"Praise the Lord! I, De La Cosa, guided by the merciful Lord, bear Queen Isabella's mission and have received the blessing laid upon me by the Archbishop of Granada himself!"
The Christmas Day prayer proclamation ended, and the Caribbean Sea glittered with rippling light. Towering masts lay anchored in the natural harbor, while low thatched huts were scattered along the green shore. Beneath the erected wooden cross, Captain De La Cosa raised the silver cross amulet at his neck, swept his gaze over all the Castilian sailors, and proclaimed loudly.
"I swear that I will bring every one of you back home safely, to receive the queen's reward! ..."
Borrowing the force of the prayer just now, De La Cosa once again draped himself in the queen's "tiger skin," and clearly revealed the backing of the archbishop as well. And everything he said and did was for the sake of raising his prestige among the sailors as much as possible before the hard, long ocean voyage ahead, with its danger of mutiny, and rebuilding the fleet's order, which had long since collapsed after repeated rebellions.
"The Lord bears witness! The long voyage home is before our eyes, our home in Castile is before our eyes, and the glory and wealth of discovering a new sea route are before our eyes as well! ... I swear by the plague doctor's bird beak that I will not mistreat a single sailor who follows me, nor will I short anyone of the royal bounty! If I do, let me catch the Black Death and be burned alive into ashes by the Church's judging flames! ..."
Captain De La Cosa's eyes burned as he promised the wealth of returning home and swore by the witch customs the sailors believed in. He watched the expressions