"They that take the sword shall perish by the sword."
I. The Chief Scion1 of a Famous Family
The reader will look in vain on the map of modern Spain for the ancient province of Estremadura, yet it is a spot which, in that it was the birthplace of the conquerors2 of Peru and Mexico—to say nothing of the discoverer of the Mississippi—contributed more to the glory of Spain than any other province in the Iberian peninsula. In 1883, the ancient territory was divided into the two present existing states of Badajoz and Caceres. In the latter of these lies the important mountain town of Trujillo.
Living there in the last half of the fifteenth century was an obscure personage named Gonzalo Pizarro. He was a gentleman whose lineage was ancient, whose circumstances were narrow and whose morals were loose. By profession he was a soldier who had gained some experience in the wars under the "Great Captain," Gonsalvo de Cordova. History would take no note of this vagrom and obscure cavalier had it not been for his children. Four sons there were whose qualities and opportunities were such as to have enabled them to play a somewhat large part in the world's affairs {54} in their day. How many unconsidered other progeny5, male or female, there may have been, God alone knows—possibly, nay6 probably, a goodly number.
The eldest7 son was named Francisco. His mother, who was not married to his father—indeed not married to anybody at any time so far as I can find out—was a peasant woman named Francisca Gonzales. Francisco was born about the year 1471. His advent8 was not of sufficient importance to have been recorded, apparently9, and the exact date of his terrestrial appearance is a matter of conjecture10, with the guesses ranging between 1470 and 1478. A few years after the arrival of Francisco, there was born to Gonzales, and this time by his lawful11 wife, name unknown, a second son, Hernando. By the woman Gonzales, a score of years later, this promiscuous12 father had two more illegitimate sons, one of whom he named Gonzalo after himself, and the third he called Juan. Francisca Gonzales also bore a fourth son, of whom Gonzalo Pizarro was not the father, who was known as Martin de Alcántara. Thus Hernando, the second, was legitimate13; Gonzalo and Juan were his illegitimate half-brethren, having the same father but a different mother; while Alcántara was a uterine brother to the three illegitimate Pizarros, having the same mother but a different father. There must have been marvelous qualities in the original Pizarro, for such a family is rarely to be met with in history.
Such a mixed state of affairs was not so shocking in those days as it would be at present. I do not find that anybody cast any stones at the Pizarros on account of these irregularities in their birth. In fact, they had plenty of companions in their anomalous14 social relations, and it is a speaking commentary on the {55} times that nobody seemed to consider it as especially disgraceful or even very remarkable15.
Hernando, the second son, received a good education for the day. The others were thrown mainly on their own resources. Legend says that Francisco was suckled by a sow. The statement may be dismissed as a fable16, but it is more than probable that the assertion that he was a swineherd is correct. It is certain that to the day of his death he could neither read nor write. He never even learned to sign his own name, yet he was a man of qualities who made a great figure in history in spite of these disabilities, leaving behind him an immortal17 if unenviable name. His career was humble18 and obscure to the vanishing point for forty years, of which practically nothing is known. It is alleged19 that he made a campaign in Italy with his father, but this is doubtful. A father who left him to tend the swine, who did nothing for his education, would not have bothered to take him a-soldiering.
We leave the field of conjecture, however, and meet him in far-off America in 1510 as an officer under Alonzo de Ojeda—that Don Quixote among discoverers. His qualities had obtained for him some preferment, for when Ojeda left the miserable20 remnants of his colony at San Sebastian on the Gulf21 of Darien, and returned to Cuba for help, Pizarro was put in charge, with instructions to wait a certain time, and if succour did not reach him to leave. He waited the required time, indeed waited longer, until enough people died to enable the brigantine that had been left with them to carry the survivors22, and then sailed away. He was a member of Encisco's expedition to Darien, in which he fell in with the youthful and {56} romantic Vasco Nu?ez de Balboa. With Balboa he marched across the Isthmus23, and was the second white man to look upon the Great South Sea in 1513. Subsequently, he was an officer under that American Nero, Pedro Arias25 de Avila, commonly called Pedrarias, the founder26 and Governor of Panama, the conqueror3 of Nicaragua and parts adjacent. Oviedo says that between his seventieth year, which was his age when he came to America, and his eighty-sixth year, when he died, the infamous27 Pedrarias caused more than two million Indians to be put to death, besides a numerous lot of his own countrymen. If we lop off two ciphers28, the record is still bad enough.
