AMONG THE ISLANDS.]