Children's Stories in American History

by Henrietta Christian Wright

And then they killed him as he stood there alone, with his hands clasped, and his eyes lifted toward the heavens from which the great god had vanished many hours before, and so perished Atahualpa, the last of the children of the Sun, and the empire of the Incas was at an end.

Pizarro now determined to march at once to Cuzco, and in order to appease the Peruvians, who were horrified and angry at the murder of Atahualpa, a younger brother of the emperor was crowned Inca, although Pizarro meant to keep the real power in his own hands. But it would be safer for the Spaniards to march through the country if they had the person of an Inca in their power, and the young Toparca had a mild and gentle nature, and Pizarro could easily rule him.

De Soto was sent ahead to spy out danger, and although his party, as well as his main army, was attacked once or twice by Peruvians, the Spaniards had only to charge upon them with their fiery horses, when the Indians would break ranks at once and fly in terror to the woods, and so with but little adventure Cuzco was reached at last, and Pizarro found himself in the capital of the great empire he had conquered.

Toparca having died on the way to Cuzco, another brother, Manco, was crowned Inca, with great ceremony, in the midst of thousands of assembled Peruvians, and a treaty of peace was entered into between Manco and Pizarro, and eternal friendship was sworn between them; but although this satisfied the Peruvians, Manco was really kept under guard and was closely watched all the time. And now began the plunder of Cuzco, and its beautiful temples and royal palaces were soon despoiled of all their treasures; it was found when the gold and jewels had been divided that each soldier in the Spanish army was a rich man, and that the king's portion was immense.

But Cuzco was too far from the sea-coast to be a suitable capital for the new kingdom that Pizarro meant to found, and after its stores of gold and silver had been divided among the soldiers, the conqueror proposed to move the capital from Cuzco to some place nearer the coast, and as there was no large town near the sea that suited him, he gave orders that a new city should be built, with palaces, temples, and churches, and all things as fine and beautiful as could be found anywhere else in Peru. The workmen were soon at work, and thousands of Peruvians were daily employed in building the bridges and walls and towers that were to grace this new capital, whose foundations were laid in January, 1535, and which Pizarro named "The City of the Kings," and which is now known as Lima.

But it was only a few years that Pizarro lived to enjoy all his glory and prosperity, for he had many bitter enemies among the Spaniards. His old friend Almagro had been very dissatisfied at his share of the treasures that had been found in Peru, and had even tried to take Cuzco away from Pizarro, and become ruler of Peru himself. There is no doubt that Pizarro was unfaithful to his promise to divide the spoils equally with Almagro and Luque; but Luque was dead, and Almagro was obliged to take whatever Pizarro would give him, and when he attempted to obtain more by force, he was taken prisoner by Hernando Pizarro and put to death. But he left a son, Diego, who resolved to revenge his father's murder. He had many friends in the city, for his father had been very popular among the forces that he led against Pizarro, and a plan was laid to attack Pizarro as he was returning from church on Sunday and kill him. But on the Sunday appointed, Pizarro did not go to church; he had heard of the plot and remained at home. Diego and his friends were not to be baffled, however; they went at once to Pizarro's palace, and forcing their way to his private room, attacked him before his friends could come to his rescue. Pizarro fought bravely for his life, but the odds were against him, and in a few moments he fell dead at the feet of the man whose father had been his old friend, and whose help and trust had been the chief means of his conquering the empire of Peru.

[CHAPTER XIII.]

FERDINAND DE SOTO, THE DISCOVERER OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

Ferdinand de Soto, who was with Pizarro in Peru, was born in Spain, and the first years of his life were spent in a gloomy castle where it was so quiet, that he often grew lonely and wished that he had some playfellow besides the birds or his dog or horse. His parents were so poor that they could not afford to send him to school, and so he grew to be a big boy before knowing how to read or write; but his family were of noble blood, the noblest in Spain; and although they could not send him to school, still they had him taught to ride and fence, as it was thought disgraceful for a Spanish nobleman not to have these accomplishments. And so the boy learned to ride daringly, and at the age of twelve could use his sword as easily as any other Spanish boy of his age; and in the meantime, in the halls of the dark old castle, he listened eagerly to the tales he heard of the wonderful land which Columbus had discovered, and he resolved that when he became a man he would go himself across the sea and bring back gold and refurnish up the old castle and make it once more a place fit for noblemen to live in. When he learned to read he stored his mind with stories of adventure and romance, and he said that he, too, would go into the world some day and win honor and fame; and so the days passed; the sun brightened the castle walls in the daytime and the shadows hung over them at night, and through sunlight and shadow the boy dreamed on of the years to come when he would be a knight and a soldier and gain glory and wealth under the flag of Spain.