In 1515, Pizarro and Morales, by direction of Pedrarias, made an expedition to the south of the Gulf of San Miguel, into the territory of a chieftain named Biru, from whom they early got into the habit of calling the vague land believed to exist in the South Sea, the "Land of Biru," or Peru. It was on this expedition that the Spaniards, hotly pursued by the natives, stabbed their captives one by one and left them dying at intervals29 in the pathway to check pursuit. The practice was effective enough and the action throws an interesting light on the Spanish conquistador in general and Pizarro in particular.
It fell to the lot of Pizarro also to arrest his old captain, Balboa, just as the latter was about to sail on a voyage of discovery to the fabulous30 gold country of Peru in 1517.[1] When Balboa and Pizarro had crossed the Isthmus six years before, the son of the Cacique Comagre, observing their avidity for gold, told them {57} that it abounded31 in a mysterious land far toward the south, and the young Indian made a little clay image of a llama further to describe the country.
To conquer that El Dorado had been Balboa's cherished dream. Well would it have been for the country had not the jealousy32 of Pedrarias cut short Balboa's career by taking off his head, thus forcing the enterprise to be undertaken by men of coarser mould and meaner clay. It does not appear that Pizarro had any hand in the judicial33 murder of Balboa, and no reflection can be made on his conduct for the arrest, which was simply a matter of military duty, probably as distasteful to Pizarro as it was surprising to Balboa.
II. The Terrible Persistence34 of Pizarro
In 1519, Pizarro was living in Panama in rather straightened circumstances. His life had been a failure. A soldier of fortune, he possessed35 little but his sword. He was discontented, and although now nearly fifty years of age, he still had ambition. With remembrance of what he had heard the young Indian chief tell Balboa, constantly inciting36 him to a further grapple with hitherto coy and elusive37 fortune, he formed a partnership38 with another poverty-stricken but enterprising veteran named Diego de Almagro, whose parentage was as obscure as Pizarro's—indeed more so, for he is reputed to have been a foundling, although Oviedo describes him as the son of a Spanish laboring40 man. The two men supplemented each other. Pizarro, although astute41 and circumspect42, was taciturn and chary43 of speech, though fluent enough on occasion; he was slow in making up his mind, too, but when it {58} was made up, resolute44 and tenacious45 of his purpose. Almagro was quick, impulsive46, generous, frank in manner, "wonderfully skilled in gaining the hearts of men," but sadly deficient48 in other qualities of leadership. Both were experienced soldiers, as brave as lions and nearly as cruel as Pedrarias himself—being indeed worthy49 disciples50 of his school.
The two penniless, middle-aged51 soldiers of fortune determined52 to undertake the conquest of that distant empire—a stupendous resolution. Being almost without means, they were forced to enlarge the company by taking on a third partner, a priest named Luque, who had, or could command, the necessary funds. With the sanction of Pedrarias, who demanded and received a share, largely gratuitous54, in the expedition, they bought two of the four vessels56 which Balboa had caused to be taken to pieces, transported them across the Isthmus, then set them up again, and relaunched in the Pacific. Enlisting57 one hundred men under his banner, Pizarro set sail with the first vessel55 on the 14th of November, 1524. Almagro was to follow after with re?nforcements and supplies in the second ship. One Andagoya had made a short excursion southward some time before, but they soon passed his latitude58 and were the first white men to cleave59 those southern seas.
With only their hopes to guide them, without pilot, chart or experience, being, I suspect, indifferent sailors and wretched navigators, they crept along the forbidding shore in a crazy little ship, landing from time to time, seeing no evidence of the empire, being indeed unable to penetrate60 the jungles far enough to find out much of anything about the countries they passed. Finally, at one place, that they afterwards called "Starvation {59} Harbor," the men rebelled and demanded to be led back. They had seen and heard little of importance. There seemed to be nothing before them but death by starvation.
