Yet his connection with that chief can hardly be considered a
fortunate circumstance in his career. A partnership between
individuals for discovery and conquest is not likely to be very
scrupulously observed, especially by men more accustomed to
govern others than to govern themselves. If causes for discord
do not arise before, they will be sure to spring up on division
of the spoil. But this association was particularly
ill-assorted. For the free, sanguine, and confiding temper of
Almagro was no match for the cool and crafty policy of Pizarro;
and he was invariably circumvented by his companion, whenever
their respective interests came in collision.
Still the final ruin of Almagro may be fairly imputed to himself.
He made two capital blunders. The first was his appeal to arms
by the seizure of Cuzco. The determination of a boundary-line
was not to be settled by arms. It was a subject for arbitration;
and, if arbitrators could not be trusted, it should have been
referred to the decision of the Crown. But, having once appealed
to arms, he should not then have resorted to negotiation, - above
all, to negotiation with Pizarro. This was his second and
greatest error. He had seen enough of Pizarro to know that he
was not to be trusted. Almagro did trust him, and he paid for it
with his life.
Chapter III
Pizarro Revisits Cuzco. - Hernando Returns To Castile. - His long
Imprisonment. - Commissioner Sent To Peru. - Hostilities With The
Inca.
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