"I, too, am
`dove.' " And he opened a window and sent forth a "dove"
to find if there were land!' "
Almost the whole ship from Jason down took these two
birds for portents. Fray Ignatio lifted hands. "The
Blessed Francis who knew that birds have souls to save
hath sent them!" We passed the drifting branch of a
tree. It had green leaves. The sea ran extremely blue and
clear, and half the ship thought they smelled frankincense,
brought on the winds which now were changeable. At evening
rose a great cry of "Land!" and indeed to one side the
sinking sun seemed veritable cliffs with a single mountain
peak. The Admiral, who knew more of sea and air than
any two men upon those ships, cried "Cloud--cloud!"
but for a time none believed him. There sprang great commotion,
the _Pinta_ too signaling. Then before our eyes
came a rift in the mountain and the cliffs slipped into the sea.
But now all believed in land ahead. It was as though
some one had with laughter tossed them that assurance over
the horizon straight before us. Every mariner now was
emulous to be the lookout, every man kept eyes on the west.
Now sprang clear and real to them the royal promise of
ten thousand maravedies pension to him who first sighted
Cipango, Cathay or India. The Admiral added a prize of a
green velvet doublet.
We had come nigh eight hundred leagues.
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