Pizarro, however, who has been aptly described as "terribly persistent62," refused to return. He sent the ship back to the Isles63 of Pearls for provisions, and grimly clung to the camp on the desolate64 shore. When twenty of his men were dead of starvation, the ship came back with supplies. In one of their excursions, during this wait at Starvation Harbor, they had stumbled upon and surprised an Indian village in which they found some clumsy gold ornaments66, with further tales of the El Dorado to the southward. Instead of yielding to the request of his men that they immediately return in the ship, therefore, the indomitable Spaniard made sail southward. He landed at various places, getting everywhere little food and less gold, but everywhere gaining more and more confirmation67 that the foundation of his dreams was not "the baseless fabric68 of a vision."
In one place they had a fierce battle with the Indians in which two of the Spaniards were killed and a large number wounded. Pizarro now determined to return to Panama with the little gold he had picked up and the large stories he had heard, there to recruit his band and to start out again. Almagro meanwhile had set forth69 with his ship with sixty or seventy additional adventurers. He easily followed the traces of Pizarro on the shore but the ships did not meet. Almagro went farther south than Pizarro. At one landing-place he had a furious battle with the natives in which he lost an eye. He turned back after reaching the mouth of the river San Juan in about the fourth {60} parallel of north latitude. He, too, had picked up some little treasure and a vast quantity of rumor70 to compensate71 for his lost optic and bitter experience. But the partners had little to show for their sufferings and expenditures72 but rumors73 and hopes.
Pedrarias in disgust withdrew from the expedition for a price, which, with the money necessary to send out a second expedition, was furnished through Luque by the Licentiate Espinosa. About September, 1526, with two ships, the two captains set forth once more. This time they had with them a capable pilot named Ruiz. They avoided the coast and steered74 direct for the mouth of the San Juan River. Pizarro surprised a village here, carried off some of the natives, and a considerable amount of gold. This Almagro, as the best "persuader," took back to Panama in the hope that by exhibiting it he could gain much needed re?nforcements for their expedition.
The ships were very much undermanned. The experience of the first expedition, as related by the survivors, had been so horrible that it was with difficulty that they could get anybody to go with them on the second. Pizarro agreed to remain at the mouth of the river and examine the vicinity, while Ruiz with the second ship sailed southward to see what he could discover. Pizarro's men found no gold, although they explored the country with prodigious75 labor39. Indians fell upon them, at one time killing76 fourteen who had stranded77 in a canoe on the bank of a river. Many other Spaniards perished, and all except Pizarro and a few of the stoutest78 hearts begged to return to Panama.
Ruiz came back just as they had begun to despair. He had crossed the Equator, the first European to {61} cross it from the north, and had sailed half a degree south from the line.[2]
He brought back some Indians, further specimens80 of gold and silver ornaments, exquisitely82 woven woollen garments, et cetera, which he had taken from a craft cruising near the shore, which were proofs positive of the existence of the long-desired country.
Almagro now made his appearance with re?nforcements and the keels were soon turned to the south. Coasting along the shore, they saw increasing evidence of cultivation83 in the valleys and uplands, backed by the huge snow-crowned range of the Andes. Large villages appeared here and there. Finally, they anchored opposite a considerable town laid out in well-defined streets, containing about two thousand houses, many of them built of stone. From their position close to the shore they thought that they could make out that the inhabitants wore ornaments of gold. Several canoes approached the ship, one of them crowded with warriors84 carrying a species of gold mask as an ensign.
There appeared to be at least ten thousand warriors assembled on the shore but Pizarro landed with the few horses which he had brought along in the ship. A sharp engagement ensued, and the result might have been disastrous85 to the Spaniards had not one of them fallen from his horse during the fray86. This diversion of what they considered a single animal into two, both living, alarmed the Indians so much, that they desisted from the attack and withdrew, the Spaniards taking advantage of the chance to return to the ships.
