Vicente de la Vega Pizarro

“ Manco rose abruptly, dismissed his court with a few quick words, and left the dais. As he passed the old man he spoke to him in an undertone, and touching his white head lightly as he sank upon his knees, moved toward the door, followed by his suite.
Almagro sprang to his feet. "How now, my puppet king! Dost turn us an angry back? For the price of a breath of air I'd trim the fringe from thy toy of a diadem!"
"Not so loud, Diego!" remonstrated Juan Pizarro. "He hath good offence. I tell thee, we are not wise to make light of this soldier's trespass, amigo. ”

“ He is the man to be squeezed, if any—and the two artificers. If thou canst narrow the matter down to this crackle-pated cook, then come back to him and rack him, or hang him if 't is worth thy while. But now, have done. Off with those screws, men! I'm a thief if I'll see more of it! Off with them!"
Pedro had fainted for the third time. The soldiers looked to Pizarro. He glanced surlily at his partner, whose single eye met his own with an expression which he had seen it wear before. It promised a quarrel. Father Valverde joined Almagro's protest. ”

“ Take courage! Hear me, Ñusta Rava! De Soto and myself and half-a-score of others have witnessed Pizarro's oath to set your brother free. He awaiteth only assurance that your people are at peace. A few days hence the Inca shall have his liberty. Pizarro is a man of honor."
She controlled herself with an effort, and, brushing away her tears, presently looked up. "Forgive my weakness, Viracocha Cristoval. I fear my heart is overburdened. One blow hath fallen upon another until the world is dark." ”

“ His rage striketh at his vitals. But, let us see! A maiden, the fairest in the land, and treasure untold! God's love! Can it be she?" He reined up, the better to think, and sat in study, his geniality of countenance giving place to grave concern. Shortly he rode on, still pondering.
Pedro's mission to the fortress was to see the sick armorer and warn him against Fray Mauricio, with the advice that José go straightway to Cuzco, where Pizarro would hold him safe. The Morisco was so ill, however, that he said nothing of his errand, and after an hour at the bedside, took his departure. ”

“ Mendoza broke into a coarse guffaw and slapped his neighbor on the back. De Soto, Hernando Pizarro, Cristoval, and two or three others of the cavaliers of gentle breeding, stood with faces reddened or pale with humiliation, until Pizarro put an end to the exhibition with a stern "Attention, Señores! For the sake of Heaven, be silent! Ye are at the table of a gentleman."
An uncomfortable constraint of some minutes' duration followed the seating of the company. The Inca meditated upon the manifest craving of his guests for the tableware, a greediness to him preposterous. ”

“ Pedro!" replied the latter, smarting from his wound. "A cook! A punctured cook, and no less! Here, you pikeman, help me to peel my doublet, for I have a hurt—vulnusculum in latere—a little one in the side;—neque acu pundum—not a needle-prick, I'll swear;—and damn the man who made it!"
Pizarro turned away impatiently, irritated by the cook's garrulity. "Explain this matter, Peralta!" he commanded sharply. Cristoval explained in a few words.
"Soto, have the companies formed!" ordered Pizarro. "We will learn who is out. Some of these dogs are plundering for themselves. It shall go hard with them! ”

“ General Pizarro, I demand his arrest in the name of the Congregation of the Holy Office!"
No man moved. All stood for a moment aghast at the friar's invocation of the dread power of the Inquisition. Its very name carried terror, and they hated it as much as they feared its wrath. They stared in silence at Fray Mauricio, but José alone stood unmoved. He faced the friar with calm scorn, his tall, soldierly figure towering above him like a tree. Cristoval glanced at Pizarro and stepped to José's side. De Soto and others followed, and the group faced the Dominican. ”

“ Great God! Was not the atrocity of the plaza enough to glut thee? I tell thee, Pizarro, thou hast done foul murder!—Hath expiated his crimes, sayst thou!—Hath received the penalty of trusting a thing so scant and beggarly as thine honor, which, by Saint Michael, did underfit thee, thou perjured and lying miscreant, when thou wast a swineherd!"
Pizarro had risen. He was silent, but the deathly pallor of his countenance and the sudden cat-like contraction of the pupils of his eyes, burning with animosity in the shadow of his scowl, spoke his rage more plainly than an outburst. ”

