No, they concluded, the Italian was a
"visionary," and the Council for Geographical Affairs advised the king
accordingly.
Seeing that nothing was to be gained by remaining in Portugal, and
having become involved soon after in some political trouble, Columbus
decided to leave for Spain, and offer to Ferdinand and Isabella the
western lands which King John of Portugal had refused.
CHAPTER V
A SEASON OF WAITING
Columbus by this time was about thirty-five. His reddish-brown hair had
turned white. He had no money; on the contrary, he was in debt. His good
wife Felipa had died, and he had to find some place where he could leave
his little son Diego while he went to court to ask for ships. Felipa had
a sister married to a Spaniard and living in Huelva. With this lady
Columbus decided to leave the boy.
They left Lisbon by ship, it is supposed; but instead of taking a ship
bound direct for Huelva, Christopher picked out one bound for Palos, a
port not far from Huelva; moreover, on landing, instead of conducting
the child at once to his aunt, he trudged a few miles back of Palos with
him to a lonely old convent among the sand dunes, called La Rabida
(pronounced Ra'bida). About his haste to reach this spot Christopher had
not breathed a word in the town where he had just landed; in fact, he
always remained silent about it; but it appears that he went there to
question a Portuguese monk named Marchena whom he had known in Portugal.
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