At once they gave way to all the meanness of their
natures and, in order to gain favor with the new viceroy, they began
bitterly denouncing the old.
Columbus, who had received word of Agnado's advent into Isabella,
hurried to meet him there. Seeing himself in a sorry plight, he told
Agnado that he would immediately go back to Spain and answer his
sovereigns' inquiries in person. This was in October, 1495. But all
sorts of ill luck prevented his going. A frightful hurricane tore over
the island and sank the four vessels which Agnado had brought; then a
wanderer came in with tales of a real gold mine in the south of the
island and the report had to be investigated. Next, the several forts
which had been built had to be strengthened and stocked with provisions;
so that it was not till March, 1496, that the Admiral was ready to sail.
Only two caravels now remained in Isabella harbor. One of these was the
faithful little _Nina_; and on her the weary Admiral returned to
Spain.
CHAPTER XVI
THE THIRD VOYAGE
Columbus's second voyage home from his western lands was even more
stormy and threatening than his first had been, but the little
_Nina_ remained stanch as ever. Besides frightful weather to try
his soul, Columbus was taking home two hundred broken-down, disheartened
colonists who could no longer endure the hardships of the New World.
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