he
self-assertion of either would have been impossible to the greater man
than either,--the self-possessed Pizarro.

At last, in disgust, Cortez retired from court; and on the 2d of
December, 1554, the man who had first opened the interior of America to
the world died near Seville.

There were some in South America whose achievements were as wondrous as
those of Cortez in Mexico. The conquest of the two continents was
practically contemporaneous, and equally marked by the highest military
genius, the most dauntless courage, the overcoming of dangers which were
appalling, and hardships which were wellnigh superhuman.

Francisco Pizarro, the unlettered but invincible conqueror of Peru, was
fifteen years older than his brilliant cousin Cortez, and was born in
the same province of Spain. He began to be heard of in America in 1510.
From 1524 to 1532 he was making superhuman efforts to get to the unknown
and golden land of Peru, overcoming such obstacles as not even Columbus
had encountered, and enduring greater dangers and hardships than
Napoleon or Caesar ever met. From 1532 to his death in 1541, he was busy
in conquering and exploring that enormous area, and founding a new
nation amid its fierce tribes,--fighting off not only the vast hordes
of Indians, but also the desperate men of his own forces, by whose
treachery he at last perished. Pizarro found and tamed the richest
country in the New World; and with all his unparalleled sufferings still
realized, more than any other of the conquerors, the golden dreams which
all pursued. Probably no other conquest in the world's history yielded
such rapid and bewildering wealth, as certainly none was bought more
dearly in hardship and heroism. Pizarro's conquest has been most
unjustly dealt with by some historians ignorant of the real facts in the
case, and blinded by prejudice; but that marvellous story, told in
detail farther on, is coming to its proper rank as one of the most
stupendous and gallant feats in all history. It is the story of a hero
to whom every true American, young or old, will be glad to do justice.
Pizarro has been long misrepresented as a blood-stained and cruel
conqueror, a selfish, unprincipled, unreliable man; but in the clear,
true light of real history he stands forth now as one of the greatest of
self-made men, and one who, considering his chances, deserves the utmost
respect and admiration for the man he made of himself. The conquest of
Peru did not b