t Chicama.

Governor Davila, at best an unenterprising and unadmirable man, was just
now in a particularly bad humor to be asked for help. One of his
subordinates in Nicaragua needed punishment, he thought, and his own
force was small for the purpose. He bitterly regretted having allowed
Pizarro to go off with a hundred men who would be so useful now, and
refused either to help the expedition or to permit it to go on. De
Luque, whose calling and character made him influential in the little
colony, finally persuaded the mean-hearted governor not to interfere
with the expedition. Even here Davila showed his nature. As the price of
his official consent,--without which the voyage could not go on,--he
extorted a payment of a thousand _pesos de oro_, for which he also
relinquished all his claims to the profits of the expedition, which he
felt sure would amount to little or nothing. A _peso de oro_, or "dollar
of gold," had about the intrinsic value of our dollar, but was then
really worth far more. In those days of the world gold was far scarcer
than now, and therefore had much more purchasing power. The same weight
of gold would buy about five times as much then as it will now; so what
was called a dollar, and _weighed_ a dollar, was really _worth_ about
five dollars. The "hush-money" extorted by Davila was therefore some
$5,000.

Fortunately, about this time Davila was superseded by a new governor of
Panama, Don Pedro de los Rios, who opposed no further obstacles to the
great plan. A new contract was entered into between Pizarro, Almagro,
and Luque, dated March 10, 1526. The good vicar had advanced gold bars
to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars for the expedition; and
was to receive one third of all the profits. But in reality most of this
large sum had come from the licentiate Espinosa; and a private contract
insured that Luque's share should be turned over to him. Two new
vessels, larger and better than the worn-out brigantine which had been
built by Balboa, were purchased and filled with provisions. The little
army was swelled by recruits to one hundred and sixty men, and even a
few horses were secured; and the second expedition was ready.

FOOTNOTES:

[19] Pronounced Troo-_heel_-yo.

[20] Pronounced Pee-_sah_-roh.

[21] The famous European campaigner, De Cordova.

[22] Pronounced O-_yay_-dah.

[23] Pronounced Dee-_ay_-go day Al-_mah_-gro.

[24] Pronounced Er-_nan_-do day _Loo_-kay.

II.

TH