Two hours after sunset on the 29th of August, 1533, the emperor of the Incas was led out, chained hand and foot, into the plaza which he had entered a few months before as the proud and powerful representative of a noble dynasty. And the mighty change had been wrought entirely through his too friendly protection of a band of invaders, his too princely welcome to a treacherous chief, and his too lavish gifts to an unscrupulous enemy. The ceremony of baptism was performed by Father Valverde, as the Inca had consented to embrace Christianity rather than be burned at the stake. It is related that Atahuallpa implored Pizarro to take compassion on his young children and protect them, after which he resigned himself to his fate and met death without giving a sign. The official obsequies were performed the following day, Father Valverde reading the service of the dead, while Pizarro and the principal cavaliers attended in deep mourning. The execution of Atahuallpa did not take place any too soon, so far as Pizarro’s designs were concerned, for Hernando de Soto returned to Cajamarca a couple of days later with the news that the whole story of an uprising was a _canard_ and Atahuallpa was innocent! Great was the sorrow and indignation of De Soto to learn that the Inca had been executed; for this brave cavalier was a friend of the unhappy monarch and had shielded him on more than one occasion when the fierce temper of the soldiers threatened him with harm. Pizarro quailed before the noble spirit of his braver and better comrade, and sought to throw the blame on Valverde, who in turn repudiated all share of responsibility in the shameful business, saying he had acted only as Pizarro’s chaplain. It was evident that no one cared to father the fraud by which, under the name of justice, the Inca’s death had been accomplished. [Illustration: PIZARRO ON THE ISLAND OF GALLO. FROM A PAINTING BY JUAN O. LEPIANI.]