side of his high courage. It was very much as if a London chimney-sweep
were to go to-morrow to ask audience and favors of Queen Victoria.

But Pizarro was equal to this, as to all the other crises of his life,
and acquitted himself as gallantly. He was still tattered and penniless,
but De Luque collected for him fifteen hundred ducats; and in the spring
of 1528 Pizarro sailed for Spain. He took with him Pedro de Candia and
some Peruvians, with some llamas, some beautifully-woven Indian cloths,
and a few trinkets and vessels of gold and silver, to corroborate his
story. He reached Seville in the summer, and was at once thrown into
jail by Enciso under the cruel old law, long prevalent in all civilized
countries, allowing imprisonment for debt. His story soon got abroad,
and he was released by order of the Crown and summoned to court.
Standing before the brilliant Charles V., the unlettered soldier told
his story so modestly, so manfully, so clearly, that Charles shed tears
at the recital of such awful sufferings, and warmed to such heroic
steadfastness.

The king was just about to embark for Italy on an important mission; but
his heart was won, and he left Pizarro to the Council of the Indies with
recommendation to help the enterprise. That wise but ponderous body
moved slowly, as men learned only in books and theories are apt to move;
and delay was dangerous. At last the queen took up the matter, and on
the 26th of July, 1529, signed with her own royal hand the precious
document which made possible one of the greatest conquests, and one of
the most gallant, in human history. America owes a great deal to the
brave queens of Spain as well as to its kings. We remember what Isabella
had done for the discovery of the New World; and now Charles's consort
had as creditable a hand in its most exciting chapter.

The _capitulacion_, or contract, in which two such strangely different
"parties" were set side by side--one signing boldly _Yo la Reina_ ("I
the Queen"), and the other following with "Francisco [X] Pizarro, his
mark"--was the basis of Pizarro's fortunes. The man who had been sneered
at and neglected by narrow minds that had constantly hindered his one
great hope, now had won the interest and support of his sovereigns and
their promise of a magnificent reward,--of which latter we may be sure a
man of his calibre thought less than of the chance to realize his dream
of discovery. Followers he had to bait with golden hop