boomed, "I'll help you t'bed, me lass, but it won't bewith your old father. Eh, mates?" he cried, and the tavern echoed withlaughter. The big man got up and went over to the girl. "Now, listen,lass," he said, taking hold of her arm. "Why don't you forget thisdrunken slob of a father and--"
Crack! Her hand blurred at his cheek, struck it like a pistol shot. Thebig man blinked his eyes and grinned. "So you have spirit, do you? Well,it's more than I can say for that father of yours, too yellow and toodrunk to carry out the Queen of Castile's bid--"
The hand flashed out again but this time the big man caught it in one ofhis own and twisted sideways against the girl, forcing her back againstthe table's edge. "I like my girls to struggle," he said, and the girl'sface went white as she suddenly let herself go limp in his arms.
The man grinned. "Oh I like 'em limp, me lass. When they're pretty as arose, like you, who's to care?"
"Papa!" the girl screamed. The big man's face hovered over hers,blotting out the oil-lamp lights, the thick lips all but slavering....
* * * * *
"Just a minute, man!" Danny cried, striding boldly to them. Hardlypausing in his efforts to kiss the again struggling girl, the big manswatted back with one enormous arm and sent Danny reeling. Whoever hewas, he was a popular figure. The laughter was still louder now.Everyone was having a great time, at Danny's expense now.
Danny crashed into a chair, upending it. A bowl of soup came crashingdown, the heavy bowl splintering, the hot contents scalding him. Hestood up and heard the girl scream. Instinctively, he grasped two legsof the heavy chair and hefted it. Then he sprinted back across the room.
"Behind you, Pietro!" a voice cried, and at the last moment the big manwhirled and faced Danny, then lunged to one side, taking the girl withhim.
Danny couldn't check his arms, which had carried the heavy chairoverhead. It came down with a crash against the edge of the big planktable. The chair shattered in Danny's arms. One leg flew up and struckthe big man in the face, though, bringing blood just below the cheekbone. He bellowed in surprise and pain and came lumbering toward Danny.
Danny was aware of the girl cowering to one side, aware that another ofthe chair's legs was still grasped in his right hand. He was but a boy,he found himself thinking quickly, desperate. If the giant grabbed him,grabbed him just once, the fight would be over. The man was twice hissize, twice his weight. Yet he had to do something to help the girl....
The giant came at him. The big arms lifted over the heavy, brutalface.... And Danny drove under them with the chair-leg, jabbing the tipof it against the man's enormous middle. Pietro--for such was the man'sname--sagged a few inches, the breath rushing, heavy with garlic, fromhis mouth. But still, he got his great hands about Danny's throat andbegan to squeeze.
Danny saw the wood rafters, the window, a bargirl standing, mouth open,watching them, the drunken man and his daughter, then a blurry, wateryconfusion as his eyes went dim. He was conscious of swinging the club,of striking something, of extending the club out as far as it would goand then slamming it back toward himself, striking something which hehoped was Pietro's head. He felt his mouth going slack and wondered ifhis tongue were hanging out. Exerting all his strength he struck numbly,mechanically, desperately with the chair-leg.
And slowly, the constriction left his throat. Something struck againsthis middle, almost knocking him down. Something pushed against his legs,backing him against the table. He looked down. His eyes were watery, histhroat burning. The giant Pietro lay, breathing stertorously, at hisfeet.
A small hand grabbed his. "Father will come now," a voice said. "Idon't--don't even know who you are, but I want to thank you. I thank youfor myself and the Queen, and God, senor. You better come quickly, withus. Does it hurt much?"
Danny tried to talk. His voice rasped in his throat. The girl squeezedhis hand and together with her and the drunken man who was her father,he left the tavern. The giant Pietro was just getting up and shaking hisfist at them slowly....
* * * * *
It was a small top-floor room in an old waterfront building in theSpanish port of Palos. Or, Danny corrected himself, the Castillian portof Palos. Because, in this year of our Lord 1492, Spain had barelybecome a unified country.
