riters have represented them to be, the aborigines would have been the
first to see it and to hate them. The fact that the people they
conquered became their friends and admirers is the best of testimony to
their humanity and justice.

Atahualpa was even taught to play chess and other European games; and
besides these efforts for his amusement, pains was also taken to give
him more and more understanding of Christianity. Notwithstanding all
this, his unfriendly plots were continually going on.

In the latter part of May the three emissaries who had been sent to
Cuzco for a portion of the ransom got back to Caxamarca with a great
treasure. From the famous Temple of the Sun alone the Indians had given
them seven hundred golden plates; and that was only a part of the
payment from Cuzco. The messengers brought back two hundred loads of
gold and twenty-five of silver, each load being carried on a sort of
hand-barrow by four Indians. This great contribution swelled the ransom
perceptibly, though the room was not yet nearly filled to the mark
agreed upon. Pizarro, however, was not a Shylock. The ransom was not
complete, but it was enough; and he had his notary draw up a document
formally freeing Atahualpa from any further payment,--in fact, giving
him a receipt in full. But he felt obliged to delay setting the
war-captain at liberty. The murder of Huascar and similar symptoms
showed that it would be suicidal to turn Atahualpa loose now. His
intentions, though masked, were fully suspected, and so Pizarro told him
that it would be necessary to keep him as a hostage a little longer.
Before it would be safe for him to release Atahualpa he knew that he
must have a larger force to withstand the attack which Atahualpa was
sure at once to organize. He was rather better acquainted with the
Indian vindictiveness than some of his closet critics are.

Meantime Almagro had at last got away from Panama with one hundred and
fifty foot and fifty horse, in three vessels; and landing in Peru, he
reached San Miguel in December, 1532. Here he heard with astonishment of
Pizarro's magical success, and of the golden booty, and at once
communicated with him. At the same time his secretary secretly
forwarded a treacherous letter to Pizarro, trying to arouse enmity and
betray Almagro. The secretary had gone to the wrong man, however, for
Pizarro spurned the contemptible offer. Indeed, his treatment of his
unadmirable associate from first to last was