to a high and
exclusive place.

[1] In the English chronicles he is often spoken of as Davila, which is
near enough to Diabolo to make one wish that the latter sobriquet had
been his own. It would have been much more apposite.

[2] It was Magellan who gave it the inappropriate name of "Pacific."

[3] To-day not one foot of territory bordering on that sea belongs to
Spain. The American flag flies over the Philippines--shall I say
forever?

{53}

III

Peru and the Pizarros

A Study in Retribution

"They that take the sword shall perish by the sword."

I. The Chief Scion of a Famous Family

The reader will look in vain on the map of modern Spain for the ancient
province of Estremadura, yet it is a spot which, in that it was the
birthplace of the conquerors of Peru and Mexico--to say nothing of the
discoverer of the Mississippi--contributed more to the glory of Spain
than any other province in the Iberian peninsula. In 1883, the ancient
territory was divided into the two present existing states of Badajoz
and Caceres. In the latter of these lies the important mountain town
of Trujillo.

Living there in the last half of the fifteenth century was an obscure
personage named Gonzalo Pizarro. He was a gentleman whose lineage was
ancient, whose circumstances were narrow and whose morals were loose.
By profession he was a soldier who had gained some experience in the
wars under the "Great Captain," Gonsalvo de Cordova. History would
take no note of this vagrom and obscure cavalier had it not been for
his children. Four sons there were whose qualities and opportunities
were such as to have enabled them to play a somewhat large part in the
world's affairs {54} in their day. How many unconsidered other
progeny, male or female, there may have been, God alone
knows--possibly, nay probably, a goodly number.

The eldest son was named Francisco. His mother, who was not married to
his father--indeed not married to anybody at any time so far as I can
find out--was a peasant woman named Francisca Gonzales. Francisco was
born about the year 1471. His advent was not of sufficient importance
to have been recorded, apparently, and the exact date of his
terrestrial appearance is a matter of conjecture, with the guesses
ranging between 1470 and 1478. A few years after the arrival of
Francisco, there was born to Gonzales, and this time by his lawful
wife, name unknown, a second son, Hernando. By the woman