Page:Gaston Leroux--The bride of the sun.djvu/106

92 there are who say that the conquerors found it already used by the Incas. Did some early Christian adventurers, then, found the twin empires of the Americas? While Uncle Francis dreamed on, lost in such conjectures, the priest in the red poncho, took up the broken thread of his narration:

"Pizarro and his men, armed for battle, were hiding in the halls of the vast palace surrounding the square. There the monk who had spoken to Atahualpa rejoined the Stranger, and said to him: 'Do you not see that we wrestle in vain with this dog's pride? His troops are coming up by the thousand. Strike while it is not too late!'"

The silence became, if possible, more intense. The man in red, about to tell of what he called the Crime of the Stranger, straightened himself on his pedestal till he dominated the whole assembly.

"'St. James and at them!' With that accursed battle-cry, Pizarro's men hurled themselves on the Inca and his guard. Horse and foot charged out of the palace in which they had been hidden, smashing in the Indian ranks. A terrible panic seized Atahualpa's followers, who fled in all directions. Nobles and servants, princes and guards, fled before the terrible horsemen, who trampled down all before them.