space of several miles, tents as thick as snowflakes covered the ground.
It was the Peruvian army. And it was too late to turn back. "So, with
as bold a countenance as we could, we prepared for our entrance into
Caxamalea."

The Peruvians must already have seen the cavalcade of Spaniards, as
with banners streaming and armour glistening in the rays of the evening
sun Pizarro led them towards the city. As they drew near, the King,
Atahualpa, covered with plumes of feathers and ornaments of gold and
silver blazing in the sun, was carried forth on a throne followed by
thirty thousand men to meet the strangers. It seemed to the Spanish
leader that only one course was open. He must seize the person of this
great ruler at once. He waved his white scarf. Immediately the cavalry
charged and a terrible fight took place around the person of the ruler
of Peru until he was captured and taken prisoner. Atahualpa tried to
regain his liberty by the offer of gold, for he had discovered--amid
all their outward show of religious zeal--a greed for wealth among
these strange white men from over the stormy seas. He suggested that
he should fill with gold the room in which he was confined as high
as he could reach. Standing on tiptoe, he marked the wall with his
hand. Pizarro accepted the offer, and the Spaniards greedily watched
the arrival of their treasure from the roofs of palace and temple.
They gained a sum of something like three million sterling and then
put the King to death. Pizarro was the conqueror of Peru, and he had
no difficulty in controlling the awestruck Peruvians, who regarded
the relentless Spaniards as supernatural--the Children of the Sun
indeed.

[Illustration: PERU AND SOUTH AMERICA. From the Map of the World of
1544, usually ascribed to Sebastian Cabot. At the top is shown the
river Amazon, discovered by Orellana in 1541.]

A year later these Children of the Sun entered the old town of
Cuzco--the capital of this rich empire--where they found a city of
treasure surpassing all expectation. Meanwhile Almagro, one of the
most prominent among the Spanish explorers, had been granted a couple
of hundred miles along the coast of Chili, which country he now
penetrated; but the cold was so intense that men and horses were frozen
to death, while the Chilians, clad in skins, were difficult to subdue.
Almagro decided that Cuzco belonged to him, and miserable disputes
followed between him and Pizarro, ending in the tragic end