the forlorn hope could not have been intrusted to a braver cavalier.
Marching out of Cuzco about sunset with his little force, Juan went off
as if to forage; but as soon as it was dark he turned, made a detour,
and hurried to the Sacsahuaman. The great Indian fort was dark and
still. Its gateway had been closed with great stones, built up like the
solid masonry; and these the Spaniards had much difficulty in removing
without noise. When at last they passed through and were between the two
giant walls, a host of Indians fell upon them. Juan left half his force
to engage the savages, and with the other half opened the gateway in the
second wall which had been similarly closed. When the Spaniards
succeeded in capturing the second wall, the Indians retreated to their
towers; and these last and deadliest strongholds were to be stormed. The
Spaniards assaulted them with that characteristic valor which faltered
at no odds of Nature or of man, but at the first onset met an
irreparable loss. Brave Juan Pizarro had been wounded in the jaw, and
his helmet so chafed the wound that he snatched it off and led the
assault bareheaded. In the storm of Indian missiles a rock smote him
upon his unprotected skull and felled him to the ground. Yet even as he
lay there in his agony and weltering in his blood, he shouted
encouragement to his men, and cheered them on,--Spanish pluck to the
last. He was tenderly removed to Cuzco and given every care; but the
broken head was past mending, and after a few days of agony the
flickering life went out forever.
The Indians still held their stronghold; and leaving his brother Gonzalo
in charge of beleaguered Cuzco, Hernando Pizarro sallied out with a new
force to attack the towers of the Sacsahuaman. It was a desperate
assault, but a successful one at last. One tower was soon captured; but
in the other and stronger one the issue was long doubtful. Conspicuous
among its defenders was a huge and fearless Indian, who toppled over the
ladders and struck down the Spaniards as fast as they could scale the
tower. His valor filled the soldiers with admiration. Heroes themselves,
they could see and respect heroism even in an enemy. Hernando gave
strict orders that this brave Indian should not be hurt. He must be
overpowered, but not struck down. Several ladders were planted on
different sides of the tower, and the Spaniards made a simultaneous
rush, Hernando shouting to the Indian that he should be preserved if he
would yield. But the swarthy Hercules, seeing that the day was lost,
drew his mantle over his head and face, and sprang off the lofty tower,
to be dashed to pieces at its base.
The Sacsahuaman was captured, though at heavy cost, and thereby the
offensive power of the savages was materially lessened. Hernando left a
small garrison to hold the fortress and returned to the invested city,
there with his companions to bear the cruel fortunes of the siege. For
five months the siege of Cuzco lasted; and they were five months of
great suffering and danger. Manco and his host hung upon the starving
city, fell with deadly fury upon the parties that were driven by hunger
to sally out for food, and harassed the survivors incessantly. All the
outlying Spanish colonists had been massacred, and matters grew daily
darker.
Francisco Pizarro, beleaguered in Lima, had beaten off the Indians,
thanks to the favorable nature of the country; but they hovered always
about. He was full of anxiety for his men at Cuzco, and sent out four
successive expeditions, aggregating four hundred men, to their relief.
But the rescue-parties were successively ambushed in the mountain
passes, and nearly all were slain. It is said that seven hundred
Spaniards perished in that unequal war. Some of the men begged to be
allowed to cut through to the coast, take ship, and escape this deadly
land; but Pizarro would not hear to such abandonment of their brave
countrymen at Cuzco, and was resolved to stand by them and save them, or
share their fate. To remove the temptation to selfish escape, he sent
off the ships, with letters to the governors of Panama, Guatemala,
Mexico, and Nicaragua detailing his desperate situation and asking aid.
