"I am a Christian," responded the armorer with dignity. "That answereth every question thou shalt be asked. Señores, this affair is mine. It endeth here." He glanced significantly at the lowering group around Mendoza, then, after a pause: "Now, to the business for which I have called you together. These are my orders, and ye will see them carried out to the letter. The captives shall be released and go unmolested. A sufficient number shall be retained as hostages and for such services as may be required. The Inca shall be established with his wives and household, and shall have every privilege and liberty consistent with security. His nobles and people are to be admitted to him without hindrance, and for the present he shall be allowed to conduct the affairs of the empire—with our guidance and counsel when it seemeth expedient. The nobles shall be treated as befitteth their rank, and we’ll have no violence offered any man or woman, noble or other. Ye will make this understood among the men and see it enforced. Thus far our arms have been blessed with success, but for the future as much dependeth upon discretion as upon courage. Be prudent, therefore, as vigilant, and vigilant as ye have been resolute. "One word more: To-morrow I send a messenger to San Miguel, and with him goeth Fray Mauricio. That is all, Señores. _Adiós_." *CHAPTER IX* _*Cristoval Meets the Princess*_ There was a building fronting on the plaza which, from, the great sculptured serpent on its wall, became known to the Spaniards as the House of the Serpent. Plain and massive in its architecture as the others, it covered, in a rambling fashion, a large extent of ground. By chance the invaders had left it untouched until opened for the Inca and his suite. Being an old Incarial palace, Atahualpa requested that he be quartered there. This was readily granted, and Pizarro, to be near his prisoner, moved into the building himself. That part of it abutting on the square was ancient, but in later years it had been added to from time to time until it could house five or six score people. It extended back a hundred yards or more, enclosing one large and two smaller courts from which entrance was given to the various apartments. In the rear was a park filled with trees and shrubbery, and surrounded by a high wall of stone and adobe. Since the erection of the villa near the mineral springs the palace had been disused, and the garden neglected; but it retained its beauty, enhanced, perhaps, by its touch of wildness. The fountains still playing in its shade were green with moss, the walks overgrown with grass, and wild flowers had invaded the lawns, as if Nature had gently striven against its artificiality. The melancholy of decay had entered the enclosure as in preparation to greet the fallen fortune of the royal prisoner, fated to spend many a moody hour pacing its walks and chafing in his bondage.