t they had walked
right into the trap; and the chances were a hundred to one that they
would never get out. Their Indian spy had warned them truly. Here they
were cooped up in the town, one hundred and sixty-eight of them; and
within easy distance were the unnumbered thousands of the Indians. Worse
yet, they saw their retreat cut off; for in the night Atahualpa had
thrown a large force between them and the pass by which they had
entered. Their case was absolutely hopeless,--nothing but a miracle
could save them. But their miracle was ready,--it was Pizarro.

It is by one of the finest provisions of Nature that the right sort of
minds think best and swiftest when there is most need for them to think
quickly and well. In the supreme moment all the crowding, jumbled
thoughts of the full brain seem to be suddenly swept aside, to leave a
clear space down which the one great thought may leap forward like the
runner to his goal,--or like the lightning which splits the slow, tame
air asunder even as its fire dashes on its way. Most intelligent persons
have that mental lightning sometimes; and when it can be relied on to
come and instantly illumine the darkest crisis, it is the insight of
genius. It was that which made Napoleon, Napoleon; and made Pizarro,
Pizarro.

There was need of some wonderfully rapid, some almost superhuman
thinking. What could overcome those frightful odds? Ah! Pizarro had it!
He did not know, as we know now, what superstitious reasons made the
Indians revere Atahualpa so; but he did know that the influence existed.
Somewhat as Pizarro was to the Spaniards, was their war-captain to the
Peruvians,--not only their military head, but literally equal to "a host
in himself." Very well! If he could capture this treacherous chieftain,
it would reduce the odds greatly; indeed, it would be the bloodless
equivalent of depriving the hostile force of several thousand men.
Besides, Atahualpa would be a pledge for the peace of his people. And as
the only way out of destruction, Pizarro determined to capture the
war-captain.

For this brilliant strategy he at once made careful preparations. The
cavalry, in two divisions commanded respectively by Hernando de Soto and
Hernando Pizarro, was hidden in two great hallways which opened into the
square. In a third hallway were put the infantry; and with twenty men
Pizarro took his position at a fourth commanding point. Pedro de Candia,
with the artillery,--two poor little fa