Diego pointed out to Juan the convent of La Rabida, standing on its eminence, where it could plainly be seen, and from which he had so many times looked down on the little river he was now sailing up, after such strange adventures. He wondered how he would be received there. There was certainly to be one nugget of gold to make a cross for the breviary of Fray Bartolomeo, and Alfonso, his old friend, should have another.
And Juan was to go with him wherever he went, and it was always to be share and share alike with them. Juan had agreed to that with a full heart; for the approach to Spain recalled to him the things he had been able so long to put away from him, and it was pleasant to hear Diego’s hearty voice telling him that he had been his brother, and always should be.
“And,” said Diego, with a joyous laugh, “we will fight it out as soon as I have taken as great a risk for you as you did for me off Haiti.”
The sail up the river is not a long one, with the tide favorable, and it was a short time after entering it that they came in sight of the town. Martin Alonzo paced the poop, filled with the thought of the triumph that was to be his.
“Brother,” said Francisco Martin, his face quite pale, “what vessel is that riding in the river?”
Martin Alonzo looked and looked again, and a change came over his face such as one looks for on the face of the dying.
“The Niña,” was all he said.
Yes, it was true. After passing through many adventures, the Niña had reached Palos just one day in advance of the Pinta; and as the Pinta drew nearer the town, the noise of the rejoicing over the admiral could be distinctly heard.
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It is a sad thing to say, but it is true, alas! that Martin Alonzo Pinzon was hurt to his death by the ending to his voyage. Most of all that wounded him was the feeling that he had dishonored himself. He would not sail up to the town, but took a small boat ashore, and went stealthily to his house, bitterly contrasting such a home-coming with the one he had anticipated, and yet finding in his heart that his punishment was just.