Some thought they would find it in lumps as big as a house, and they all expected to pick up hands full of gems just anywhere. Columbus had strained his eyes looking for the land until he was nearly blind, but one night he imagined he saw a glimmer of light ahead. Where there was light there must be land, he thought. So he called one of the sailors to him and asked him what he saw.
"LAND! LAND AHEAD!"
"A light! a light!" cried the sailor joyfully. But it was not until nearly two o'clock in the morning that the commander of one of the other boats started the cry:
"Land! Land ahead!"
You can imagine what excitement there was on all the caravels, and how thankful Columbus was. The padres gathered around him, and as he sprang ashore, he dropped on his knees and stooped and kissed the ground. Even the sailors forgot about the gold while he and the padres prayed and thanked God for giving mankind a new world.
Immediately the flag of Spain was planted and the land claimed for King Ferdinand and Isabella, but wonderful indeed were the things surrounding them. Men and women of a bronze color crowded around them and offered them strange, but delicious fruits and flowers and brought them food and water. In his first letter to Queen Isabella, Columbus said of them:
"There is not in all the world a better people nor a better land. Their converse is ever sweet and gentle, and is accompanied by a smile. They truly love their neighbor as themselves."
Finding them docile and kind the padres set about teaching them, and the simple natives were very willing listeners. It was quite a long time before they could understand each other well, but the padres told the story of the Christ the first time they held a service, which was on a Sunday. Remembering the precepts of the Golden Hearted, the faces of the natives lighted up understandingly when they heard the words of Jesus which bade them be loving and kind to each other, and they nodded their heads and exclaimed: