42 - Time Traveler: Voyage With Columbus - Pages 71-73

"The Santa Maria has served us well," Columbus says, "and now she'll serve us again."

The captain explains that the wood from the flagship is much stronger that the local island timber. So he's going to use this wood to build a fort.

"We'll call it Fort Navidad," Columbus says. "It will be our new trading post. I want volunteers--forty men willing to remain here. Their job will be to stay friendly with the natives and to keep trading. They'll also keep searching for the gold mines.

"I'm going to sail back to Spain. By the time I return," he says, "this post will be a busy place. We'll have plenty of gold by then, to take to the king and queen."

There are lost of tools and nails. Work on the new fort gets under way. You help to load wood from the Santa Maria into the canoes. The best timber is brought ashore. Then it's sawed into planks and nailed in place.

In a few days, Fort Navidad is built. Columbus raises a flag over its high wooden walls.

Forty men--most of them from the old flagship--volunteer to stay. They'll be given a big supply of food, tools, weapons, and trading goods. You're interested to see that Romano is among the volunteers. You're rid of him at last.

Columbus is pleased with his plan. "As for me," he announces, "I'll sail home on the Nina. But I'll come back to Navidad as soon as I raise money for a new fleet."

You gaze up at the fort--all that remains of the flagship--and feel that your mission is over. Now you know what happened to the Santa Maria, and why the ship never got back to Spain. You also know that later, this fort was destroyed because of the sailors' cruelty.

You know your friends from the Santa Maria are about to sail back to Spain. You decide to say good-bye to them one last time.


Turn to page 78.

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