Having now learnt all he could, Pizarro pursued his voyage, touching at
all the principal points as he coasted along, and being everywhere
received by the people with kindness and much curiosity, for the news of
the coming of the white men spread rapidly, and all were eager to see
the 'Children of the Sun,' as they began to be called from their fair
complexions, their shining armour, and their firearms, which were looked
upon as thunderbolts.

Having gone as far south as the port of Santa, and having heard enough
to make the existence and position of the empire of Peru an absolute
certainty, Pizarro turned and sailed to the northward, landing once or
twice by the way, and being hospitably entertained by an Indian
princess, and after an absence of more than eighteen months anchored
again off Panama. Great was the joy caused by their arrival, for all
supposed them to have perished; yet even now, in spite of all they had
discovered, the Governor refused his aid, and the confederates, being by
this time without funds, had no alternative but to apply directly to the
King of Spain. The mission was entrusted to Pizarro, who set out in the
spring of 1528, taking with him some of the natives, two or three
llamas, and specimens of the cloth and of the gold and silver ornaments,
to attest the truth of his wonderful story.

PIZARRO GOES TO SPAIN AND RETURNS

It would take too long to tell how Pizarro fared in his native country,
but the matter ended in the King's being convinced of the importance of
his discoveries, and bestowing many honours and rewards upon him. He was
also empowered to conquer and take possession of Peru, and expressly
enjoined to preserve the existing regulations for the government and
protection of the Indians, and to take with him many priests to convert
them. All being settled to Pizarro's satisfaction, he found time to
revisit his own town, where, his fortunes having somewhat mended since
he turned his back upon it, he found friends and eager followers, and
among these his own four half-brothers, Hernando, Gonzalo, and Juan
Pizarro, and Francisco de Alcantara. It was not without many
difficulties that Francisco Pizarro got together the two hundred and
fifty men he had agreed to raise, and escaped from the delays and
intrigues of the Spanish Court; but it was done at last, and the
adventurers in three vessels started from Seville, and after a
prosperous voyage reached Nombre de Dios, and there met De Luq