The Crimson Conquest: A Romance of Pizarro and PeruHudson, Charles B. (Charles Bradford)
History
The Crimson Conquest: A Romance of Pizarro and Peru
Hudson, Charles B. (Charles Bradford)
Peru -- History -- Conquest, 1522-1548 -- Fiction
"Ho, the trumpeter!—the alarm!" roared Zapato, collaring the sergeant
and running him to the door. The sergeant disappeared, and in a moment
the call sounded which Cristoval had heard in the Ñusta’s apartment.
Its first notes were ragged and discordant, telling the musician’s
disorder of mind. Then it rose clear and stirring, startling many a
Spaniard out of dreams. A soldier scurried across the plaza to the
redoubt, carrying a lighted gunner’s match, and presently the flash and
bang of the falconet split the mist. Now individuals and groups came
running to the square, some half-dressed, others buckling and buttoning,
all pale, tousled, and breathless.
Pizarro was one of the first out of doors. A messenger stammered the
news, and withered in the general’s blast of fury. Commands followed
quickly. Guards to every exit from the town. Patrols for every street.
Cavalry for the suburbs and roads. A thousand _castellanos_ reward for
the recapture. Squads formed and went flying down dark streets, halting
every moving man and woman. Soon, horsemen in twos, fours, and
half-dozens left the square at the gallop in all directions. Groups of
natives gathered, silent and wondering, their impassive faces dimly seen
in the light of passing lanterns. Caxamalca had no more sleep—unless
Pedro’s. He apparently slept on, untroubled, under the eyes of one of
the guard who swore ever afterward that he had seen him disembodied on
that gusty Peruvian night.
Toward the eighth hour of the morning Pizarro, accompanied by his
secretary, with Almagro, Riquelme, Rogelio, and Father Valverde, entered
the prison. Pedro heard the clatter of thumbscrews as they were set
upon the floor by the squad of halberdiers who followed. The cook was
sitting with bowed head, absorbed in misery. He glanced up as the party
came in, saw that De Soto was not with it, and his heart sank. The
captain had been ordered out with the rest in search of the fugitive.
He had gone willingly enough, and had succeeded in tactfully reducing
the chances of discovery by leading his men in what he guessed was the
wrong direction. But at that moment he would have been a welcome sight
to Pedro. The cook, however, gave no sign, but invoked the aid of the
Virgin in consuming time until De Soto might return.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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