“ Do not spare thy sword if any one hindereth; only—avoid killing José, Candia, or De Soto. They're friends—almost the only ones thou hast now, save Pedro."
"Is it so?" asked Cristoval, with surprise. "I thought there were others."
"They are few. Pizarro hath done for that. He promiseth a division of thy share of the plunder, and hath given out that the Inca enriched thee for thy friendship. Not ten men in the army but would see thee roasted with right good-will. A murrain seize them all! Now go! But hold! I had almost forgotten. In the basket thou'lt find a pouch. ”

“ We admire Pizarro when we regard alone the wonderful conquest he achieved; but when we learn the wrongs, the injustice, the misery he inflicted, the blood he spilled, and the ruin he caused, he and his companions appear monsters of iniquity, worthy of detestation rather than admiration. ”

“ Gonzalo Pizarro sent the news of his victory to all the cities in Peru, and Captain Alarcon brought the glad tidings to Hinojosa at Panama in a ship. Pizarro trusted Hinojosa fully, as he owed everything to his benefactor. Hinojosa’s treason was the cause of Pizarro’s fall. Alarcon brought back Gonzalo Pizarro’s son, and Vela Nuñez, the Viceroy’s brother: who received full pardon and went with Pizarro to Lima. Gonzalo Pizarro was now at the height of his power. Always just and inclined to mercy, he never put anyone to death without trial. ”

“ Pizarro regained his voice: "What sayest thou, Peralta?—Can he do it? Ask the noble beside thee!"
The noble answered with emphasis in the affirmative.
"Then 't is done!" shouted Pizarro, unable to restrain his excitement. "Done! Agreed, my Lord Inca! We accept your offer. Make good your terms, and you are a free man—at liberty to go and come without let or hindrance. Here is my hand upon it. Wait!—We'll give you an instrument in writing. Zapato, step out and send an orderly for my secretary. ”

“ Less than a score of men marooned on a desert island in an unknown sea, opposite a desolate and forbidding coast, without a ship or any means of leaving the island, not knowing whether Almagro and Luque would be able to succor them; their position was indeed a desperate one. It shows, as nothing else could, the iron determination of the indomitable Spaniard. At that moment when Pizarro drew the line and stepped across it after that fiery address, he touched at the same time the nadir of his fortunes and the zenith of his fame. ”

“ 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 by far cause as much bloodshed as the final reduction of the Indian tribes of Virginia. ”

“ They also sent him the ordinances. The messengers arrived when Pizarro was hunting eight leagues away, at a place called Palcocon, his servants being quite unprepared for such a thing. When Bustillo arrived at the town, he found Luis de Almao and asked him to go to where Gonzalo Pizarro was. Almao replied that he would go with all speed, for he surmised that they would cut off his head. He reached the place at the second vigil, and Gonzalo Pizarro called for a light, asking who came there in such haste? ”

“ He took it all—peg, socket, straps, and buckles. May it stick in his gullet! But look at me, thou who hast two good legs! Am I in a condition of mind or legs to sing to thee of files? Am I a newsmonger of files? A murrain on all files and filers! I want my leg!"
Riquelme grew red, and Almagro grinned maliciously; but Pizarro was angry. "Answer the question, thou eternal babbler!" he commanded. "How came Peralta by that file? Thou knowest, and we'll have it out of thee. Answer!"
Pedro turned from him. "Oh, a curse upon Peralta and his file! What care I who gave him his file? ”

“ The old armorer's dark eyes glowed, and he replied bluntly: "If it was blasphemy to defend the Holy Mother and Santiago from the charge of aiding in yesterday's butchery, then I blasphemed, and would blaspheme again; for I tell you, Pizarro, the work of your men was naught less than hellish."
"Have a care, old man!" said Pizarro, with a scowl. "Thy words are more dangerous than blasphemies. ”

“ Pizarro!" he cried, his peculiar falsetto rising to a squeak. "That man meditateth violence! He contemplateth doing me an injury! I see it in his eyes! Restrain him, Pizarro! I am an officer of the Crown, and call upon you to protect me with your sword. I have a wife and five small—"
"Be done, Rogelio!" commanded Pizarro, who had small liking for the timorous member of his civil staff. "Thou talkest too much. Learn to hold thy tongue. Come! Get back to thy work, and I'll vouch for thy safety."
"I am a civilian, and a man of peace," piped the veedor, rolling his colorless eyes at Cristoval. ”