What to do next was the problem. They had not {62} sufficient force or supplies with them to encounter the natives, or conquer or even explore the country. The expedition was about as meagrely equipped as it well could be and be an expedition at all. There were long discussions on the ships and a fierce quarrel between the two partners. Finally, it was composed outwardly, and it was decided87 that Pizarro should remain at the coast at some convenient point while Almagro, the traverser, went back for re?nforcements. Pizarro elected to pitch his camp on the little Island of Gallo which they had discovered. Those who were appointed to remain with him rebelled at the decision which left them marooned89 on a desolate island with no adequate provisions for their needs. Pizarro, however, insisted and Almagro sailed with the other ship. Shortly afterward61, Pizarro sent the remaining ship with the most obstinate90 of the mutineers to Panama. A letter revealing their sad plight91, which was concealed92 in a ball of cotton sent as a present to the wife of the governor by one of the men on the island of Gallo, was smuggled93 ashore94 at Panama when Almagro's ship reached that point, despite his vigilant95 efforts to allow no such communications to pass.
There was a new governor in Panama, Pedro de los Rios. Incensed96 by the loss of life and the hardships of the two expeditions, with the lack of definite and tangible97 results, and disregarding the remonstrances98 of Almagro, he dispatched two ships under one Pedro Tafur to bring them back. Life on the island of Gallo had been a hideous99 experience. Famine, disease and inclement100 weather had taken off many and had broken the spirit of the most of the rest of the band. Nothing could break that of Pizarro. When Tafur appeared, he refused to return. Drawing {63} an east-and-west line upon the sand with his sword, he made a brief soldierly address to his men.
"Friends and comrades," he said, facing the south, "on that side of the line are toil101, hunger, nakedness, the drenching102 storm, destruction and death. On this side," turning to the north, "are ease and pleasure. There lies Peru with its riches. Here, Panama with its poverty. Choose each man as best becomes a cavalier of Castile. For my part, I go to the south."
Such was the effect of his electrifying103 words, that, as he stepped over the line, a number of his comrades, led by Ruiz, the pilot, and Pedro de Candia, a Greek gunner, followed him. The number varies from thirteen to sixteen according to different authorities. The weight of evidence inclines me to the smaller number.[3]
Tafur raged and threatened, but Pizarro and his men persisted. They got themselves transferred to the Island of Gorgona where there were water and game and no inhabitants, and there they stayed while Tafur returned.
{64}
Less than a score of men marooned on a desert island in an unknown sea, opposite a desolate and forbidding coast, without a ship or any means of leaving the island, not knowing whether Almagro and Luque would be able to succor104 them; their position was indeed a desperate one. It shows, as nothing else could, the iron determination of the indomitable Spaniard. At that moment when Pizarro drew the line and stepped across it after that fiery105 address, he touched at the same time the nadir106 of his fortunes and the zenith of his fame. Surely it stands as one of the great dramatic incidents of history. The conquest of Peru turned upon that very instant, upon the determination of that moment; and upon the conquest of Peru depended more things in the future history of the earth than were dreamed of in the narrow philosophy of any Spaniard there present, or of any other man in existence in that long-past day.
Peru has played a tremendously important part in the affairs of men. It was the treasure of Peru that armed the soldiers of Alva and laid the keels of the Armada. It was the treasure of Peru that relieved the Spanish people of the necessity of wresting107 a national revenue out of a soil by agriculture; which abrogated108 the auxiliary109 of agriculture, manufactures; which precluded110 the possibility of the corollary of the other two, commerce. It was the treasure of Peru that permitted the Spanish people to indulge that passion for religious bigotry111 which was stifling112 to liberty and throttling113 to development, and which put them hopelessly out of touch with the onward114 and progressive movement of humanity in one of the most vital periods and movements in history. It was the treasure of Peru that kindled115 the fires of the Inquisition, {65} in which the best blood of the nation lighted it to its downfall, and blazed the way for Manila and Santiago. Philip II, and his decadent116 and infamous successors depended upon the mines of Potosi and the mines of Potosi hung upon Pizarro and his line in the sand. The base-born, ignorant, cruel soldier wrecked117 in one moment a nation, made and unmade empires, and changed the whole course of the world.
