fined was twenty-two feet long, by
sixteen in breadth; this he undertook to fill with vessels of gold as
high as he could reach.

Pizarro closed with the proposal, and a line was drawn upon the walls of
the chamber, to mark the stipulated height to which the treasure was to
rise.

During this confinement, Atahualpa had attached himself with peculiar
affection to Ferdinand Pizarro, and Hernando Soto; who, as they were
persons of birth and education, superior to the rough adventurers with
whom they served, were accustomed to behave with more decency and
kindness to the captive monarch.

Soothed with this respect, he delighted in their society; but in the
presence of the governor he was always uneasy and overawed, and this
dread soon became mingled with contempt.

Among all the European arts, what he admired most was that of reading
and writing, and he long deliberated with himself whether it was a
natural or an acquired talent. In order to determine this, he desired
one of the soldiers, who guarded him, to write the name of God on the
nail of his thumb. This he showed successively to several Spaniards,
asking its meaning, and to his amazement, they all, without hesitation
returned the same answer. At length Francisco Pizarro entered, and on
presenting it to him, he blushed, and with some confusion was obliged to
acknowledge that he could not read.

From that moment Atahualpa considered him as a mean person, less
instructed than his own soldiers, nor could he conceal the sentiments of
contempt with which this discovery inspired him. He, however, performed
his part of the contract, and the gold which his subjects brought in,
was worth three or four hundred thousand pounds sterling.

When they assembled to divide the spoils of this innocent people,
procured by deceit, extortion, and cruelty, the transaction began with a
solemn invocation to Heaven, as if they expected the guidance of God in
distributing the wages of iniquity. In this division, eight thousand
pesoes, at that time equal in value to L10,000 sterling, of the present
day, fell to the share of each soldier: Pizarro and his officers
received shares in proportion to the dignity of their rank.

The Spaniards having divided the treasure among them, the Inca insisted
that they should fulfil their promise of setting him at liberty. But the
Spaniards, with unparalleled treachery and cruelty had now determined to
put him to death; an action the most criminal and a