“ Very well.—And Peralta, thou hast knowledge of the Quichua. Excellente! I will think of it."
When De Soto and Cristoval had departed Pizarro swore an oath. "But for the qualms of those two and half-a-dozen others," he fumed, "we need not fash ourselves about this accursed proud heathen king. I would snuff him out, for by the faith! I had liefer trust myself with a wounded bear than set him loose to bring his hordes to our destruction. He is a mad bull held by the horns. I can neither hold him nor let him go. Were it not for him we could be on the march to Cuzco ”

“ Hernando, mount a chair and scratch a mark with thy dagger where the Inca put his hand. My lord, deign to raise your hand again. By the gods, Señores! What say you to 't? A hundred thousand demons! D'ye believe your ears? We are all rich men! Ask the noble again, Peralta, whether he can do it!—Ask another of them! Saith he yes? Art sure? Blood and wounds and gods of war! Ha, ha! What say ye to't, Señores?"
Pizarro's cold reserve had gone. Cristoval had rarely seen him smile before: now he laughed, even roared, not pleasantly; and his pale countenance showed unaccustomed color. ”

“ The Judge Cepeda had become a fighting man and a strong partisan of Pizarro. The Audiencia or Court of Justice had ceased to exist, for Alvarez was with the Viceroy, Tejada had gone to Spain, and Zarate remained at Lima, keeping aloof from all recent proceedings.
Pizarro took the royal seal with him, and embarked in March 1545. Landing at Santa he marched to Truxillo, where all the troops were assembled, going thence to the province of Collique. He had 600 men, horse and foot, about the same number as the Viceroy but Pizarro’s were more experienced soldiers. ”

“ Pizarro demanded hoarsely. "Fighting among ourselves? Name of God! Is Spanish blood so cheap that we can waste it in brawls?—Seize this man!" he commanded, turning to the guard.
Pedro had gathered himself together, and was lifting Cristoval out of the corner where he had fallen. A sentinel was posted at the door, and a soldier despatched to summon the officers. De Soto and José, the old armorer, had followed Pizarro, and Cristoval's cuts were quickly bandaged. ”

“ He lived in luxury with his family and retainers, and was much associated with the Spaniards. They seem to have been trying their utmost to make him their friend,—which was Pizarro's principle all along. Prejudiced historians can find no answer to one significant fact. The Indians came to regard Pizarro and his brothers Gonzalo and Juan as their friends,—and an Indian, suspicious and observant far beyond us, is one of the last men in the world to be fooled in such things. ”

“ So he died a good Christian."
"So he died a good Christian!" repeated Cristoval, with bitterness. "He was a better man a pagan than the Christians who slew him. Well, God give him rest. But had he no defenders, Pedro? Was there no man less a criminal than Pizarro?"
"A few, but, curse me, a sparing few! Among them was José, and he the most vehement. He denounced the affair with an acrimony that stirred the wrath of Father Valverde, who helped to draw the indictment. José knoweth no discretion, Cristoval. But the Inca's friends were not many, and their protests were futile." ”

“ Pizarro was not married, but had two children by the Indian princess Ines Huayllas Ñusta, Atahualpa's sister, a son, who died in infancy, nnd a daughter, Beatriz, who married her uncle, Hernando, in 1551, and whose descendants inherited her father's riches and his title of marquis of the conquest. Pizarro was tall and of commanding presence, possessing extreme courage and fortitude, but cruel, cunning, and perfidious. ”

“ He turned abruptly upon Almagro, who, unacquainted with the Quichua, had given him little heed, lolling wearily in his chair.
"O, thou Viracocha, offspring of Supay!" cried the old Indio, shaking his clenched hands toward the Spaniard, "dost yawn at my sorrow, monster? Hast the heart of a wolf—thou who wearest the aspect of a man? May the great Inti strike thee with thrice my grief, thrice mine infirmities!"
Almagro, listening with some surprise to the violent apostrophe, looked toward the younger Pizarro: "What saith he, Juan?"
"By God, he hath told a tale of bitter wrong, Diego!" ”