Pizarro next laid the matter
before the Inca himself, repeating to him the stories in
circulation, with the air of one who believed them. "What
treason is this," said the general, "that you have meditated
against me, - me, who have ever treated you with honor, confiding
in your words, as in those of a brother?" "You jest," replied the
Inca, who, perhaps, did not feel the weight of this confidence;
"you are always jesting with me. How could I or my people think
of conspiring against men so valiant as the Spaniards? Do not
jest with me thus, I beseech you." *19 "This," continues
Pizarro's secretary, "he said in the most composed and natural
manner, smiling all the while to dissemble his falsehood, so that
we were all amazed to find such cunning in a barbarian." *20
[Footnote 19: "Burlaste conmigo? siempre me hablas cosas de
burlas? Que parte somos Yo, i toda mi Gente, para enojar a tan
valientes Hombres como vosotros? No me digas esas burlas."
Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p. 234.]
[Footnote 20: "De que los Espanoles que se las han oido, estan
espantados de ver en vn Hombre Barbaro tanta prudencia." Ibid.,
loc. cit.]
But it was not with cunning, but with the consciousness of
innocence, as the event afterwards proved, that Atahuallpa thus
spoke to Pizarro. He readily discerned, however, the causes,
perhaps the consequences, of the accusation. He saw a dark gulf
opening beneath his feet; and he was surrounded by strangers, on
none of whom he could lean for counsel or protection.
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