t to
the authority of the Spanish king.

"By what authority do you demand such submission?" replied the monarch
with flashing eye.

"By this holy book which I hold in my hand," answered the priest.

Then snatching the volume from the hand of the priest, Atahuallpa
scornfully threw it on the ground, saying, "What right have you in my
country? I will call you and your companions to an account for the
indignities heaped upon me."

Picking up the book, the priest forthwith went to Pizarro and reported
the conduct of the Inca, saying, "It is useless to talk to this dog. At
them at once; I absolve you."

Immediately Pizarro raised his handkerchief for the preconcerted
signal, the firing of a gun. Thereupon his soldiers, infantry and
cavalry, rushed from their places of concealment upon the defenceless
Indians, slaughtering them unmercifully right and left.

The discharge of the arquebuses and cannon, with their smoke, and the
charge of the cavalry paralyzed the unsuspecting natives, and the attack
became a horrible massacre. Not until thousands of the Indians had been
killed and the Inca ruler had been captured did darkness cause the
Spaniards to desist from their bloody work. So sudden and terrible had
been the onslaught that the haughty monarch himself seemed stunned by
the effect.

Realizing the irresistible power of the white men with their wonderful
weapons and horses, the natives gave up for a time all thoughts of
resistance. In fact, they regarded the Spaniards as superior beings
endowed with preternatural gifts.

When the ruler had been kept a prisoner several months, he desired to
regain his freedom. By this time he realized the Spaniards' thirst for
gold, and therefore promised to fill the room in which he was confined
with it as high as he could reach, and twice to fill an adjoining room
with silver, if they would release him.

Pizarro agreed to this proposal; Atahuallpa thereupon sent out
messengers to all parts of his empire requesting that the metals in the
shape of utensils and ornaments be collected from the royal palaces,
temples, and elsewhere and brought to Caxamalca.

On account of the difficulty of transportation, since all the treasure
had to be carried on the backs of the natives, many months elapsed
before the collections could be made.

When fifteen and one-half million dollars' worth of gold and a large
amount of silver had been delivered at Caxamalca, Pizarro excused the
imprisoned ru