Even the few volunteers, the picked hands upon whom Columbus was relying, gave trouble.  In those days of waiting there was too much opportunity for talk in the shore-side wine-shops; some of the volunteers repented and tried to cry off their bargains; others were dissuaded by their relatives, and deserted and hid themselves.  No mild measures were of any use; a reign of terror had to be established; and nothing short of the influence of the Pinzons was severe enough to hold the company together.  To these vigorous measures, however, all opposition gradually yielded.  By the end of July the provisions and stores were on board, the whole complement of eighty-seven persons collected and enlisted, and only the finishing touches left for Columbus.  It is a sign of the distrust and fear evinced with regard to this expedition, that no priest accompanied it—­something of a sorrow to pious Christopher, who would have liked his chaplain.  There were two surgeons, or barbers, and a physician; there were an overseer, a secretary, a master-at-arms; there was an interpreter to speak to the natives of the new lands in Hebrew, Greek, German, Chaldean or Arabic; and there was an assayer and silversmith to test the quality of the precious metals that they were sure to find.  Up at La Rabida, with the busy and affectionate assistance of the old Prior, Columbus made his final preparations.  Ferdinand was to stay at Cordova with Beatriz, and to go to school there; while Diego was already embarked upon his life’s voyage, having been appointed a page to the Queen’s son, Prince Juan, and handed over to the care of some of the Court ladies.  The course to be sailed was talked over and over again; the bearings and notes of the pilot at Porto Santo consulted and discussed; and a chart was made by Columbus himself, and copied with his own hands for use on the three ships.

On the 2nd of August everything was ready; the ships moored out in the stream, the last stragglers of the crew on board, the last sack of flour and barrel of beef stowed away.  Columbus confessed himself to the Prior of La Rabida—­a solemn moment for him in the little chapel up on the pine-clad hill.  His last evening ashore would certainly be spent at the monastery, and his last counsels taken with Perez and Doctor Hernandez.  We can hardly realise the feelings of Christopher on the eve of his departure from the land where all his roots were, to a land of mere faith and conjecture.  Even today, when the ocean is furrowed by crowded highways, and the earth is girdled with speaking wires, and distances are so divided and reduced that the traveller need never be very long out of touch with his home, few people can set out on a long voyage without some emotional disturbance, however slight it may be; and to Columbus on this night the little town upon which he looked down from the monastery, which had been the scene of so many delays and difficulties and vexations, must have seemed suddenly dear and familiar to him as he