‘Not at all. He hangs around the court, begging for audiences, assembling more evidence from legend, sea-farers’ tales, Arab geographies and the works of the ancients. To the rest of the court he has become a comical figure, I think. A bore and a charlatan. Yet he still seems to appeal to Isabel. She has even been paying him living expenses.

‘But you must understand that all this time the monarchs have been prosecuting their war against the Moors. It’s been a bloody summer,’ Abdul said, remembering. ‘I saw too much of it. Malaga’s resistance was strong. When the fortress fell at last, the population was divided up among the Spanish nobles for slavery, like so many cattle. The emirate at Granada, divided against itself, could do nothing . . . I think it’s clear to everyone that if Fernando and Isabel ever do support Colon’s venture overseas, it will only be after the conclusion of the war with the Moors.

‘But Colon’s time may be running out. Just this month he has been in Portugal to hear the testament of Bartolomeo Dias, who has sailed down the coast of Africa past the equator, proving by the way there is no Torrid Zone, and discovering a cape where he was able to turn east.’

Geoffrey frowned. ‘I’m no geographer. I’m not sure I see the significance. ’

Harry said, ‘Dias believes he has discovered a sea route to the spice islands by sailing east around the southern tip of Africa, rather than west across the Ocean Sea.’

‘Ah,’ said Geoffrey. ‘So Colon’s voyage west would have no purpose.’

‘Worse,’ Abdul said with a smile. ‘Dias is a hero. He is getting the attention and fame Colon craves! I told you Colon is a shallow man.’

‘And that’s why he has sent his brother to sound out the King of England,’ Geoffrey said.

‘Yes. Even the dogged Colon is despairing of the Spanish monarchs.’

‘But he mustn’t be allowed to give up,’ Geoffrey said. ‘Let’s hope our “man from Cathay” works his magic.’

Harry frowned. ‘A man from Cathay?’

Abdul grinned. ‘Actually it was my idea.’

Geoffrey said, ‘We have been trying to support Colon’s case by feeding his camp selected bits of scholarship on the size of the earth, what might lie beyond the sea, and so on. Colon’s ally Friar Antonio de Marchena of Palos is a fellow Franciscan, and I was able to use him as a conduit to reach Colon. But we thought we needed something more dramatic to impress the monarchs.’

Abdul said, ‘One of Colon’s sea stories is that when he voyaged to Iceland, he was told of corpses, washed up on a western shore of Ireland, strange men with yellow skin and dark hair, in a boat that was a hollowed-out log. Colon never saw these corpses. Yet he believed they must have come from China, washed across the ocean by a current.’