The summer had passed its height. About the middle of February Almagro arrived with a hundred and fifty infantry and fifty horse, well equipped, and Pizarro found himself able to resume activity. He began preparations at once for the march to Cuzco. The ransom was almost made up, and it was thought best to divide it without delay and continue the campaign rather than give the Peruvians time to conceal their treasures, which, it was suspected, they were already doing. Before making the division it was necessary to reduce the whole to ingots of uniform standard, and resort was had to the Indian goldsmiths. They were set to work, but so great was the amount that a month passed before the task was finished. At last the splendid collection, representing years of work and the highest skill of native art, was a common heap of bars. These weighed, the Spaniards found themselves possessors of 1,326,539 _pesos de oro_, more than fifteen million dollars of our present currency. To this there were 413,000 ounces of silver in addition. The division was made with solemnity. The companies were formed in the square, and after invoking the Divine blessing upon the transaction, a fifth part—the royal fifth, it was called—was deducted to be sent to the Emperor Charles. The remainder was divided among the members of the expedition according to rank. Cristoval found himself rich. His share would be worth to-day something over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, but the humblest pikeman was more rejoiced than he. Peralta was not more indifferent to wealth than any other normal man, but this gold!—it was befouled. It reeked with the massacre. He surveyed the yellow bars as they lay in the treasure room of the palace, and thought of the captive prince, his friend. There he left it and went away, harassed by its allurement and the ignominy of its ownership. The treasure having thus been satisfactorily apportioned, with or without the Divine blessing, the friends of Atahualpa held that his part of the contract was fulfilled. Hernando Pizarro, whose friendship for the monarch was outspoken, urged that he be given his promised liberty. Pizarro demurred. The time was inopportune. Word had been brought by a chief of the Cañares, a friendly tribe encamped in the valley, that an uprising was fomenting in the South. To release the Inca would be perilous for the present, but it would be done once tranquillity was assured. Meanwhile, the royal fifth must go to Spain. Would not Hernando be the bearer? It would be the most favorable of introductions at court, and if carried through with address, might lead to something,—who could tell? Three hundred thousand pesos laid gracefully at his Majesty’s feet would smooth a way for the request, for example, that Peru be made a viceroyalty. A title for Hernando himself were not impossible. The prospect was flattering, and the Inca’s case easily laid aside. Hernando went forthwith.