Pizarro profited by this temper to wean them,
if possible, from their idolatry; and though no preacher himself,
as he tells us, he delivered a discourse as edifying, doubtless,
as could be expected from the mouth of a soldier; *10 and, in
conclusion, he taught them the sign of the cross, as an
inestimable talisman to secure them against the future
machinations of the Devil. *11
[Footnote 10: "E a falta de predicador les nice mi sermon,
diciendo el engano en que vivian." Carta de Hern. Pizarro, Ms.]
[Footnote 11: Ibid., Ms. - Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms. -
Estete, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p. 209.]
But the Spanish commander was not so absorbed in his spiritual
labors as not to have an eye to those temporal concerns for which
he came into this quarter. He now found, to his chagrin, that he
had come somewhat too late; and that the priests of Pachacamac,
being advised of his mission, had secured much the greater part
of the gold, and decamped with it before his arrival. A quantity
was afterwards discovered buried in the grounds adjoining. *12
Still the amount obtained was considerable, falling little short
of eighty thousand castellanos, a sum which once would have been
deemed a compensation for greater fatigues than they had
encountered. But the Spaniards had become familiar with gold;
and their imaginations, kindled by the romantic adventures in
which they had of late been engaged, indulged in visions which
all the gold of Peru would scarcely have realized.
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