The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1892-08-24
The EmbarkatiOn of Columbus.

On August 2, 1892, everything was
ready, and the crew were notified to
embark, to await the uncertain moment
when a favorable wind should permit
the little feet to set sail. Nothing 30
befitted that solemn hour as votive
procession from the caravels to the
monastery, to which the eyes of the
mariners turned as 10 spiritual bea-
con, brighter than any that tlared along
the headlands. This pious duty per-
formed, the crew returned on board the
caravels, where they patiently awaited
the order to sail, while Columbus re-
tired to the monastery eagerly to watch
for a favoring wind. Columbus kept
all sail on his caravels during the night
of August 2. The old salts of the crew
looked for favoring wind at starting,
and Columbus eager watchfulness was
not to pass unrewarded. From the
height on which La Rabida stood, he
scanned sea and sky with steadfast
gaze, like one of those sea- birds, pre-
sagers of changes of wind and weather,
clinging to the SCARED and storm-beaten
cliff.
About three in the morning, while
the stars yet twinkled in the skies and
all earth slumbered, the awaited breeze
sprang up, bringing new life to the dis
coverer's veins and quickening the
throbbing of his heart. The pines
murmured as though hymning the
dawn, and the waters rippled as though
heaving with the breath of love and
hope. Columbus awakened Padre Juan,
and he in turn the child Diego, and the
three repaired to the chapel in quest of
heavenly aid and religious solace for
the approaching pangs of separation
and for the fateful voyage. AS in the
boundless ether shine the stars, so the
lamps flickered in the little church,
lighting with their rays alike the courses
of the ocean and the pathways of the
soul. The monk put on his priestly
vestments, and celebrated the holy
sacrament at the high altar, before the
taper-lighted Virgin. The hour was
come, and Columbus resolutely de-
scended to the shore, plucking himself
away from embraces that held him to
the land like some deep-rooted oak, for
the sail-wings were ready to bear him
TO the realm of sea and sky. He soon
reached the wharf, and as the dawn
broke in the east the flagship majesti-
cally ran inshore to take the new
Argonaut on board.
The fluttering sails, the hurried man.
euvers of the crew, the boatswain's
whistle, and the cries of the sailors as
the ships got under way, announced a
speedy departure, and attracted the
early-risen villagers to the shore in
their natural desire to witness the
scene, and to bid farewell to departing
friends and loved ones. When Column
bus sprang from the skiff on board the
caravel, and the anchors were weighed,
shudder ran alike through the depart
ing sailors and the leave-takers on the
strand. Where they were going they
knew, but as their westward course
after leaving Cadiz and the Canaries
was to take them far beyond those
lately-won islands, none knew whittier
they were bound, or the duration of the
voyage. The cross floated above the
flag. ship, which bore seward toward
the unknown, seeking mysteries per-
chance impenetrable and inaccessible
to the human mind and unconquerable
by human will.-Emilio CASTELAR,, in
Century.