Panama within six months. Its arrival was greeted with rapturous joy, and the little band of invincibles, eagerly embarking, quitted the spot which, in commemoration of their woes, received the appropriate name of "Hell." Guided by Ruiz, they steered southward, crossed the line, and, at the end of twenty days, entered the noble gulf of Guayaquil. The Peruvian town of Tumbez, with the Andes in its rear, lay before them, and, to their great joy, exhibited strong evidences of wealth and population. The strangers, in their floating habitation, were objects of intense curiosity to the Indians, who gathered in crowds on the shore to behold the wondrous spectacle. A number soon came off in their balsas, bearing plentiful offerings of the delicious products of the tropics, and also several llamas, which the discoverers viewed with much interest and delight. Among these visitors was a Peruvian noble, of high rank, whom Pizarro, after the usual fashion, informed (through an interpreter) that he had come to claim the lawful allegiance of the country to his master, the king of Spain, and to rescue its inhabitants from the perdition to which their evil spirits were conducting them. To this impudent announcement, however, the chief maintained a discreet silence. In return, a Greek knight, named Pedro of Candia, was sent on shore, who was most hospitably received by the people, and who excited their alarm and wonder by the first exhibition of the terror of fire-arms. He was, we are told, "kindly entertayned of the Gouernour, who shewed him a temple dedicated to the Sunne, wherein were vnspeakable riches." This temple he described as being gorgeously covered with plates of gold and silver. In the gardens of a religious nunnery were parterres of fruit and flowers, most exquisitely imitated. in the same precious materials. The Spaniards, half frantic with joy at these tidings, weighed anchor, and stood along the coast in quest of fresh discoveries. Every where they were treated with the utmost kindness and hospitality by the generous natives, who, from their fair com plexions, and the brilliant gleaming of their armor, gave them the title of "Children of the Sun"- of their own adored luminary. Every where, too, the mind of Pizarro was filled with fresh elation by the accounts of the great Inca, whose city lay amid the distant Andes, and whose temples and palaces were resplendent with the precious ores. A fertile and well-irrigated country, and substantial edifices of stone, all confirmed the conviction that he had at last lighted on that famous Peru, the object of such daring resolve and such indefatigable endurance. He reached the ninth degree of south latitude, and then, at the solicitations of his people, turned his prow to the northward. He left two of his men at Tumbez, and carried off, by permission, some of the natives in his vessel, intending to teach them Castilian, and use them as interpreters. Great was the joy and excitement at Panama, when the little crew, who had been given up for lost, returned with tidings. of their marvellous discovery. The governor, however, even now, frowned upon fresh undertakings, declaring that he "did not mean to depopulate his own Province to people new Lands, nor to cause the death of any more People than had been killed already, for a show of Sheep, (llamas) Gold, and Silver, which had been brought home." It was now resolved to apply for assistance to the crown itself; and the illiterate, but naturally eloquent Pizarro was selected as the envoy most fitted to plead the cause of the enterprise at the imperial court. His associates, though not entirely trusting him, made every exertion for his creditable outfit. Fifteen hundred ducats were raised with difficulty, and with this, and with specimens of the gold, the llamas, and the fabrics of Peru, in the spring of 1528, he quitted Panama. Early in the summer, he reached Seville, and there was forthwith arrested at the suit of Enciso, (mentioned in the account of Balboa) to whom the early settlers of Darien were in debt. The court, however, dispatched orders for his release, and he betook himself to the Emperor Charles V. at Toledo. That sovereign, continually pinched for funds to carry out his am bitious plans, viewed with exultation the rich trophies of Peruvian wealth, and listened with deep interest to the wonderful story of Pizarro. So stirring was his narrative, so full of pathos and intuitive eloquence, that Charles, listening to his account of the sufferings of himself and his companions, was melted into tears. The suit of the applicant met a favorable audience, and was commended to the immediate attention of the Council of the Indies. It was not until the following summer (1529), however, that a decision could be gained from that tardy