It was largely the Spanish zeal118 and intolerance that developed and made perfect the Reformation, for no great cause has ever won success without opposition119, nay, persecution120. "The blood of the martyr," says St. Augustine, "is the seed of the church."
To return to the situation. Tafur presently reached Panama and reported. The governor and the people of that city looked upon Pizarro as a madman. Luque and Almagro were unwearying in their efforts and importunities, however, and finally they wrung121 a reluctant permission from De los Rios for Ruiz and one small ship and a few men to go to the rescue, with the proviso that a return must be made within six months. One can imagine the joy with which the desperate adventurers on the island saw the sails of that ship whitening the horizon. Once more they set sail to the south, arriving finally before a large and populous122 town called Tumbez. Here they saw undoubted signs of the existence of a great empire in a high state of civilization. The little party had some pleasant intercourse123 with the natives of Tumbez.
They gathered a considerable amount of gold and silver, some of it exquisitely wrought124 by cunning artificers into the forms of beautiful and unknown plants and animals. There was no possible doubt as to {66} the truth of their golden dreams. The empire of Peru in all its magnificence lay before them.
Too meagre a force to embrace the opportunity, there was nothing to do but to return to Panama. There it was agreed that Pizarro, with De Candia, should go over to Spain, taking with him Peruvians and treasures, tell what he had seen, and secure the royal countenance125 and support for their future undertaking126, while Almagro and Luque remained at Panama preparing for the final expedition. Pizarro had no sooner set foot in Spain than he was arrested for debt on some ancient charge by Encisco, but he was too big a man, now, for such petty persecution and he was at once released and ordered to present himself at court. The rough, blunt soldier, with his terrible yet romantic tale with its infinite possibilities, was received with astonishing cordiality. He gained a royal commission to discover and conquer the empire of Peru for Spain for the distance of two hundred leagues south of the Santiago River, and received the title of Governor and Captain-General with large powers and revenue appertaining, which it was easy for the crown to bestow127 since Pizarro had to get them himself.
Almagro, who justly felt himself slighted and his services inadequately128 valued, was made Governor of Tumbez; Luque was appointed Bishop130 for the same place and Protector of the Peruvians; Ruiz was named Grand Pilot of the Southern Ocean; De Candia, a General of Artillery131; and every one of the thirteen who had crossed the line at Gallo was ennobled and made an Hidalgo of Spain.
Then Pizarro went back to Trujillo. Certainly it must have been a happy moment for the neglected {67} bastard132 who had been a swineherd to return to his native village under such enviable conditions. He set sail for America early in 1530, with three ships. His four brothers came with him, the able Hernando being made second in command. Almagro and Luque were very much chagrined133 at the meagre reward that had fallen to them, and Almagro looked with deep antagonism134 upon the advent of the Pizarros, who, he realized instinctively136, would undermine his influence with his partner. This hatred137 the new Pizarros repaid in kind. Some sort of peace, however, was patched up between them, and in January, 1531, with three small ships and one hundred and eighty-three men, including thirty-seven horses, Francisco set forth on his final voyage of conquest.
Nearly seven years had elapsed since the first attempt was made. As yet they had little but empty titles, large powers, purely138 potential, however, and drained purses to show for their heroic endeavor, but the persistence of Pizarro was about to triumph at last. After a voyage of thirteen days, the squadron arrived at San Mateo, where the horses and soldiers were landed and ordered to march along the shore southward, while the ships were sent back for re?nforcements which Almagro was gathering139 as usual. They returned with thirty more men and thirty-six additional horses. Arriving at the Gulf of Guayaquil, Pizarro established himself on the island of Puna, opposite Tumbez, which he cleared of its inhabitants by a series of desperate battles. There he was re?nforced by a detachment of one hundred men with an additional number of horses under the command of young Hernando de Soto, another gallant140 Estremaduran, and quite the most attractive among this band of desperadoes, whose {68} design was to loot an empire and proclaim the Holy Gospel of Christ as the Spanish people had received the same. I have no doubt at all that the desire to propagate their religion was quite as real and as vividly141 present to them at all times as was their greed for gold. They had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge; like the men of the Middle Ages who bore the cross on their hauberks, every Spaniard was a crusader. Aside from De Soto, there is no single character of all those, either Indian or Spaniard, who for fifteen years made Peru a bloody142 battle-ground, except the unfortunate young Inca Manco Capac, who is entitled to the least admiration143 or affection.
