"It filled us all with amazement,"
exclaims one of the Conquerors, "to behold the Indians occupying so
proud a position! So many tents, so well appointed, as were never seen
in the Indies till now! The spectacle caused something like confusion
and even fear in the stoutest bosom. But it was too late to turn back, or
to betray the least sign of weakness, since the natives in our own
company would, in such case, have been the first to rise upon us. So,
with as bold a countenance as we could, after coolly surveying the
ground, we prepared for our entrance into Caxamalca."8
What were the feelings of the Peruvian monarch we are not informed,
when he gazed on the martial cavalcade of the Christians, as, with
banners streaming, and bright panoplies glistening in the rays of the
evening sun, it emerged from the dark depths of the sierra, and advanced
in hostile array over the fair domain, which, to this period, had never
been trodden by other foot than that of the red man. It might be, as
several of the reports had stated, that the Inca had purposely decoyed the
adventurers into the heart of his populous empire, that he might envelope
them with his legions, and the more easily become master of their
property and persons.9 Or was it from a natural feeling of curiosity, and
relying on their professions of friendship, that he had thus allowed them,
without any attempt at resistance, to come into his presence? At all
events, he could hardly have felt such confidence in himself, as not to
look with apprehension, mingled with awe, on the mysterious strangers,
who, coming from an unknown world, and possessed of such wonderful
gifts, had made their way across mountain and valley, in spite of every
obstacle which man and nature had opposed to them.
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