*« **I mas dqo Atabalipa, que estaba espantado de lo que d Goremador k havia didiot
que bien conoda que aqud que bablaba en su Idolo, no es Dios verdadero, pues tan po^
feamdA." Xeret, Cooq. dd Rsni, ap. Baida, took iii, p. ao).
Peru 14 ^^* ^



3f6 CONQUEST OF PERU, [book iil

of the capture of his rival, and of the large ransom he had
offered for his deliverance, than, as the latter had foreseen, he
made everj effort to r^;ain his liberty, and sent, or attempted
to send, a message to the Spanish commander, that he would
pay a much larger ransom than that promised by Atahuallpa,
who, never having dwelt in Cuzco, was ignorant of the quan-
tity of treasure there, and where it was deposited.
Intelligence of all this was secretly communicated to Atahu-
allpa by the persons who had his brother in charge ; and his
jealousy, thus roused, was further heightened by Pizarro's de-
claration that he intended to have Huascar brought to Caxamal-
ca, where he would himself examine into the controversy and
determine which of the two had the better title to the sceptre
of the Incas. Pizarro perceived, from the first, the advantages
of a competition which would enable him, by throwing his
sword into the scale he preferred, to give it a preponderance.
The party who held the sceptre by his nomination would
henceforth be a tool in his hands, with which to work his pleas-
ure more effectually than he could well do in his own name.
