As the great procession entered the plaza of Cajamarca and divided into two ranks to allow the royal retinue to pass between, the Inca observed that not a Spaniard was to be seen, and inquired what had become of them. At this moment Father Valverde stepped into the square, with a crucifix in one hand and a Bible in the other, and approaching the Inca, told him that he was there by order of his commander to expound to him the true faith, for which purpose the Spaniards had come to his country. He then explained to Atahuallpa the basis of the Christian faith, the doctrine of the Trinity, and the origin of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, telling him that the pope had given the Spanish sovereign the right to conquer and convert the natives of the western hemisphere, and that Pizarro had arrived to carry out this mission; he concluded by beseeching the Inca to embrace Christianity and acknowledge himself a vassal of the Emperor Charles V., who would, in that case, aid and protect him. Atahuallpa listened to Valverde’s harangue as interpreted by Felipillo, at first showing only curiosity, then scorn and, finally, fierce indignation, as the import of its meaning dawned upon him. His brow darkened with anger when he learned that he was asked to become the vassal of another, and he exclaimed: “I am the greatest prince on earth, and will be vassal to none; as for the Pope of whom you speak, he cannot give away countries which do not belong to him; and as your God was put to death by the human beings he created, I will not have him in exchange for mine, who lives there in the heavens and watches over his children! Where did you learn these things?” Valverde handed him the Bible, which the monarch looked at as nothing to be admired, either in material or appearance; he threw it on the ground in disgust, and told the priest to inform his companions that they would be called to account for all the evil they had done in his dominions. The Inca was about to give a royal command to his messengers, when Valverde, scandalized by the heathen’s contempt for the sacred volume, and realizing that the effort to convert Atahuallpa had resulted only in incensing the Inca so that the lives of the Spaniards were in imminent danger, called out to Pizarro to “waste no more breath on the heathen reprobate,” exclaiming with all the fervor of the frenzied fanatic: _Salid á él—que yo os absuelvo!_ “Take him,—I absolve you all!” [Illustration: FRANCISCO PIZARRO, CONQUEROR OF PERU AND FOUNDER OF LIMA.]