He had lowered the main topmast lest a wave might carry it away.
With a heavy wind astern, so that the sea frequently broke over the little Nina, she made eastward rapidly, and at daybreak on the fifteenth they saw land.

The Admiral knew that he had made the Azores, he had been steadily directing the course that way; some of the seamen thought they were at Madeira, and some hopeful ones thought they saw the rock of Cintra in Portugal.

Columbus did not land till the eighteenth, when he sent some men on shore, upon the island of Santa Maria.

His news of discovery was at first received with enthusiasm.
But there followed a period of disagreeable negotiation with Castaneda, the governor of the Azores.

Pretending great courtesy and hospitality, but really acting upon the orders of the king of Portugal, he did his best to disable Columbus and even seized some of his crew and kept them prisoners for some days.