At last, in August, Manco raised the siege of Cuzco. His great force was
eating up the country; and unless he set the inhabitants to their
planting, famine would presently be upon him. So, sending most of the
Indians to their farms, he left a large force to watch and harass the
Spaniards, and himself with a strong garrison retired to one of his
forts. The Spaniards now had better success in their forays for food,
and could better stave off starvation; but the watchful Indians were
constantly attacking them, cutting off men and small parties, and giving
them no respite. Their harassment was so sleepless and so disastrous
that to check it Hernando conceived the audacious plan of capturing
Manco in his stronghold. Setting out with eighty of his best horsemen
and a few infantry, he made a long, circuitous march with great caution,
and without giving the alarm. Attacking the fortress at daybreak, he
thought to take it unawares; but behind those grim walls the Indians
were watching for him, and suddenly rising they showered down a perfect
hail of missiles upon the Spaniards. Three times with the courage of
despair the handful of soldiers pressed on to the assault, but three
times the outnumbering savages drove them back. Then the Indians opened
their sluice-gates above and flooded the field; and the Spaniards,
reduced and bleeding, had to beat a retreat, hard pressed by the
exultant foe. In this dark hour, Pizarro was suddenly betrayed by the
man who, above all, should have been loyal to him,--the coarse traitor
Almagro.
IX.
THE WORK OF TRAITORS.
Almagro had penetrated Chile, suffering great hardships in crossing the
mountains. Again he showed the white feather; and, discouraged by the
very beginning, he turned and marched back to Peru. He seems to have
concluded that it would be easier to rob his companion and benefactor
than to make a conquest of his own,--especially since he learned how
Pizarro was now beset. Pizarro, learning of his approach, went out to
meet him. Manco fell upon the Spaniards on the way, but was repulsed
after a hot fight.
Despite Pizarro's manly arguments, Almagro would not give up his plans.
He insisted that he should be given Cuzco, the chief city, pretending
that it was south of Pizarro's territory. It was really within the
limits granted Pizarro by the Crown, but that would have made no
difference with him. At last a truce was made until a commission could
measure and determine where Pizarro's southern boundary lay. Meantime
Almagro was bound by a solemn oath to keep his hands off. But he was not
a man to regard his oath or his honor; and on the dark and stormy night
of April 8, 1537, he seized Cuzco, killed the guards, and made Hernando
and Gonzalo Pizarro prisoners. Just then Alonso de Alvarado was coming
with a force to the relief of Cuzco; but being betrayed by one of his
own officers, he was captured with all his men by Almagro.
At this critical juncture, Pizarro was strengthened by the arrival of
his old supporter, the licentiate Espinosa, with two hundred and fifty
men, and a shipload of arms and provisions from his great cousin Cortez.
He started for Cuzco, but at the overpowering news of Almagro's wanton
treachery, retreated to Lima and fortified his little capital. He was
clearly anxious to avert bloodshed; and instead of marching with an army
to punish the traitor, he sent an embassy, including Espinosa, to try to
bring Almagro to decency and reason. But the vulgar soldier was
impervious to such arguments. He not only refused to give up stolen
Cuzco, but coolly announced his determination to seize Lima also.
Espinosa suddenly and conveniently died in Almagro's camp, and Hernando
and Gonzalo Pizarro would have been put to death but for the efforts of
Diego de Alvarado (a brother of the hero of the _Noche Triste_), who
saved Almagro from adding this cruelty to his shame. Almagro marched
down to the coast to found a port, leaving Gonzalo under a strong guard
in Cuzco, and taking Hernando with him as a prisoner. While he was
building his town, which he named after himself, Gonzalo Pizarro and
Alonso de Alvarado made their escape from Cuzco and reached Lima in
safety.
Francisco Pizarro still tried to keep from blows with the man who,
though now a traitor, had been once his comrade. At last an interview
was arranged, and the two leaders met at Mala. Almagro greeted
hypocritically the man he had betrayed; but Pizarro was of different
fibre. He did not wish to be enemies with former friends; but as little
could he be friend again to such a person. He met Almagro's lying
welcome with dignified coolness. It was agreed that the whole dispute
should be left to the arbitration of Fray Francisco de Bobadilla, and
that both parties should abide by his decision. The arbitrator finally
decided that a vessel should be sent to Santiago to measure southward
from there, and determine Pizarro's exact southern boundary. Meantime
Almagro was to give up Cuzco and release Hernando Pizarro. To this
perfectly just arrangement the usurper refused to agree, and again
violated every principle of honor. Hernando Pizarro was in imminent
danger of being murdered; and Francisco, bound to save his brother at
any cost, bought him free by giving up Cuzco.
