There was no leader to take his place;
for they recognized no authority but that of the Child of the
Sun, and they seemed to be held by a sort of invisible charm near
the place of his confinement; while they gazed with superstitious
awe on the white men, who could achieve so audacious an
enterprise. *35
[Footnote 35: From this time, says Ondegardo, the Spaniards, who
hitherto had been designated as the "men with beards," barbudos,
were called by the natives, from their fair-complexioned deity,
Viracochas. The people of Cuzco, who bore no goodwill to the
captive Inca, "looked upon the strangers," says the author, "as
sent by Viracocha himself." (Rel. Prim., Ms.) It reminds us of a
superstition, or rather an amiable fancy, among the ancient
Greeks, that "the stranger came from Jupiter."]
The number of Indian prisoners was so great, that some of the
Conquerors were for putting them all to death, or, at least,
cutting off their hands, to disable them from acts of violence,
and to strike terror into their countrymen. *36 The proposition,
doubtless, came from the lowest and most ferocious of the
soldiery. But that it should have been made at all shows what
materials entered into the composition of Pizarro's company. The
chief rejected it at once, as no less impolitic than inhuman, and
dismissed the Indians to their several homes, with the assurance
that none should be harmed who did not offer resistance to the
white men. A sufficient number, however, were retained to wait
on the Conquerors, who were so well provided, in this respect,
that the most common soldier was attended by a retinue of menials
that would have better suited the establishment of a noble.
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