Produced by Al Haines. [Illustration: Cover art] [Illustration: "Quick!" Cristoval whispered, "They are upon us!" (Page 196)] *THE CRIMSON CONQUEST* _*A Romance of Pizarro and Peru*_ BY CHARLES BRADFORD HUDSON _With Frontispiece in full color by_ J. C. LEYENDECKER CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1907 Copyright A. C. McClurg & Co. 1907 Published October 5, 1907 Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London, England The University Press, Cambridge, U.S.A. *CONTENTS* Chapter I Booty from Peru II The Señora Declares a Purpose III Nipping a Conspiracy IV The Inca’s Encampment V The Monarch and the Princess Rava VI The Massacre VII Cavalier and Cantinero VIII An Arm of the Inquisition IX Cristoval Meets the Princess X A Royal Ransom XI The Inca’s Last Prayer XII Vengeance Foiled XIII Cristoval a Prisoner XIV Pedro to the Rescue XV The Flight XVI Pedro in the Thumbscrews XVII The Fugitives in the Wilderness XVIII The Vale of Xilcala XIX Hearts Perplexed XX Hearts Revealed and Sundered XXI The Señora Descends upon Pedro XXII Rava in the Toils XXIII Rogelio Finds Gall and Wormwood XXIV Pedro Seeks Tidings of Cristoval XXV A Glimpse of Cuzco XXVI The Inca Manco XXVII The Incarial Diadem on a Spanish Saddle-Bow XXVIII Two Comrades Reunited XXIX A March and Another Reunion XXX An Encounter on the Plain of Chita XXXI Inca and Conquistador XXXII The Storm Breaks XXXIII The Doomed City XXXIV In the Burning Palace XXXV The Lurking Morisco XXXVI The Barricades XXXVII A Night Attack and a Deliverance XXXVIII A Tie of Mingled Blood XXXIX Again the Señora Descends XL Glory and Peace *FOREWORD* This tale is to be of days when the green forest-aisles and mountain trails of America saw the glint of the steel of men in armor. It will have to do with times when the aborigine looked upon the sparkle of lance, the flutter of pennon, the gleam of corselet, helm, and morion, and felt his primeval turf tremble beneath the hoofs of steeds in full panoply. It will tell of plumed and plated cavaliers, "In brave pursuit of chivalrous emprise," who found in the wilderness of the New World adventures no less hardy, and near as strange, as any fabled one encountered by knight of old.