Here, however, the _Santa Maria_ sank, and Columbus determined to return, to bring the good news, after leaving some of his men in a fort at Hayti.

The return journey was made in the _Nina_ in even shorter time to the Azores, but afterwards severe storms arose, and it was not till the 15th March 1493 that he reached Palos, after an absence of seven and a half months, during which everybody thought that he and his ships had disappeared.
He was naturally received with great enthusiasm by the Spaniards, and after a solemn entry at Barcelona he presented to Ferdinand and Isabella the store of gold and curiosities carried by some of the natives of the islands he had visited.

They immediately set about fitting out a much larger fleet of seven vessels, which started from Cadiz, 25th September 1493.

He took a more southerly course, but again reached the islands now known as the West Indies.
On visiting Hayti he found the fort destroyed, and no traces of the men he had left there.

It is needless for our purposes to go through the miserable squabbles which occurred on this and his subsequent voyages, which resulted in Columbus's return to Spain in chains and disgrace.