" Descub. y Conq., Ms.]
[Footnote 25: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Carta de
Espinall, Ms.]
This award, as may be supposed, highly satisfactory to Pizarro,
was received by Almagro's men with indignation and scorn. They
had been sold, they cried, by their general, broken, as he was,
by age and infirmities. Their enemies were to occupy Cuzco and
its pleasant places, while they were to be turned over to the
barren wilderness of Charcas. Little did they dream that under
this poor exterior were hidden the rich treasures of Potosi.
They denounced the umpire as a hireling of the governor, and
murmurs were heard among the troops, stimulated by Orgonez,
demanding the head of Hernando. Never was that cavalier in
greater danger. But his good genius in the form of Alvarado
again interposed to protect him. His life in captivity was a
succession of reprieves. *26
[Footnote 26: Espinall, Almagro's treasurer, denounces the friar
"as proving himself a very devil" by this award. (Carta al
Emperador, Ms.) And Oviedo, a more dispassionate judge, quotes,
without condemning, a cavalier who told the father, that "a
sentence so unjust had not been pronounced since the time of
Pontius Pilate"! Hist. de las Indias, Ms., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap.
21.]
Yet his brother, the governor, was not disposed to abandon him to
his fate. On the contrary, he was now prepared to make every
concession to secure his freedom. Concessions, that politic
chief well knew, cost little to those who are not concerned to
abide by them.
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