"The inside was quite spoiled," went on the old seaman, "but so far as I
could judge it was no kin to the palm nuts we get. I kept the shell, and
I have never found any merchant who could match it. Now the current sets
toward our coast from the west at a certain point, and that is where all
these odd things come ashore."
The guest nodded. "My brother-in-law and I have talked much of these
matters. One of his captains saw some time ago the floating bodies of
two men, brown-skinned, with straight black hair, not like the natives
of any part of Europe or Africa. Another thing which is strange, though
I hold it not as important as they do, is that the people of Madeira
persistently declare that they see a great island appear and disappear
to the westward. According to their description it has lofty mountains
and wooded valleys, and some say it is Atlantis and some Saint Brandan's
Isle. No ship sailing that way has ever landed there, however."
Sancho's eyes turned seaward. "It is marvelous," he said after a pause,
"what things men think they see. And you think, senhor, that the world
is not yet all known to us?'"
"I do not know." Colombo stood up to take his departure. "If God hath
reserved any great work to be done, He hath also chosen the man who is
to do it.
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