"Holy Mother! Quick, quick! The Portuguese are envious of my outstanding maritime skills; they will definitely send someone to harm me!... Hurry! De La Cosa, run quickly! We cannot stop!..."
Columbus rode nonstop, first fleeing eastward for four hundred miles, reaching the noble territories of Badajoz, which Portugal and Castile had repeatedly contested. There, he encountered a large patrol of Portuguese cavalry, his heart pounding with fear, thinking the Portuguese finally unleashed their fatal blow!
As it turned out, the patrolling cavalry only interrogated them briefly, looked at the trembling Columbus with curiosity, and allowed the shabby "Castilian Noble Team" to go free.
Then the group rushed eastward again, fleeing for another one hundred and twenty miles, finally arriving at the territory of the Kingdom of Castile, the former Roman Empire's provincial capital of Lusitania, "the most noble, ancient, and loyal city," Mérida!
