Here Carvahal’s eyes began to glitter, nor were they the only ones alight in the company as he growled out—
“Ah! there I see a glimpse of Paradise, or at least of El-Dorado. Go on, de Soto, thou hast good listeners now, I warrant thee.”
But Don Francisco shook his head and said in his quiet, masterful voice—
“Nay, nay, Carvahal, it is early days to talk in that fashion yet. Remember that presently our errand is one of peace. We must not pluck the fruit while it would kill the tree. El-Dorado is not here; we shall find it beyond the mountains where its master is. Know you not the story that the Scripture tells of the strong man armed? We are not in his house yet. Go on with thy story, de Soto.”
A low approving murmur ran round the table and de Soto began again—
“My thoughts were not unlike yours, Don Francisco, even as Carvahal’s would have been had he heard the news that was told me in Huamacucho. The noble who commands the town is no less a personage than one Titu Atauchi, half-brother of the great Inca himself, and from him I learnt that Atahuallpa is presently encamped in the valley of Cajamarca, a great city lying in a broad and verdant plain on the other side of a vast range of mountains compared with which all that we have so far seen are but little more than ant-hills, yet so fast does news fly, by some strange means or other, in this wondrous land, that already he has been informed of our coming, and has sent orders back to the Governor of Huamacucho to receive us with all friendliness and invite you, Excellency, to meet him and confer with him on the subject of your embassy in Cajamarca itself.”
Here de Soto paused for a while, and Don Francisco, slowly nodding his head towards him, said—
“That all sounds well enough so far, de Soto, but heard you any tidings of the war that is being waged between the two Incas, and of what forces Atahuallpa has with him?”
“It was even that that I was coming to, Excellency,” replied de Soto. “All that we have heard so far is true. The armies of Cuzco have been defeated.”
“Cuzco! Where and what is that?” asked Carvahal, again interrupting.