Francisco Pizarro, a native of Trujillo in Spain, began life under all the disadvantages which are the lot of the illegitimate child, but which, in many instances, school him in a discipline so rigorous that as he grows to manhood he becomes thoroughly inured to hardship and is able to dominate the greatest misfortune and to achieve success in the face of the most discouraging obstacles. Such a discipline is hardly likely to develop the softer virtues; and, as the young Pizarro received no care,—either from his father, who was a distinguished colonel under El Gran Capitan, or from his mother, a humble peasant,—as he was never taught to read or to write, and spent his boyhood tending swine, it is not difficult to imagine what extraordinary influences must have moulded his character, and transformed the swineherd of Trujillo into the fearless soldier of fortune, known to history as the cruel, rapacious, and perfidious, though consummately daring, Conqueror of Peru. The first news of Pizarro as an adventurer in the New World is found in the record of a disastrous expedition fitted out at Hispaniola for the purpose of colonization; a few years later he is heard from in connection with the more successful undertaking led by Balboa, with whom Pizarro crossed the Isthmus of Panamá, when that celebrated adventurer discovered the Pacific Ocean. Up to that time, Pizarro, who was then fifty years of age, had won neither gold nor glory as a reward for his ambition. In 1522, an expedition, which had been sent southward by the governor of Panamá, returned with wonderful stories of the wealth and grandeur of a kingdom that was supposed to lie behind the great range of the Andes. Pizarro became interested and communicated his enthusiasm to Diego de Almagro, an adventurer like himself, a native of Castile, and a foundling. These two enterprising explorers were joined by a third, named Hernando de Luque, a priest, who furnished most of the funds for the expedition which it was agreed they would undertake, to search for the land of treasure. After great reverses and his desertion by many famished followers on the barren Island of Gallo, Pizarro reached Tumbes, on the southern shore of the Gulf of Guayaquil, where he found a populous settlement, rich in temples and palaces ornamented with gold and silver, and inhabited by a kind and hospitable people. The natives told the Spaniards that a great and powerful prince ruled over all this country, whose capital lay behind the mountains and was a city of far greater wealth and splendor than anything they had yet seen. Could any news be more welcome to the little band of adventurers in search of this very treasure? After cruising southward past the present city of Trujillo, at which they also disembarked for a short stay, and finding everywhere proofs that they had reached the shores of an opulent kingdom, the expedition turned northward again toward Panamá; for