to the new world. (Further readings not in book) As the fourth voyage Columbus ended. It was his last. Columbus had a long sickness that almost made him crazy, you might say he, lost his mind. But he knew one thing that the king and queen of Spain had not kept the promises they had made him, and he was determined, if he lived, to have justice, and to make them do as they said they would. They had told him that only he or one of his family could be Admiral of the Ocean Seas of the New Lands; they had sent across the ocean others, who were not of his family, to govern what he had been promised for his own. They had told him that he should have a certain share of the profits that came from trading and gold hunting in the Indies; they had not kept this promise either, and he was poor when he was convinced he should to be rich. So, when he was on land once more, he tried hard to get to court and see the king and queen. But he was too sick. He had got as far as Seville, the fair Spanish city by the Guadalquivir. But when he arrived, he again became disappointment. He lost his best friend at the court. It had been barely two weeks in Spain and the Queen Isabella died. After Queen Isabella's death, which did nothing to help Columbus. He would not agree to give the Admiral what he called his rights, and though Columbus kept writing letters from his sick room asking for justice, the king would do nothing for him. So Columbus had no friends at the king's court. Diego, his eldest son, was still one of the royal pages, but he could do nothing. Without friends, without influence, without opportunity, Columbus began to feel that he should never get his rights unless he could see the king himself. Even sick he was he determined to try it. It must have been sad to see this sick old man drag himself to the court to ask for justice from the king whom he had made rich. You would think that when King Ferdinand...
