rything for his
entertainment, and expected him that night to sup with him.

This message turned the Inca from his purpose; and, striking his tents
again, he resumed his march, first advising the general that he should
leave the greater part of his warriors behind, and enter the place with
only a few of them, and without arms, as he preferred to pass the night
at Cajamarca. At the same time he ordered accommodations to be provided
for himself and his retinue in one of the large stone buildings, called,
from a serpent sculptured on the walls, the "House of the Serpent". No
tidings could have been more grateful to the Spaniards. It seemed as if
the Indian monarch was eager to rush into the snare that had been spread
for him! The fanatical cavalier could not fail to discern in it the
immediate finger of Providence.

It is difficult to account for this wavering conduct of Atahualpa, so
different from the bold and decided character which history ascribes to
him. There is no doubt that he made his visit to the white men in
perfect good faith, though Pizarro was probably right in conjecturing
that this amiable disposition stood on a very precarious footing. There
is as little reason to suppose that he distrusted the sincerity of the
strangers, or he would not thus unnecessarily have proposed to visit
them unarmed. His original purpose of coming with all his force was
doubtless to display his royal state, and perhaps, also, to show greater
respect for the Spaniards; but when he consented to accept their
hospitality and pass the night in their quarters, he was willing to
dispense with a great part of his armed soldiery, and visit them in a
manner that implied entire confidence in their good faith. He was too
absolute in his own empire easily to suspect; and he probably could not
comprehend the audacity with which a few men, like those now assembled
in Cajamarca, meditated an assault on a powerful monarch in the midst of
his victorious army. He did not know the character of the Spaniard.

It was not long before sunset when the van of the royal procession
entered the gates of the city. First came some hundreds of the menials,
employed to clear the path from every obstacle, and singing songs of
triumph as they came, "which, in our ears," says one of the conquerors,
"sounded like the songs of hell!" Then followed other bodies of
different ranks and dressed in different liveries. Some wore a showy
stuff, checkered white and red, li