How could they go on in the face of this message
from heaven? But go on they must. This remarkable admiral said calmly:
"Steer to the west."
50. As the days went on "they began to meet large patches of weeds,
very green." "We must be near to land," said the sailors. "Perhaps
some island," said the admiral; "but the continent we shall find
further ahead." Another strange thing happened. That little compass,
their only sure guide to Cathay, began to behave as if it too had lost
its head over this foolhardy undertaking. The neighbors at home had
warned them that the devil managed the compass; and this needle, never
known to point anywhere but north, now pointed west of north! Was the
devil steering them for hell? Heaven's fiery bolt had warned them;
they had not heeded, and now the devil was tampering with the compass.
Poor sailors! They looked fiercely on Columbus, and wished themselves
well out of this business. But the admiral faced the strange
occurrence quietly, though his heart may well have beat fearfully, and
proceeded to investigate its cause. He soon announced it. "It is the
north star that moves," he coolly informed the terrified men, "the
needle is always true." The admiral was certainly a marvelously wise
man, and the sailors said no more.
51. Eleven days out. No thickening of the sea yet, except with this
mass of floating weed.
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