ed since the capture of the Inca, and uncertain as to
what course to take, Challcuchima obeyed at once, and accompanied by a
numerous retinue journeyed back with the Spaniards. He was everywhere
received by the natives with the deepest respect, yet he entered the
presence of the Inca barefooted and with a burden laid upon his back,
and kneeling before his master he kissed his hands and feet, exclaiming,
'Would that I had been here! This would not then have happened.'

Atahuallpa himself showed no emotion, only coldly bade him welcome: even
in his present state of captivity he was immeasurably above the proudest
of his vassals. The Spaniards still treated him with all respect, and
with his own people he kept up his usual state and ceremony, being
attended upon by his wives, while a number of Indian nobles waited
always in the antechamber, but never entered his presence unless sent
for, and then only with every mark of humility. His dress, which he
often changed, was sometimes made of vicuna wool, sometimes of bats'
skins, sleek as velvet. Nothing which he had worn could be used by
another; when he laid it aside it was burned. To while away the time the
Spaniards taught him to play chess, at which he became expert, spending
upon it many of the tedious hours of his imprisonment. Soon after the
return of Hernando Pizarro the three cavaliers came back from Cuzco.
They had travelled six hundred miles in the greatest luxury, carried in
litters by the natives, and received everywhere with awe and respect.
Their accounts of the wealth of the capital confirmed all that Pizarro
had heard, and though they had stayed a week there, they had not seen
all. They had seen the royal mummies in their golden chairs, and had
left them untouched by the Inca's orders; but they had caused the plates
of pure gold to be stripped from the Temple of the Sun--seven hundred of
them, compared in size to the lid of a chest ten or twelve inches wide.
The cornice was so firmly embedded in the stonework that it defied their
efforts to remove it. But they brought with them full two hundred loads
of gold, beside much silver, all hastily collected, for the arrogant
behaviour of the emissaries had greatly exasperated the people of Cuzco,
who were glad to get rid of them as soon as possible. About this time
Almagro reached San Miguel, having, after many difficulties, succeeded
in collecting a few more adventurers, and heard with amazement of
Pizarro's successes