machine of colonial administration. At that time (July 29th), an instrument was executed by the crown, granting to him the right of discovery and conquest over a great extent of the South American continent, and conferring on him the appointments of governor, captain-general, and other important offices, for life. Almagro received only a petty command, and Luque was invested with the new bishopric of Tumbez. All authority, in effect, was centred in the hands of Pizarro. Praiseworthy injunctions for the good treatment of the Indians were laid on him; ecclesiastics were provided for their conversion; and government, with a paternal regard for the peace of the projected colony, strictly prohibited all lawyers and attornies from resorting there. Pizarro, on his part, was bound to raise two hundred and fifty men for the conquest, and to sail from Panama within a fixed time. CHAPTER IV. THE BROTHERS OF PIZARRO-Departure fROM SPAIN-THIRD INDIANS-ASSISTANCE OF SAINT MICHAEL. FLUSHED with these signal successes, the adventurer returned to his birth-place, where his present importance and popularity formed a most striking contrast to the forlorn and destitute condition of his youth. He found many of his townsmen ready to embark in his fortunes, and among them four of his brothers. Of these, Hernando alone was legitimate. Gonzalo and Juan Pizarro were of the same unsanctified origin as himself; and Francisco de Alcantara was only connected with him by their mother. The first was haughty and arrogant to the last degree, and all were men of the most indomitable courage and resolution. Some difficulty, however, was found in obtaining the requisite funds; and it is said that, but for the assistance of Cortes, then flushed with the spoils of the Montezumas, the enterprise might have fallen through altogether. Pizarro was finally unable fully to complete his stipulated armament; and to avoid too strict an inquest, hurriedly got under way, in January, 1530, and put to sea with only a part of his command. His two associates were eagerly waiting at Nombre de Dios to learn the result of his application, and great was their dismay and disappointment on finding that the offices and honors which were to have been impartially divided, were all concentrated in the person of their artful emissary. But he replied to their reproaches with many plausible excuses and fair promises; Luque and Espinosa argued for conciliation: and the fierce Almagro, by their representations, was induced to patch up a hollow treaty with his rival, who made repeated assurances that all the terms of the contract should be fulfilled. On arriving at Panama, however, a strong aversion to the. perilous enterprise appeared among the colonists. A few of his old crew joined the banner of Pizarro; but his force, all told, amounted only to an hundred and eighty men, with twenty-seven horses. With this slender armament he resolved to sail, in three vessels, leaving Almagro in Panama to gather reinforcements. Mass was solemnly said in the cathedral, and the whole company received the sacrament. Thus fortified by the ministrations of the church, this little crew of desperadoes sailed forth, early in January, 1531, on the memorable voyage for the Conquest of Peru. Thirteen days brought them to the Bay of St. Matthew, a little north of the line. Here Pizarro disembarked his troops, and pushed southward along the coast, accompanied by his vessels. After a most toilsome march, the land-forces fell upon a small town in Coaque, which they took by surprise. "We fell on them, sword in hand," says one of them, "for, if the Indians had been avised of our coming, we had never gotten such store of gold and emeralds as we did get." Many of these precious stones were broken to bits by the rude soldiers, in attempting to test their genuineness. The value of the ill-gotten treasure was, however, very large, and Pizarro shrewdly sent a considerable quantity back to Panama, to allure fresh adventurers to his standard. Again they marched along the shore, suffering terribly from the heat, in their armor of steel and their doublets of quilted cotton; and several perished on the way. The natives, warned by the fate of Coaque, retired at their approach, taking their valuables with them. The arrival of a vessel from Panama, with supplies, and of a small reinforcement under one Belalcazar, revived the drooping spirits of the Spaniards, almost worn out with heat, toil, and privation. They finally reached the Gulf of Guayaquil, and encamped on the isle of Puna, near Tumbez. The citizens of this place, with whom the islanders were at deadly enmity, came over in a friendly manner to visit the strangers. Soon after his arrival, on the report of a conspiracy, Pizarro seized a number of the native chieftains, and |