Pastwatch- The Redemption Of Christopher Columbus - By Orson Scott Card Page 0,112
that he could come to shore and perform the duty for which he had been sent. Cristoforo admired him enough for his silent strength that he determined that no log of his would record the fact of Escobedo's seasickness. Let him keep his dignity in history.
Cristoforo noted that the launch put away from Pinzyn's caravel before all the royal officials had made it down into his launch. Let Pinzyn beware, if he thinks he can be the first to set foot on this island. Whatever he thinks of me as a sailor, I am still the emissary of the King of Aragon and the Queen of Castile, and it would be treason for him to try to preempt me on such a mission as this.
Pinzyn must have realized this halfway to the beach, for his launch lay still in the water as Cristoforo's passed him and ran up onto the beach. Before the boat staggered to a stop, Cristoforo swung over the side and tramped through the water, the low breakers soaking him up to the waist and dragging at the sword at his hip. He held the royal standard high over his head as he broke from the water and strode forward on the smooth wet sand of the beach. He walked on until he was above the tide line, and there in the dry sand he knelt down and kissed the earth. Then he rose to his feet and turned to see the others behind him, also kneeling, also kissing the ground as he had done.
"This small island will now bear the name of the holy Savior who led us here."
Escobedo wrote on the paper he held on the small box he had carried from the caravel: "San Salvador."
"This land is now the property of Their Majesties King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, our sovereigns and the servants of Christ."
They waited as Escobedo finished writing what Cristoforo had said. Then Cristoforo signed the deed, and so also did every other man there. None had the temerity to dare to sign above him, or to sign more than half as large as his bold signature.
Only then did the natives begin to emerge from the forest. There was a large number of them, all naked, none armed, brown as treebark. Against the vivid greens of the trees and underbrush, their skin looked almost red. They walked timidly, deferently, awe obvious on their faces.
"Are they all children?" asked Escobedo.
"Children?" asked Don Pedro.
"No beards," said Escobedo.
"Our captain shaves his face, too," said Don Pedro.
"They have no whiskers at all," said Escobedo.
Sanchez, hearing them, laughed loudly. "They're stark naked, and you look at their chins to see if they're men?"
Pinzyn overheard the joke and laughed even louder, passing the story on.
The natives, hearing the laughter, joined in. But they could not keep from reaching up and touching the beards of those Spaniards nearest them. It was so obvious that they had no harmful intent that the Spaniards permitted their touch, laughing and joking.
Still, even though Cristoforo had no beard to attract them, they obviously recognized that he was the leader, and it was to him that the oldest of them came. Cristoforo tried several languagaes on him, including Latin, Spanish, Portuguese, and Genovese, to no avail. Escobedo tried Greek and Pinzyn's brother, Vicente Yanez, tried the smattering of Moorish he had learned during his years of smuggling along the coast.
"They have no language at all," said Cristoforo. Then he reached out to the gold ornament the chief wore in his ear.
Without a word the man smiled, took it out of his ear, and laid it in Cristoforo's hand.
The Spaniards sighed in relief. So these natives understood things well enough, language or not. Whatever gold they had belonged to Spain.
"More of this," said Cristoforo. "Where do you dig it out of the ground?"
Met by incomprehension, Cristoforo acted it out, digging in the sand and "finding" the gold ornament there. Then he pointed inland.
The old man shook his head vigorously and pointed out to sea. To the southwest.
"The gold apparently doesn't come from this island," said Cristoforo. "But we could hardly expect a place as small and poor as this to have a gold mine, or there would have been royal officials from Cipangu here to oversee the labor of digging it."
He laid the gold ornament back into the old man's hand. To the other Spaniards he said, "We'll soon see gold in such quantities as to make this a trifle."