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The three Spanish cavalrymen who had returned from the south had been ecstatic about the incredibly vast amount of treasure at Cuzco. The room full of gold that Atahualpa had promised was nothing compared with what they had seen at the capital. The great temple was absolutely ablaze with gold, silver and precious gems. This information especially influenced Pizarro in deciding to wind up proceedings at Cajamarca, even though the amount for the agreed ransom had not yet been quite reached. He was impatient to move on Cuzco. Once he had taken the capital he would be master of the empire. He was therefore overjoyed when Almagro finally arrived with reinforcements, because he could recom- mence active operations. But there remained the prickly problem of what to do about Atahualpa? "Kill the dog,” growled Almagro. The accumulation of ransom gold was melted into ingots, and was estimated to be worth 1,326,539 pesos de oro. In addition, the silver was reckoned to be worth 51,610 marks. The share Pizarro allocated to himself amounted to 57,222 pesos de oro, and 2,350 marks of silver. He also acquired the massive solid gold throne of the Inca, which was esti- mated to be worth 25,000 pesos de oro. The troublemakers whom Pizarro had left at San Miguel, who had shown up at Cajamarca with Almagro, were most vociferous in their demands that the Inca now be put to death. They had no claim on the enormous ransom and, indeed, received very little from it. The followers of Almagro, who also had no claim on the ransom, joined the chorus demanding that Atahualpa be killed. They wanted him out of the way, so the mission might proceed, and allow them to make their own fortunes. Since Atahualpa had fulfiled his side of the bargain, the Spanish honour now required that he be set free, but that would then put him, a strong and very capable king, in a position to destroy the invaders. That would not be allowed. Accordingly, the Spaniards arranged to put the Inca on trial for murdering his brother, Huascar, and for inciting his own people to rebellion. The trial was a complete farce, a travesty of justice, with Pizarro and Almagro, two of the biggest cut throats of the 16th century acting as judges. The emperor was, of course, pronounced guilty, and was sentenced to be burned to death in the plaza. Atahualpa vehemently protested his innocence to no avail. when told that it was, he consented to be baptised. Valverde performed the rite, the most important of Holy Church, and blessed the Inca in the name of Juan de Atahualpa. He then stepped back to allow his new convert to be taken away, to be executed by slow strangulation. With the death of Atahualpa, the Inca empire effectively ceased to exist, and the Spanish conquest of Peru was brought to a successful conclusion. But not before the Spaniards, who descended upon the country like locusts, had marched south on the capital and stripped it bare of every- thing of value. The work of centuries was utterly destroyed by the organised brigandage. Temples and palaces were looted of their treasures. Homes were pillaged or demol- ° ished. Vast amounts of gold, silver, and precious jewels were seized. There were gem-encrusted ornaments, gold vases, vessels and utensils. Of pure gold there were four life sized Lamas, and ten or twelve statues of women east in gold or silver. In the home of one Inca noble, ten planks of solid silver were found, each plank being twenty feet long by a foot in width and three inches thick. Bands of gold- mad Spaniards roamed the streets of Cuzco in search of hid- den treasures. Inca nobles and their families were subjected to the most vile and excruciating tortures to make them reveal the hiding places of real or imagined hoards of gold. Death, torture and mutilation was the order of the day. Indian men, women and children caught wearing jewellry had their hands and fingers hacked off by the gold-crazy Spaniards who could not wait to be given the valuables. The whole amount of loot was piled high in a common heap, gathered together for division, after some of the best articles had been put aside for the Crown. The vast hoard of treasure is said to have exceeded the ransom accumulated for Atahualpa. On 26 April 1538, almost five years after the tragic death of Atahualpa, the followers of Pizarro clashed in battle with Almagro and his men at La Salinas, near Cuzco. Almagro was defeated and was summarily executed by Hernando Pizarro. Three years later, on Sunday, 26 June 1541, Francisco Pizarro was attacked and killed in his palace at Lima. The perpetrators were a group of Spanish cavaliers seeking revenge for the death of Almagro. It was noon, the hour when Pizarro had dinner. The cava- liers came along the street, shouting, "Long live the king! Death to the tyrant!" Their leader, a man called Rada, was at their head as they ran through the open, unguarded palace gates and attacked two domestics loitering in the courtyard. One of these received a blow and fell to the ground; the other sped away towards the house, calling, “Help help! They're here to murder the marquess!"_ The commotion aroused Pizarro and his party of guests. Rising from the table, where they were all seated, Pizarro called to one of his officers to secure the outer chamber, while he hurried away to arm himself. The clamour outside grew louder, and his guests, who were a dozen of the leading citizens of Lima, including the judge Velasquez, became very alarmed, and retreated in haste to a balcony, where they jumped over a railing to the garden below and ran off, leaving their host to fend for himself. The officer, who should have secured the outer chamber, held the door ajar, and tried to enter into dis- cussion with the assailants. But they burst in, killed him on the spot, and threw his lifeless body down into the area below. Pizarro's brother-in-law, Martinez de Alcantara, who On that same day, 29 August 1533, just two hours after sunset, a trumpet sounded in the great square of Cajamarca, where the entire military garrison was drawn up to witness the forthcoming proceedings. Atahualpa was led in chains out of the fortress. With some difficulty, he shuffled for- ward to the stake, with the Dominican friar, Vincente de Valverde, at his side, beseeching him to renounce his god, and embrace the true faith. "My son," cried Valverde, holding up a crucifix, "abjure your false god, and be baptised. Even now, it is not too late to save yourself from the fires of hell, where you will burn for all eternity!" He leaned closer to Atahualpa, and hissed in his ear. "Do it, you fool, and I promise you shall not die by fire." "How then shall I die?" asked Atahualpa. "By the garrotte," replied Valverde. Atahualpa called to Pizarro, and asked if this was true, and 22¢NEXUS FEBRUARY-MARCH '93