In April, 1532, Pizarro embarked144 his men on the ships and landed, not without some fierce fighting, at Tumbez, on the coast of Peru. At last the expedition was on solid ground and nothing prevented its further advance. On the 18th of May, therefore, they took up the march for the interior, little dreaming of the ultimate fate that awaited them all.
III. "A Communistic Despotism."
The empire of Peru well deserved the title of Magnificent. The highest civilization attained145 on the Western Hemisphere had been reached on this South American coast. A form of government unique in history had been developed and put in operation by a capable and enlightened people. It was a "communistic despotism," a community with a despot and a ruling class superimposed upon its socialism. The sway of these despots was exceedingly mild and gentle, even if absolute. With wonderful ingenuity146 and a rare capacity for organization, upon the {69} ruins of an older civilization, they built the Inca Empire.
The Incas were the ruling tribe, the Emperor being the Inca par4 excellence147. Their empire was as thoroughly148 organized as it is possible for a community to be. Indeed, it was organized to death; the Inca was the empire, and one source of the empire's speedy downfall was due to the fact that the national spirit of the Peruvians had been so crushed by the theocratic149 despotism of their rulers that they viewed the change of masters with more or less indifference150. When the Incas conquered a country and people they so arranged affairs as to incorporate the people as part of the empire. They called their domains152 grandiloquently153 "the four quarters of the earth." They did not govern this great territory by brute154 force as did the Aztecs—although they knew how to use the sword if necessary—but by methods dictated155 by prudent156 and profound policy, productive of peaceful success. The mild government of the Incas was at once patriarchal, theocratic and despotic. Whatever it was, from the Incas' point of view it was absolute and satisfactory.
Prescott's account of the Inca civilization reads like a romance, yet it is practically borne out by all chroniclers who have discussed the subject, some of whom appear to desire to find the great American historian at fault. Large and populous cities existed, communication between which was had by great national roads traversing every part of the land. Vast herds157 of llamas were domesticated158, from the hair of which the exquisitely woven cloth was made. Agriculture flourished. The country, upraised from the sea by the great range of mountains, afforded every variety of {70} climate from temperate159 to tropic, and the diversified160 products of the soil corresponded with the opportunities presented. And every foot of space was utilized161 for a population of millions of industrious162 workers, with an economy and resourcefulness only emulated163 by the Chinese in the working of their country. Even the mountain-sides were terraced by tiny farms.
The Peruvians had made some progress in the arts, less in science. They lacked the art of writing, although they possessed a highly developed system of mnemonic aids in the form of curiously165 knotted and particolored strings166 called quipus. Their literature, if the contradiction be permitted, was handed down like their history, by oral tradition.
Great as had been their achievements, however, they were in a curious state of arrested development. With the Peruvians, says Helps, "everything stopped short." They had not arrived at a finality anywhere, save perhaps in their mode of government. They could erect167 enormous time-defying buildings, but they knew of no way to roof them except by thatching them. Their roads were marvels168 of engineering construction, but they could not build bridges except frail169 ones made out of osier cables. No wheels ran along the smooth, well-paved, magnificent highways. They could refine gold and silver and make weapons of tempered copper170, but they were entirely171 ignorant of the use of iron. The greatest human development has depended upon that last metal. The great nations are those which have had the steel-tempered sword blades in their hands. They could administer a colony in a way to excite the admiration of the world, and yet not write a line. There is little probability that they would have progressed much beyond the state at which {71} they had arrived, for there was no individual liberty in the land. That was the fatal defect in their system. It was the lack which put that touch of finality to their otherwise marvelously developed condition and which limited inexorably their civilization. The unchangeable conditions were stifling to ambition and paralyzing to achievement. The two things the country lacked were the two vital things to human progress and human success—letters and liberty.
