ed his march, though the bulk of his army
was left behind, only a group of unarmed men accompanying him. He
evidently had no fear or suspicion of the Spaniards. Little did he know
them.

It was near the hour of sunset when the procession reached the city,
several thousand Indians marching into the great square, borne high above
whom was the Inca, seated in an open litter on a kind of throne made of
massive gold, while a collar of emeralds of great size and beauty
encircled his neck and his attire was rich and splendid. He looked around
him with surprise, as there was not a Spaniard to be seen, and asked, in
tones of annoyance, "Where are the strangers?"

At this moment Pizarro' s chaplain, a Dominican friar, came forward, with
Bible and crucifix in hand, and began to expound to him the Christian
doctrines, ending by asking him to acknowledge himself a vassal of the
king of Spain. The Inca, when by aid of the interpreter he had gained a
glimpse of the priest's meaning, answered him with high indignation, and
when the friar handed him the Bible as the authority for his words, he
flung it angrily to the earth, exclaiming,--

"Tell your comrades that they shall give me an account of their doings in
my land. I will not go from here till they have made me full satisfaction
for all the wrongs they have committed."

Picking up the sacred volume, the friar hastened to Pizarro, told him what
had been said, and cried out,--

"Do you not see that while we stand here wasting our breath in talking
with this dog, full of pride as he is, the fields are filling with
Indians? Set on, at once; I absolve you."

Pizarro waved a white scarf in the air, the signal agreed upon. A gun was
fired from the fortress. Then, with the Spanish war-cry of "St. Jago and
at them!" Pizarro and his followers sprang out into the square. From every
avenue of the great building they occupied poured armed men, horse and
foot, and rushed in warlike fury upon the Indians. Taken utterly by
surprise, the latter were hurled back in confusion. Their ranks rent by
the balls from cannon and musketry, hundreds of them trampled under foot
by the fierce charges of the cavalry, pierced by lances or cut down by
swords, they were driven resistlessly back, falling in multitudes as they
wildly sought to escape.

The massacre went on with especial intensity around the Inca, his nobles,
none of them armed, struggling with what strength they could in his
defence. "Let no