At last, worn past endurance by the continued treachery of Almagro,
Pizarro sent him warning that the truce was at an end, and marched on
Cuzco. Almagro made every effort to defend his stolen prize, but was
outgeneralled at every step. He was shattered by a shameful sickness,
the penalty of his base life, and had to intrust the campaign to his
lieutenant Orgonez. On the 26th of April, 1538, the loyal Spaniards,
under Hernando and Gonzalo Pizarro, Alonso de Alvarado, and Pedro de
Valdivia, met Almagro's forces at Las Salinas. Hernando had Mass said,
aroused his men by recounting the conduct of Almagro, and led the charge
upon the rebels. A terrible struggle ensued; but at last Orgonez was
slain, and then his followers were soon routed. The victors captured
Cuzco and made the arch-traitor prisoner. He was tried and convicted of
treason,--for in being traitor to Pizarro, he had also been a traitor to
Spain,--and was sentenced to death. The man who could be so physically
brave in some circumstances was a coward at the last. He begged like a
craven to be spared; but his doom was just, and Hernando Pizarro refused
to reverse the sentence. Francisco Pizarro had started for Cuzco; but
before he arrived Almagro was executed, and one of the basest
treacheries in history was avenged. Pizarro was shocked at the news of
the execution; but he could not feel otherwise than that justice had
been done. Like the man he was, he had Diego de Almagro, the traitor's
illegitimate son, taken to his own house, and cared for as his own
child.
Hernando Pizarro now returned to Spain. There he was accused of
cruelties; and the Spanish government, prompter than any other in
punishing offences of the sort, threw him into prison. For twenty years
the gray-haired prisoner lived behind the bars of Medina del Campo; and
when he came out his days of work were over, though he lived to be a
hundred years old.
The state of affairs in Peru, though improved by the death of Almagro
and the crushing of his wicked rebellion, was still far from secure.
Manco was developing what has since come to be regarded as the
characteristic Indian tactics. He had learned that the original fashion
of rushing upon a foe in mass, fairly to smother him under a crush of
bodies, would not work against discipline. So he took to the tactics of
harassment and ambuscade,--the policy of killing from behind, which our
Apaches learned in the same way. He was always hanging about the
Spaniards, like a wolf about the flock, waiting to pounce upon them
whenever they were off their guard, or when a few were separated from
the main body. It is the most telling mode of warfare, and the hardest
to combat. Many of the Spaniards fell victims; in a single swoop he cut
off and massacred thirty of them. It was useless to pursue him,--the
mountains gave him an impregnable retreat. As the only deliverance from
this harassment, Pizarro adopted a new policy. In the most dangerous
districts he founded military posts; and around these secure places
towns grew rapidly, and the people were able to hold their own.
Emigrants were coming to the country, and Peru was developing a
civilized nation out of them and the uplifted natives. Pizarro imported
all sorts of European seeds, and farming became a new and civilized
industry.
Besides this development of the new little nation, Pizarro was spreading
the limits of exploration and conquest. He sent out brave Pedro de
Valdivia,--that remarkable man who conquered Chile, and made there a
history which would be found full of thrilling interest, were there room
to recount it here. He sent out, too, his brother Gonzalo as governor of
Quito, in 1540. That expedition was one of the most astounding and
characteristic feats of Spanish exploration in the Americas; and I wish
space permitted the full story of it to enter here. For nearly two years
the knightly leader and his little band suffered superhuman hardships.
