Pizarro, according to the usual artifice of his countrymen, pretended to come as the ambassador of a powerful monarch, to offer his aid against those enemies who disputed his title to the throne. The Peruvians were altogether unable to comprehend the object of the Spaniards in entering their country, whether they should consider them as beings of a superior nature, who had visited them from some beneficent motive, as the Spaniards wished them to believe, or whether they were sent as evil demons to punish them for their crimes, as the rapaciousness and cruelty of the Spaniards led them to apprehend. Pizarro's declaration of his pacific intentions, however, so far removed all the Inca's fears, that he determined to give him a friendly reception. In consequence of this the Spaniards were allowed to march across a sandy desert, which lay in their way to Metupe, where the smallest efforts of an opposing enemy might have proved fatal to them, and then through a defile so narrow, that a few men might have defended it against a numerous army; but here, likewise, they met with no opposition. Pizarro, having reached Caxamalia with his followers, sent messengers, inviting Atahualpa to visit him in his quarters, which he readily promised. On the return of these messengers, they gave such a description of the wealth which they had seen, as determined Pizarro to seize upon the Peruvian monarch, in order that he might more easily come at the riches of his kingdom. The next day the Inca approached Caxamalia, without suspicion of Pizarro's treachery; but, as he drew near the Spanish quarters, Vincent Valverde, chaplain to the expedition, advanced with a crucifix in one hand and a breviary in the other, and, in a long discourse, attempted to convert him to the Roman Catholic faith. This the monarch declined, avowing his resolution to adhere to the worship of the sun; at the same time wished to know where the priest had learned these extraordinary things he had related. "In this book!" answered Valverde, reaching out his breviary. The Inca opened it eagerly, and turning over the leaves, raised it to his ear, "This," said he, "is silent, it tells me nothing;" and threw it with disdain to the ground. The enraged monk, running towards his countrymen, cried out, "To arms, Christians! to arms! the word of God is insulted--avenge the profanation of these impious dogs!" Pizarro immediately gave the signal of assault, which ended in the destruction of four thousand Peruvians, without the loss of a single Spaniard. The plunder was rich beyond any idea which even the conquerors had yet formed concerning the wealth of Peru. The Inca, who was taken prisoner, quickly discovered that the ruling passion of the Spaniards was the desire of gold; he offered therefore to recover his liberty by a splendid ransom. [Illustration]