After some preliminary negotiation, another
award, more equitable, or, at all events, more to the
satisfaction of the discontented party, was given. The principal
articles of it were, that, until the arrival of some definitive
instructions on the point from Castile, the city of Cuzco, with
its territory, should remain in the hands of Almagro; and that
Hernando Pizarro should be set at liberty, on the condition,
above stipulated, of leaving the country in six weeks. - When the
terms of this agreement were communicated to Orgonez, that
officer intimated his opinion of them, by passing his finger
across his throat, and exclaiming, "What has my fidelity to my
commander cost me!" *27
[Footnote 27: "I tomando la barba con la mano izquierda, con la
derecha hico senal de cortarse la cabeca, diciendo: Orgonez,
Orgonez, por el amistad de Don Diego de Almagro te han de cortar
esta." Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 3, cap. 9.]
Almagro, in order to do greater honor to his prisoner, visited
him in person, and announced to him that he was from that moment
free. He expressed a hope, at the same time, that "all past
differences would be buried in oblivion, and that henceforth they
should live only in the recollection of then ancient friendship."
Hernando replied, with apparent cordiality, that "he desired
nothing better for himself." He then swore in the most solemn
manner, and pledged his knightly honor, - the latter, perhaps, a
pledge of quite as much weight in his own mind as the former, -
that he would faithfully comply with the terms stipulated in the
treaty.
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