O noble priest and friend! you reached the court And turned the Queen from conquest's mid career To hearken; other triumphs glittered clear Before her, and again from Huelva's port The seeker came; he saw Granada's fort Open its gates reluctant, and the King, El Zogoibi, bewail his bitter sort And loss which made the rich _Te Deums_ ring When on La Vela's tower The cross bloomed like a flower Of heaven's own growing; but the sudden spring, Loud with birds silent long that strove to sing, After the winter's weary voiceless reign, Was overcast with storms of cold disdain; Haughtily forth he fared and reached Granada's gates When the clouds lifted and the persecuting fates Relented from their fury; for the Queen Listened unto the urgings manifold Of Santangel, and counsel, wise and bold, Of the far-seeing Marchioness, whose keen Divinings pierced the misty ocean's screen And felt the deed must surely come to pass; So they recalled him, and his life's changed scene Grew bright with blooms and smile of thickening grass; O royal woman then Your hand received again The keys of a great realm; in the clear glass Of actions yet to be whose fires amass Infinite stores of impulse toward the good, Your image permanent lies; forth from the wood Of beasts malicious and the unrelenting dread You showed the way, but sought not from the gloom to tread. The wind was fair, the ships lay in the bay, And the blue sky looked down upon the earth; Prophetic time laughed toward the nearing birth Of the strong child with whom should come a day That dulled all earlier hours. Forth on the way With holy blessings said, and bellied sails, And mounting joy that knows not let nor stay! Lo! the undaunted purpose never fails! O patient master, seer, For whom the far is near, The vision true, and the mere present pales Its lustre, what mild seas and blossomed vales Awaited you? haply a paradise But not the one which drew your swerveless eyes; Could you have known what lands were there beyond the main, You surelier would have turned to gladsomeness from pain. LOUIS JAMES BLOCK. With the greatest difficulty, Columbus managed to secure three little vessels, the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Niña, and to enlist about a hundred and twenty men for the enterprise. Early in the morning of Friday, August 3, 1492, this tiny fleet sailed out from Palos and turned their prows to the west. STEER, BOLD MARINER, ON! [August 3, 1492]