The time had come to go.

Most of the sailors were Spanish men from the towns near to the sea, but somehow a few who were not Spaniards joined the crew.
One of the first men to land in America from one of the ships of Columbus was an Irishman named William, from the County Galway.

And another was an Englishman named either Arthur Laws or Arthur Larkins.
The Spanish names for both these men look very queer, and only a wise scholar who digs among names and words could have found out what they really were.

But such a one did find it out, and it increases our interest in the discovery of America to know that some of our own northern blood--the Irishman and the Englishman--were in the crews of Columbus.
The Admiral Columbus was so sure he was going to find a rich and civilized country, such as India and Cathay were said to be, that he took along on his ships the men he would need in such places as he expected to visit and among such splendid people as he was sure he should meet.

He took along a lawyer to make out all the forms and proclamations and papers that would have to be sent by the Admiral to the kings and princes he expected to visit; he had a secretary and historian to write out the story of what he should find and what he should do.