Great, as might have been expected,
was Almagro's discontent at learning the result of what he
regarded as the perfidious machinations of his associate. "Is it
thus," he exclaimed, "that you have dealt with the friend who
shared equally with you in the trials, the dangers, and the cost
of the enterprise; and this, notwithstanding your solemn
engagements on your departure to provide for his interests as
faithfully as your own? How could you allow me to be thus
dishonored in the eyes of the world by so paltry a compensation,
which seems to estimate my services as nothing in comparison with
your own?" *10
[Footnote 10: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 4, lib. 7, cap. 9. -
Pedro Pizarro Descub. y Conq., Ms.]
Pizarro, in reply, assured his companion that he had faithfully
urged his suit, but that the government refused to confide powers
which intrenched so closely on one another to different hands.
He had no alternative, but to accept all himself or to decline
all; and he endeavoured to mitigate Almagro's displeasure by
representing that the country was large enough for the ambition
of both, and that the powers conferred on himself were, in fact,
conferred on Almagro, since all that he had would ever be at his
friend's disposal, as if it were his own. But these honeyed
words did not satisfy the injured party; and the two captains
soon after returned to Panama with feelings of estrangement, if
not hostility, towards one another, which did not augur well for
their enterprise.
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