CHAPTER VII.
"MAROONED."
The expedition moved down its western way, over the track of Columbus. It had left poor Ruy Faleiro behind—he who had seen the progress of it all in the fitful light of a disordered vision. He had not relinquished his own high aims. He hoped to follow Magellan with an expedition of his own.
The ships were furnished with "castles," fore and aft; they carried gay pennons and were richly stored. The artillery comprised sixty-two culverins and smaller ordnance. Five thousand or more pounds of powder were shut up in the magazines, and a large provision was made for trading with the natives—looking glasses for women, velvets, knives, and ivory ornaments, and twenty thousand bells.
Magellan's ship bore a lantern, swung high in the air amid the thickly corded rigging, which the other ships were to keep in view in the night. What a history had this lantern! It gleamed out on the night track of a new world, a pillar of fire that encompassed the earth as in the orbit of a star.
The fleet had fifteen days of good weather and passed Cape Verde Islands, running along the African coast.
But the fleet carried with it disloyal hearts. The Portuguese prejudice against Magellan sailed with it. The Spanish sailors distrusted the loyalty of Magellan to Spain.
The commander was a man of great heart, chivalrous, and noble, but he could be firm when there arose an occasion for it.
After leaving Teneriffe Magellan altered his course.
Juan de Carthagena, captain of the San Antonio, "the inspector" and a spy, demanded of Magellan why he had done so.