Meanwhile he employed his men in making Caxamalca a more
suitable residence for a Christian host, by erecting a church,
or, perhaps, appropriating some Indian edifice to this use, in
which mass was regularly performed by the Dominican fathers, with
great solemnity. The dilapidated walls of the city were also
restored in a more substantial manner than before, and every
vestige was soon effaced of the hurricane that had so recently
swept over it.
It was not long before Atahuallpa discovered, amidst all the show
of religious zeal in his Conquerors, a lurking appetite more
potent in most of their bosoms than either religion or ambition.
This was the love of gold. He determined to avail himself of it
to procure his own freedom. The critical posture of his affairs
made it important that this should not be long delayed. His
brother Huascar, ever since his defeat, had been detained as a
prisoner, subject to the victor's orders. He was now at
Andamarca, at no great distance from Caxamalca; and Atahuallpa
feared, with good reason, that, when his own imprisonment was
known, Huascar would find it easy to corrupt his guards, make his
escape, and put himself at the head of the contested empire,
without a rival to dispute it.
In the hope, therefore, to effect his purpose by appealing to the
avarice of his keepers, he one day told Pizarro, that, if he
would set him free, he would engage to cover the floor of the
apartment on which they stood with gold.
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