Page:Narrative of the Proceedings of Pedrarias Davila (Haklyut, 34).djvu/121

Rh execution, I had him brought before me from the prison, and it was more than an hour before he would answer a word. I left him and went out, and I did this three or four times, before he would reply to me. At last, God untied his tongue, and he replied to some things. Each hour after that, he was more inclined to attend to what was said, and I was with him from morning until evening. When at last he said that he wished to be a Christian, and to be baptised, I believed he did so that he might not be killed. I therefore told him not to become a Christian in the hope that he would not be put to death, because the sentence was already pronounced, but that he must do it that his soul might be saved. I told him to hold it for a certainty that if he should know and believe in God, and regret that he had not before known what had now been said to him, that then he would be born again to be for ever an heir to the kingdom of heaven, and that from a poor Indian he would become one of the greatest lords of the world; otherwise, he would die for ever in the pains of hell, concerning which he had been told. He replied with a very loud voice, and turning his face upwards, saying, that if he was to go to so good a Lord, he would die most willingly, and that his wife and children should also be baptised. This was done with great solemnity, and a cross being placed in his hands, without being untied, he said "Credo in Deo." Then, assisted by his relations, and by all the natives who were present, he was brought in procession to the open square where the gibbet stood. In tightening the cords they broke, and he fell to the ground unloosed; and before he got up, he sought for the cross which had fallen, and rose with it. When they were going to tie him again, he asked them to wait, and said there were two plates of gold under the bedplace in his prison, which should be secured, and that he would give them to me. He then told them to do as they pleased with him, and, saying the Creed, he died.