but refusing to halt, kept steadily on, announcing his
intention of visiting Atahualpa wherever he might be found.

Pursuing their journey, the Spaniards came early in November to the
foot of the mountains. To the right of them, that is toward the south,
extended a great well-paved road which led to the imperial capital of
Cuzco. In front of them, a narrow path rose over the mountains. One
was easy, the other hard. In spite of suggestions from his soldiery,
Pizarro chose the hard way. He had announced his intention of visiting
the Inca, and visit him he would although the way to the city of Cuzco
was open and the place might easily be taken possession of. The seat
of danger and the source of power were alike with the Inca, and not in
Cuzco.

With sixty foot and forty horse, this old man, now past sixty years,
led the way over the mountains, while his brother brought up the rear
with the remainder. The passage was a terrible one, but the
indomitable {76} band, catching some of the spirit of their leader,
surmounted all the obstacles, and a few days after from the summits of
a mighty range, surveyed the fertile, beautiful plains spread out
before them on the farther side of the mountain. Close at hand was the
white-walled city, Caxamarca or Cajamarca, embowered in verdure in a
fruitful valley. The place was an important position, well fortified
and containing, under ordinary circumstances, a population of ten
thousand. The reader should remember the name, for it was the scene of
one of the most remarkable and determinative events in history. The
conquest, in fact, was settled there.

Beyond the city, on the slopes of the hills, and divided from it by a
river, over which a causeway led, stood the white tents of the fifty
thousand soldiers of Atahualpa's army. The number of them filled the
Spaniards with amazement, and in some cases with apprehension. There
was no going back then, however; there was nothing to do but advance.
At the hour when the bells of Holy Church in their home land were
ringing vespers, in a cold driving rain mingled with sleet, the little
cortege entered the city, which they found as the French found Moscow,
deserted of its inhabitants. With the ready instinct of a soldier,
Pizarro led his force to the public square, or Plaza, which was in the
shape of a rude triangle surrounded on two sides by well-built,
two-story houses of stone. On the other side, or base, rose a huge
fortress wi