Read Online Aboard Cabrillo's Galleon by Christine Echeverria Bender - Free Book Online Page B

coastline throughout the voyage to the East, and he looked forward to taking the horses ashore and having wild replacements for their feed collected whenever possible.
    He and Correa dodged a small flock of panicking chickens that had just escaped their keeper’s wagon, and walked toward the barn located behind a nearby inn and livery. As Cabrillo rounded a corner and the barn’s front came into view, a tall dappled stallion lifted his head at the open upper half of his door and called out to him. Pawing the floor of his stall, he continued to whicker as if demanding an immediate conversation.
    â€œThat horse of yours seems half human, sir, the way he speaks to you. I have never seen the like.”
    Cabrillo approached the horse wearing an expression so filled with devotion that it might well have made his wife and children jealous. Even they, however, had learned very early that horses had found the soft regions of his heart long before he’d met any of them.
    â€œNor will you see his kind again,” said Cabrillo. “Viento is the finest of an exceptional Andalusian line.” The stud arched his neck, shook his head, and extended his fine muzzle. Except around his eyes and muzzle, his head was a much lighter gray than the rest of his body. Downward and back from his jaw, his mottled coat gradually darkened to nearly black as it approached his tail and hooves. Viento had been dark as pitch at birth but had dappled through his youth and would one day mature to a brilliant white. His black-tipped mane and tail were lavishly thick, and Cabrillo seldom let either be cut, preferring to see them hang long and free.
    Reaching out, Cabrillo’s hand met the softness of Viento’s neck and began to scratch what he knew to be a favorite spot. Viento responded by leaning into the hand of his master and half-closing his eyes. This equine expression of contentment evoked soft chuckles from Cabrillo and Correa.
    The captain-general’s half-blood nephew, page, and soon to be cabin boy, Mateo, poked his head out of a nearby stall and trotted toward them. “Good morning, Captain-General, Captain Correa.”
    â€œWell, Mateo, how are the horses faring?”
    â€œAs you see, sir, hearty and willing.”
    â€œYou have done good work with them, Mateo.” Cabrillo seldom was able to keep the fondness from his voice when addressing this young page, which was due only in part to the fact that he was the natural son of his wife’s brother and lifelong friend. The boy was quick-witted, hard-working, and shared his uncle’s love of horses.
    Much to Viento’s disappointment, Cabrillo now patted him with the two light slaps that signaled an end to his scratching session. His master eased him back a few steps and then entered the stall to examine him from forelock to tail while Correa went to find his own mare. When Cabrillo had completed his inspection he nodded and proclaimed at last, “Yes, he is as fit as can be.” To the eleven-year-old boy, he asked, “And you, Mateo, are you ready to become a man of the sea?”
    The slightest hesitation betrayed the lad’s uneasiness before he stiffened his lips, pushed back his shoulders slightly, and said, “Very ready, sir, though I have so much to learn.”
    â€œEveryone has much to learn on his first voyage. You are a bright lad and you will learn more quickly than some.”
    To Correa, who had reappeared at the stall door, he said, “Will you be good enough to look over my other two mounts with me, Captain?”
    Correa gave an acquiescing bow and they moved to a stall two doors down, where Cabrillo’s brood mare was lodged. Correa’s horse glanced around the end of the wall that separated the two stalls and whickered at them. “Ah, my Luna,” Cabrillo said, “you have become a kind older sister to Captain Correa’s filly, eh? You will be a comfort to her on our long voyage.” He