They froze to death in the snows of the Andes, and died of heat in the
desert plains, and fell in the forest swamps of the upper Amazon. An
earthquake swallowed an Indian town of hundreds of houses before their
eyes. Their way through the tropic forests had to be hewn step by step.
They built a little brigantine with incredible toil,--Gonzalo working as
hard as any,--and descended the Napo to the Amazon. Francisco de
Orellana and fifty men could not rejoin their companions, and floated
down the Amazon to the sea, whence the survivors got to Spain. Gonzalo
at last had to struggle back to Quito,--a journey of almost matchless
horror. Of the three hundred gallant men who had marched forth so
blithely in 1540 (not including Orellana's fifty), there were but eighty
tattered skeletons who staggered into Quito in June, 1542. This may give
some faint idea of what they had been through.
Meanwhile an irreparable calamity had befallen the young nation, and
robbed it at one dastardly blow of one of its most heroic figures. The
baser followers who had shared the treachery of Almagro had been
pardoned, and well-treated; but their natures were unchanged, and they
continued to plot against the wise and generous man who had "made" them
all. Even Diego de Almagro, whom Pizarro had reared tenderly as a son,
joined the conspirators. The ringleader was one Juan de Herrada. On
Sunday, June 26, 1541, the band of assassins suddenly forced their way
into Pizarro's house. The unarmed guests fled for help; and the faithful
servants who resisted were butchered. Pizarro, his half-brother Martinez
de Alcantara, and a tried officer named Francisco de Chaves had to bear
the brunt alone. Taken all by surprise as they were, Pizarro and
Alcantara tried to hurry on their armor, while Chaves was ordered to
secure the door. But the mistaken soldier half opened it to parley with
the villains, and they ran him through, and kicked his corpse down the
stair-case. Alcantara sprang to the door and fought heroically,
undaunted by the wounds that grew thicker on him. Pizarro, hurling aside
the armor there was no time to don, flung a cloak over his left arm for
a shield, and with the right grasping the good sword that had flashed in
so many a desperate fray he sprang like a lion upon the wolfish gang. He
was an old man now; and years of such hardship and exposure as few men
living nowadays ever dreamed of had told on him. But the great heart was
not old, and he fought with superhuman valor and superhuman strength.
His swift sword struck down the two foremost, and for a moment the
traitors were staggered. But Alcantara had fallen; and taking turns to
wear out the old hero, the cowards pressed him hard. For several minutes
the unequal fight went on in that narrow passage, slippery with
blood,--one gray-haired man with flashing eyes against a score of
desperadoes. At last Herrada seized Narvaez, a comrade, in his arms, and
behind this living shield rushed against Pizarro. Pizarro ran Narvaez
through and through; but at the same instant one of the crowding
butchers stabbed him in the throat. The conqueror of Peru reeled and
fell; and the conspirators plunged their swords in his body. But even
then the iron will kept the body to the last thought of a great heart;
and calling upon his Redeemer, Pizarro drew a cross with bloody finger
upon the floor, bent and kissed the sacred symbol, and was dead.
So lived and so died the man who began life as the swineherd of
Truxillo, and who ended it the conqueror of Peru. He was the greatest of
the Pioneers; a man who from meaner beginnings rose higher than any; a
man much slandered and maligned by the prejudiced; but nevertheless a
man whom history will place in one of her highest niches,--a hero whom
every lover of heroism will one day delight to honor.
* * * * *
Such was the conquest of Peru. Of the romantic history which followed in
Peru I cannot tell here,--of the lamentable fall of brave Gonzalo
Pizarro; of the remarkable Pedro de la Gasca; of the great Mendoza's
vice-royal promotion; nor of a hundred other chapters of fascinating
history. I have wished only to give the reader some idea of what a
Spanish conquest really was, in superlative heroism and hardship.
Pizarro's was the greatest conquest; but there were many others which
were not inferior in heroism and suffering, but only in genius; and the
story of Peru was very much the story of two thirds of the Western
Hemisphere.
THE END.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Spanish Pioneers, by Charles F. Lummis