"Even among Spaniards!" said Cristoval, with a trace of bitterness in his faint smile. "I trust so, my Lord Toparca. But the princess hath my earnest sympathy." Then he changed the subject quickly, and soon departed, giving little further thought to the Ñusta Rava. It was not long before the constraint at first existing between the Inca and the Spanish officers began to wear away under the influence of the uniform courtesy with which he was treated, partly in observance of Pizarro’s strict injunctions, but due quite as much to the innate stateliness of the monarch himself. His captors soon learned to know him as a man of alert intelligence, eager for knowledge of their world. As the months dragged on he formed several friendships with them which went far to moderate the dreariness of captivity, in which he displayed his discrimination of human character. From the first he was attracted by De Soto, whose superiority over most of his comrades he was not slow to recognize. De Soto, in turn, conceived for the unfortunate monarch a deep regard, a sentiment shared by Hernando Pizarro and Candia. But before all others in the Inca’s esteem was Peralta. Atahualpa had not forgotten his part in the affair on the plaza, and his gratitude and confidence had been increased by the rescue of Toparca. Thus predisposed in Cristoval’s favor, the cavalier’s growing knowledge of the Quichua dialect made their acquaintance of easy growth. Cristoval’s wide experience as a soldier appealed vigorously to the warlike prince, and he spent many hours listening to accounts of European campaigns and methods. It is doubtful if the monarch had ever, since his youth, known real companionship unconstrained by his majesty. The gulf separating him from his most exalted subject was immeasurable and not to be bridged by any human feeling. As far as friendship was concerned he was alone, wearied to the limits of endurance by the perpetual reverence and awe by which he was surrounded. He did not undertake to exact, did not want, and could not have had from the Spaniards, the servile homage tendered by his subjects, and its absence was a relief. They treated him as a royal man, not as a Child of the Sun, and he was grateful. It is not to be supposed that they were always tactful, that they never overstepped the bounds of familiarity; but his natural dignity protected him, and it occurred infrequently—with Cristoval never. The cavalier was neither presuming nor humble, and their friendship prospered.