The majority of the leaders,
both social and political, in all the South American colonies have been
in the first instance, and have continued, men of good blood, and
generally of ancient lineage, who have floated along with the rest,
until they met with the inevitable current which bore them to the
topmost of the new social layers. And once there, having been found the
most fitting, they have remained.

CHAPTER V

THE CONQUEST OF PERU

The story of Pizarro and the Incas has been told many hundreds of times,
yet owing to the sheer audacity of which its elements are composed it
would seem to retain its interest almost unimpaired. That a mere handful
of men should have banded themselves together to conquer a nation which
counted its subjects by the hundred thousand, and which could claim a
civilization that included great armies, remains almost beyond belief.
The Incas themselves, moreover, were a conquering race, and their troops
had marched to the north and to the south in their thousands, conquering
nations less important than their own, and thus adding to the extent of
the one formidable Empire of the Southern Continent.

Yet the downfall of these armies in this victorious State was achieved
by less than two hundred European soldiers, led by the two fearless
adventurers, Francisco Pizarro and Diego Almagro. These, accompanied by
Hernando Luques, had begun to explore the neighbourhood of Panama in
1524. Every member of the force, it may be taken for granted, had a keen
nose for gold, and it was not long before they came across some treasure
of the kind which determined the leaders to possess themselves the
country where the metal was to be found.

At this period the number of men commanded by Pizarro and Almagro was
fewer even than the band with which they entered Peru. When it came to
the knowledge of the Spaniards that the country of their desire was in
reality so formidable an Empire, Pizarro sailed to Spain in search of
reinforcements, and returned accompanied by his brothers and by a force
of 180 men. It was on Pizarro's arrival in America that the first
serious breach occurred between Almagro and himself. This was brought
about by the arrangements which Pizarro had concluded in Spain, and in
which Almagro considered, doubtless rightfully, he had not been fairly
dealt with by his partner.

After a while a truce was patched up between the pair, and in 1531 an
expedition, carried in three small vessel