The stranger was so tall and fine-looking, and seemed such an interesting man, that Friar Juan went out and began to talk with him.

This man was Columbus.
As they talked, the priest grew more and more interested in what Columbus said.

He invited him into the convent to stay for a few days, and he asked some other people--the doctor of Palos and some of the sea captains and sailors of the town--to come and talk with this stranger who had such a singular idea about sailing across the Atlantic.
It ended in Columbus's staying some months in Palos, waiting for a chance to go and see the king and queen.

At last, in 1485, he set out for the Spanish court with a letter to a priest who was a friend of Friar Juan's, and who could help him to see the king and queen.
At that time the king and queen of Spain were fighting to drive out of Spain the people called the Moors.

These people came from Africa, but they had lived in Spain for many years and had once been a very rich and powerful nation.