of exquisite texture,
heavily embroidered and ornamented with gold and silver. Around his
neck blazed a necklace of emeralds of wonderful size and great
brilliancy. His forehead was hidden by a thick vivid scarlet fringe
depending from a diadem almost to the eyebrows. This tassel (or
_borla_, as the Spaniards called it; _llauta_, according to the
Peruvians) was the supreme mark of the imperial dignity in that no one
but the Inca could wear it. The Inca was surrounded by a gorgeously
attired body of retainers who were preceded by hundreds of menials who
cleared the streets of every obstacle which might impede the progress
of their master, the Son of the Sun. The processions divided at the
square, and the monarch was carried forward in the open. Not a
Spaniard save the watchful sentries pacing the fort above, was to be
seen.

"Where," asked Atahualpa, looking about in surprise, "are the
strangers?"

At this moment, at the request of Pizarro, Father Valverde came forward
in his canonicals, crucifix in one hand, breviary or Bible in the
other.[7] He was attended by one of the Peruvians whom Pizarro had
taken back to Spain, who was to act as interpreter. This precocious
little rascal, named Felippo, was the best interpreter that could be
found, which is saying little, for his Spanish was bad and mainly
picked up in the camps from the rude soldiery, and his Peruvian {82}
was only an uncouth dialect of the highly inflected and most flexible
and expressive Quichua, the language of the educated, indeed of the
most of the people. Approaching the litter of the Inca, Valverde
delivered an extraordinary address. He briefly explained the doctrines
of the Christian religion to the astonished Peruvian, requiring him to
conform to this religion and acknowledge the spiritual supremacy of the
Pope, and at the same time to submit to the sway of his Imperial
Majesty Charles V. It was a pretty heavy demand to spring upon a great
monarch in the midst of his people, and it was not to be wondered at
that Atahualpa rejected these requests with contempt.

The Inca answered the friar not without shrewdness. He had gathered
the idea from Felippo's vile mistranslation that the Christians
worshipped four Gods, i. e. the Trinity and the Pope. He declared that
he himself worshipped one, and there was its sign and symbol--pointing
to the declining sun; that he believed one God was better than four.
He rejected indignantly the idea that