TY 135

V. THE SOLDIER POET 144

VI. THE PIONEER MISSIONARIES 149

VII. THE CHURCH-BUILDERS IN NEW MEXICO 158

VIII. ALVARADO'S LEAP 170

IX. THE AMERICAN GOLDEN FLEECE 181

III. The Greatest Conquest.

I. THE SWINEHERD OF TRUXILLO 203

II. THE MAN WHO WOULD NOT GIVE UP 215

III. GAINING GROUND 225

IV. PERU AS IT WAS 238

V. THE CONQUEST OF PERU 246

VI. THE GOLDEN RANSOM 257

VII. ATAHUALPA'S TREACHERY AND DEATH 265

VIII. FOUNDING A NATION.--THE SIEGE OF CUZCO 275

IX. THE WORK OF TRAITORS 284

I.

THE BROAD STORY.

HOW AMERICA WAS FOUND AND TAMED.

THE SPANISH PIONEERS.

I.

THE PIONEER NATION.

It is now an established fact of history that the Norse rovers had found
and made a few expeditions to North America long before Columbus. For
the historian nowadays to look upon that Norse discovery as a myth, or
less than a certainty, is to confess that he has never read the Sagas.
The Norsemen came, and even camped in the New World, before the year
1000; but they _only_ camped. They built no towns, and practically added
to the world's knowledge nothing at all. They did nothing to entitle
them to credit as pioneers. The honor of giving America to the world
belongs to Spain,--the credit not only of discovery, but of centuries of
such pioneering as no other nation ever paralleled in any land. It is a
fascinating story, yet one to which our histories have so far done scant
justice. History on true principles was an unknown science until within
a century; and public opinion has long been hampered by the narrow
statements and false conclusions of closet students. Some of these men
have been not only honest but most charming writers; but their very
popularity has only helped to spread their errors wider. But their day
is past, and the beginnings of new light have come. No student dares
longer refer to Prescott or Irving, or any of the class of which they
were the leaders, as authorities in history; they rank to-day as
fascinating writers of romance, and nothing more. It yet remains for
some one to make as popular the truths of American history as the fables
have be