As the poor Inca stood bound to the stake, with the fagots
of his funeral pile heaped around him, Valverde, the Dominican friar, made
a last appeal to him to accept the cross and be baptized, promising him a
less painful death if he would consent. The Inca, shrinking from the
horror of the flames, consented, and was duly baptized under the name of
Juan de Atahualpa. He was then put to death in the Spanish manner, by the
_garrote_, or strangulation.
Thus died the Inca of Peru, the victim of Pizarro's treachery. Great was
the indignation of De Soto, on his return a day or two later from an
expedition in which he had found no rebels, at what had been done. Pizarro
tried to exculpate himself and blame others for deceiving him, but these
told him to his face that he alone was responsible for the deed. In all
probability they told the truth.
GONZALO PIZARRO AND THE LAND OF CINNAMON.
We have now to relate the most remarkable adventure in the story of the
conquest of Peru, and one of the most remarkable in the history of the New
World,--the expedition of Gonzalo Pizarro to the upper waters of the Amazon
and the pioneer voyage down that mighty river.
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