now was in the
soldiers themselves,--and I say this with a full realization of the
deadly perils and enormous hardships. But perils and hardships without
are to be borne more easily than treachery and discontent within. At
every step Pizarro had to _carry_ his men,--morally. They were
constantly discouraged (for which they surely had enough reason); and
when discouraged they were ready for any desperate act, except going
ahead. So Pizarro had constantly to be will and courage not only for
himself, who suffered as cruelly as the meanest, but for all. It was
like the stout soul we sometimes see holding up a half-dead body,--a
body that would long ago have broken loose from a less intrepid spirit.

The men were now mutinous again; and despite Pizarro's gallant example
and efforts, they came very near wrecking the whole enterprise. They
sent by Almagro to the governor's wife a ball of cotton as a sample of
the products of the country; but in this apparently harmless present the
cowards had hidden a letter, in which they declared that Pizarro was
leading them only to death, and warned others not to follow. A doggerel
verse at the end set forth that Pizarro was a butcher waiting for more
meat, and that Almagro went to Panama to gather sheep to be slaughtered.

The letter reached Governor de los Rios, and made him very indignant. He
sent the Cordovan Tafur with two vessels to the Isle of Gallo to bring
back every Spaniard there, and thus stop an expedition the importance of
which his mind could not grasp. Pizarro and his men were suffering
terribly, always drenched by the storms, and nearly starving. When Tafur
arrived, all but Pizarro hailed him as a deliverer, and wanted to go
home at once. But the captain was not daunted. With his dagger he drew a
line upon the sands, and looking his men in the face, said: "Comrades
and friends, on that side are death, hardship, starvation, nakedness,
storms; on this side is comfort. From this side you go to Panama to be
poor; from that side to Peru to be rich. Choose, each who is a brave
Castilian, that which he thinks best."

As he spoke he stepped across the line to the south. Ruiz, the brave
Andalusian pilot, stepped after him; and so did Pedro de Candia, the
Greek, and one after another eleven more heroes, whose names deserve to
be remembered by all who love loyalty and courage. They were Cristoval
de Peralta, Domingo de Soria Luce, Nicolas de Ribera, Francisco de
Cuellar, Alonso de