in the throat with his sword. Instantly Pizarro was
struck by a dozen blades. He fell back upon the floor, but he was not
yet dead, and with his own blood he marked a cross on the stones. It
is alleged by some that he asked for a confessor, but that is hardly
likely, for as he bent his head to press his lips upon the cross, one
of the murderers, seizing a huge stone bowl, or earthen vessel, threw
it upon his head and killed him. _Sic transit Pizarro_!

If he has been the subject of much severe censure, he has not lacked,
especially of late, zealous defenders. I have endeavored to treat him
fairly in these sketches. Considering him in comparison with his
contemporaries, Cortes surpassed him in ability, Hernando in executive
capacity, Almagro in generosity, Balboa in gallantry, and De Soto in
courtesy. On the other hand, he was inferior to none of them in
bravery and resolution, and he made up for his lack of other qualities
by a terrible and unexampled persistency. Nothing could swerve him
from his determination. He had a faculty of rising to each successive
crisis which confronted him, wresting victory from the most adverse
circumstances in a way worthy of the highest admiration. He was not so
cruel as Pedrarias, but he was {108} ruthless enough and his fame is
forever stained by atrocities and treacheries from which no personal or
public success can redeem it. In passing judgment upon him, account
must be taken of the humble circumstances of his early life, his lack
of decent, healthy environment, his neglected youth, his total
ignorance of polite learning. Take him all in all, in some things he
was better and in other things no worse than his day and generation.

IX. The Last of the Brethren

Hernando Pizarro was delayed on his voyage to Spain and some of
Almagro's partisans got the ear of the King before he arrived. He was
charged with having permitted by his carelessness the Peruvian uprising
and having unlawfully taken the life of Almagro. The story of his
desperate defense of Cusco was unavailing to mitigate the anger of the
King at the anarchy and confusion--and incidentally the diminution of
the royal revenue--which prevailed in Peru. Hernando was thrown into
prison at Medina, and kept there for twenty-three long and weary years.

He had married his own niece, Francisca Pizarro, illegitimate daughter
of the Marquis Francisco, by a daughter of the great Inca, Huayna
Capac. The woman was a ha