his camp, the pavilions of which
whitened the wide hillsides for miles.

On a dull afternoon in November, 1532, Pizarro entered Caxamalca, and
undismayed by the innumerable host that confronted him, went to pay a
visit of courtesy to the Inca. He was gloomily received by Atahualpa,
who chanced to be observing a fast, but who promised to return his
visit on the following day.

Pizarro felt that a crisis in his audacious business was close at
hand; and endured the deepest anxiety until late the next afternoon,
that of November 16th, when, after long delays and apparent waverings
on the part of the Inca, which severely tried the patience of the
Spaniards lying in wait with their heavy armor on, he at length
appeared, borne in a gorgeous palanquin, and accompanied by an immense
and magnificent procession.

With ferocious satisfaction Pizarro beheld his august victim advancing
to his doom. The procession entered the grand plaza of Caxamalca, on
three sides of which, under cover of low buildings opening into it,
spearmen and horsemen stood to their arms. Not a Spaniard was to be
seen, until a priest with interpreters advanced to meet the monarch,
and to confuse him with an astonishing harangue concerning the true
faith and the supremacy of Spain. Pizarro saw that his opportunity
had come. He waved his scarf; from the fortress sounded a signal-gun;
and with fierce battle-cries the Spaniards rushed from all sides upon
the Peruvians.

The shouts, the blaze and smoke of fire-arms, the terrible
detonations, the sight of plunging horses and their riders, with the
sudden fury of the onset, paralyzed with terror the multitude of
unarmed attendants, who fell the victims of a horrible massacre. The
Inca was seized and borne off a captive. And yet the pursuit and
slaughter did not cease until thousands of the panic-stricken and
defenceless Peruvians had been slain, and more prisoners had been
taken than were required to provide every Spaniard with a retinue of
servants.

Pizarro treated his captive with the consideration due to a great but
fallen potentate; he granted him ample apartments, and the society of
his favorite wives and nobles. He at the same time endeavored to save
his soul, by enforcing upon his mind the truths of the Catholic faith.
Atahualpa accepted with dignity the fortunes of war; and as a ransom
offered to fill a large room in which he one day was, with vessels of
gold, as high as he could reach. Pizarro agree