Those present listened
with an incredulous smile; and, as the Inca received no answer,
he said, with some emphasis, that "he would not merely cover the
floor, but would fill the room with gold as high as he could
reach"; and, standing on tiptoe, he stretched out his hand
against the wall. All stared with amazement; while they regarded
it as the insane boast of a man too eager to procure his liberty
to weigh the meaning of his words. Yet Pizarro was sorely
perplexed. As he had advanced into the country, much that he had
seen, and all that he had heard, had confirmed the dazzling
reports first received of the riches of Peru. Atahuallpa himself
had given him the most glowing picture of the wealth of the
capital, where the roofs of the temples were plated with gold,
while the walls were hung with tapestry and the floors inlaid
with tiles of the same precious metal. There must be some
foundation for all this. At all events, it was safe to accede to
the Inca's proposition; since, by so doing, he could collect, at
once, all the gold at his disposal, and thus prevent its being
purloined or secreted by the natives. He therefore acquiesced in
Atahuallpa's offer, and, drawing a red line along the wall at the
height which the Inca had indicated, he caused the terms of the
proposal to be duly recorded by the notary. The apartment was
about seventeen feet broad, by twenty-two feet long, and the line
round the walls was nine feet from the floor.
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