them
weighing from fifty to seventy-five pounds. The Spaniards beheld with
gleaming eyes the shining heaps of treasure, brought in on the shoulders
of Indian porters, and carefully stored away under guard. On some days
articles to the value of half a million dollars are said to have been
brought in.

Yet the vast weight in gold which was thus brought before them did not
satisfy the avaricious impatience of the Spaniards. They made no allowance
for distance and difficulty, and began to suspect the Inca of delaying the
ransom until he could prepare a rising of his subjects against the
strangers. When Atahualpa heard of these suspicions he was filled with
surprise and indignation. "Not a man of my subjects would dare raise a
finger without my orders," he said to Pizarro. "Is not my life at your
disposal? What better security would you have of my good faith?" He ended
by advising him to send some of his own men to Cuzco, where they could see
for themselves how his orders were being obeyed. He would give them a
safe-conduct, and they could superintend the work themselves.

The three envoys sent were carried the whole distance of more than six
hundred miles in litters by relays of carriers, their route laying along
the great military road of Peru and through many populous towns. Cuzco
they found to be a large and splendid city. The great temple of the Sun
was covered with plates of gold, which, by the Inca's orders, were being
torn off. There were seven hundred of these plates in all, and a cornice
of pure gold ran round the building. But this was so deeply set in the
stone that it could not be removed. On their return, these messengers
brought with them full two hundred loads of gold, besides great quantities
of silver.

Gradually the vast ransom offered by the Inca, far surpassing any paid by
any other captive in the world's history, was gathered in. The gold
received came in a great variety of shapes, being wrought into goblets,
ewers, salvers, vases, and other forms for ornament or use, utensils for
temple or palace, tiles and plate used to decorate the public edifices,
and curious imitations of plants and animals. The most beautiful and
artistic of these was the representation of Indian corn, the ear of gold
being sheathed in broad leaves of silver, while the rich tassels were made
of the same precious metal. Equally admired was a fountain which sent up a
sparkling jet of gold, with birds and animals of the same metal