Even the prospect of going home did not improve their tempers. When the
food ran low, colonists and crew threatened to kill and eat the captive
natives in the hold. Columbus managed to pacify them all, however, but
it must have used up every bit of energy in his worn body.
When, after this tempestuous voyage, the _Nina_ and the other
little caravel put into Cadiz harbor on June 11, 1496, there was more
humiliation. Crowds collected to greet the gold gatherers; but the
unhappy men who crawled off the vessels were paupers--wrecks--mere
living skeletons. The very sight of them brought down curses on
Christopher Columbus. The man who had dreamed of coming back with a ship
full of gold, and being acclaimed by the cheers of the populace, came
back instead with the royal displeasure hanging over his head and curses
ringing in his ears!
The court was settled, at that time, in the north near Valladolid, and
thither Columbus went to plead his case. All along the way he displayed
his Indians and tropical plants and little golden ornaments, but the
inhabitants were less curious than before. In the picture of this
greatest and most illustrious discoverer trying to gain favor with
critical crowds by showing them a few naked savages and a few bits of
gold, there is something pitiful.
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