One morning a tall, fine-looking man, leading a little boy by the hand, knocked at the door of this convent and begged for a piece of bread and a cup of water for the child. The man was Columbus,--whose wife was now dead,--and the boy was his son. It chanced that the guardian of the convent noticed Columbus standing at the door. He liked his appearance, and coming up, began to talk with him. Columbus frankly told him what he was trying to do. The guardian of the convent listened with great interest; then he gave him a letter to a friend who he thought would help him to lay his plans before Ferdinand and Isabella,[11] the king and queen of Spain. [Footnote 9: Palos (Pa'los); see map in paragraph 12.] [Footnote 10: Convent: a house in which a number of people live who devote themselves to a religious life.] [Footnote 11: Isabella (Iz-ah-bel'ah).] 7. Columbus gets help for his great voyage.--Columbus left his son at the convent, and set forward on his journey full of bright hopes. But Ferdinand and Isabella could not then see him; and after waiting a long time, the traveller was told that he might go before a number of learned men and tell them about his proposed voyage across the Atlantic. After hearing what Columbus had to say, these men thought that it would be foolish to spend money in trying to reach the other side of the ocean. People who heard what this captain from Lisbon wanted to do began to think that he had lost his reason, and the boys in the streets laughed at him and called him crazy. Columbus waited for help seven years; he then made up his mind that he would wait no longer. Just as he was about leaving Spain, Queen Isabella, who had always felt interested in the brave sailor, resolved to aid him. Two rich sea-captains who lived in Palos also decided to take part in the voyage. With the assistance which Columbus now got he was able to fit out three small vessels. He went in the largest of the vessels--the only one which had an entire deck--as admiral[12] or commander of the fleet. [Footnote 12: Admiral (ad'mi-ral).] 8. Columbus sails.--Early on Friday morning, August 3d, 1492, Columbus started from Palos to attempt to cross that ocean which men then called the "Sea of Darkness,"--a name which showed how little they knew of it, and how much they dreaded it. We may be pretty sure that the guardian of the convent was one of those who watched the sailing of the little fleet. From the upper windows of the convent he could plainly see the vessels as they left the harbor of Palos. [Illustration: COLUMBUS LEAVING PALOS, AUGUST 3D, 1492.] 9. What happened on the first part of the voyage.--Columbus sailed first for the Canary Islands, because from there it would be a straight line, as he thought, across to Japan and Asia. He was obliged to stop at the Canaries[13] more than three weeks, in order to make a new rudder for one of his vessels and to alter the sails of another.