"Are you feeling better, Martin Pinzon?" the beautiful girl asked him.
He had given the name he had heard, Martin Pinzon, as his own. The roomwas very hot. The August night outside was hot too and sultry andstarless. The girl's father was resting now, breathing unevenly. Thegirl's name was Nina. One of the small caravels in her father'sthree-ship fleet was named after her. Her full name was Nina Columbus.
Nina brought another wet cloth and covered Danny's swollen throat withit. "Does it hurt much?" she said, and, for the tenth time, "we have nomoney to thank you with, senor."
"Any man would have--"
"But you were the only one. The only--never mind. Martin, listen. I haveno right to trouble you, but ... it's father. Tomorrow is the second dayof August, you see, and it is all over Palos that tomorrow he sails withthe Queen's charter...."
"Then if you're worrying about that big man, Pietro, you can forget it.If you're sailing, I mean."
"That's just it," Nina said desperately. "Father doesn't want to sail.Martin, tell me, do you believe the world is round?"
Danny nodded very soberly. "Yes, Nina," he told her softly. "The worldis round. I believe it."
"My father doesn't! Funny, isn't it, Martin?" she said in a voice whichtold him she did not think it was funny at all. "All Spain--and Genoatoo--think that tomorrow morning my father, Christopher Columbus, willjourney to the unexplored west confident that he will arrive, after along voyage, in the East--when really my father, this same ChristopherColumbus, lies here in a drunken stupor because he lacks the courage toface his convictions and ... oh, Martin!" Her voice broke, her prettyface crumpled. She sobbed into her hands. Gently, Danny stroked herback.
* * * * *
"There now, take it easy," he said. "Your father will sail. I know he'llsail. Do you believe the world to be round, little Nina?"
"Yes. Oh yes, yes, yes!"
"He will sail. He will prove it and be famous. I know he will."
"Oh, Martin. You sound so sure of yourself. I wish I could ..."
"Nina, listen. Your father will sail."
"You'll help us you mean?"
"Yes. All right, I'll help you. Now, get some sleep if you want to wakeup and say goodbye to him in the morning. Because I'll be getting him upbefore the sun to--"
"Are you a sailing man too? Are you going with him?"
"Well ..."
"Wait! Martin, I remember you now. Martin Pinzon. At the meeting of theorganization to prove the Earth's round shape. You! You were there. Andonce, once when he was not drunk, father said that a Don Pinzon wouldcommand one of our three ships, the Nina it was, the caravel whichbears my name. Are you this Don Pinzon?"
Slowly, Danny nodded. He remembered his history now. The Nina _had_ beencommanded by one Don Pinzon, Don Martin Pinzon! And he was now thisMartin Pinzon, he, Danny Jones. Which meant he was going with Columbusto discover a new world! A nineteen-year-old American youth going towitness the single most important event in American history....
"Yes," Danny said slowly, "I am Don Pinzon."
"But--but you're so young!"
Danny shrugged. "I have seen more of the world than you would believe,Nina."
"The Western Sea? You have been out on the Western Sea, as far as theCanary Islands, perhaps?" she asked in an awed voice.
"I know the Western Sea," he said. "Trust me."
She came very close. She looked long in his eyes. "I trust you, Martin.Oh yes, I trust you. Listen, Martin. I'm going. I'm going with you. Ihave to go with you."
"But a girl--"
"He is my father. I love him, Martin. He needs me. Martin, don't try tostop me. I want you to help me aboard, to see that he ... oh, Marti
n,you'll have so much to do. Because the rest of our crew--some of thembeing hired even now by the three caravel pursers--will be a crew ofcut-throats and ne'er-do-wells embarking into the unknown because theyhave utterly nothing to lose. Father needs you because the others won'tcare."
"The three caravels will sail west," Danny told her. "Believe me,they'll sail west. Now, get some sleep."
Her face was still very close. Her eyes filled with tears, but they werenot tears of sadness. She took his cheeks in her hands and kissed himsoftly on the lips.