The religious development of the Peruvians was very high. They worshipped an unknown Supreme172 Being and they worshipped him, it is conclusively173 demonstrated, without human sacrifice. Objectively they paid their chief adoration174 to the sun, moon and stars, and to the Inca as the child or earthly representative of the sun. Sun-worship is the noblest and highest of all the purely natural religions. When to this was superadded an instinctive135 feeling for a great First Cause, of which the solar magnificence was but a manifestation175, the religion of the Peruvians is entitled to great respect.
Their history ran back into the mists of the past. At the time of the arrival of Pizarro, a curious condition, anomalous in their records, had arisen. Huayna Capac, one of the greatest monarchs176 of the Inca line, had extended his dominion178 by force of arms over the rich province of Quito, far to the north. He had taken as one of his concubines the daughter of the conquered monarch177 of Quito and by her had a son named Atahualpa.[4]
The son of the monarch by his sister, his only legal {72} wife, or Coya—the irrevocable Peruvian method of providing for the Inca succession—was named Huascar. Huayna on his deathbed, after a glorious reign179 of forty years, made the fatal mistake of dividing his dominion between Huascar, to whom was given ancient Peru, and Atahualpa, who took Quito to the north. World-history, of which Huayna could have known nothing, has shown conclusively enough that such a policy has always brought about civil war, and this startling reversal of Peruvian custom by a doting180 monarch on his deathbed produced the usual results.
The armies of Atahualpa, led by two famous soldiers called Quiz-Quiz and Chalcuchima, had met and defeated the troops of Huascar in a series of bloody battles. They had taken that unhappy monarch prisoner and, by a series of terrible massacres181 instigated183 by Atahualpa, had striven with large success to cut off the family of the unfortunate Inca root and branches. The land had been devastated184 by the fierceness of the internecine185 conflict, towns had been carried by storm, the inhabitants put to the sword; the ordinary course of events had been interrupted and agriculture had languished186; the empire lay gasping187 under the paw of the Peruvian usurper188 when Pizarro landed upon the shore. The strife189 that was to ensue was between two base-born, cruel-hearted soldiers of fortune, one at the head of a little body of white men, but with all the prestige of their color and development in warfare190, and weapons, the other, the now undisputed monarch of a vast if prostrate191 and exhausted192 empire, at the head of great armies flushed with victory and eager for new conquests.
What would the result of the struggle be?
{73}
IV. The Treacherous193 and Bloody Massacre182 of Caxamarca.
Having marched some thirty miles south of Tumbezin the pleasant spring weather, Pizarro, finding what he conceived to be a favorable location for a permanent colony, encamped his army, laid out and began to build a city, which he called San Miguel. The Spaniards were great builders and the city was planned and fortified194 on an extensive scale and the more important buildings erected195, so that it was not until September that Pizarro considered his base of supplies had been made secure.
Meanwhile he had been assiduously seeking information on every hand concerning the internal dissensions in the Peruvian empire, so that he could undertake his conquest intelligently. On the 24th of September, 1532, the valiant196 little army was mustered197 and, after deducting198 a small garrison199 for San Miguel, those appointed for the expedition were found to include sixty-seven horsemen, three arquebusiers, twenty crossbowmen and eighty-seven footmen, in all one hundred and seventy-seven.[5]
They were accompanied by two pieces of small artillery called falconets, each having a bore of two inches and carrying a shot weighing about a pound and a half, being, with the three arquebusiers, General De Candia's command. With this insignificant200 force, augmented201, I suppose, by some Indian captives acting202 as pack-mules, Pizarro started out to conquer an empire conservatively estimated to contain from ten to twelve millions of people, supporting an army of disciplined {74} soldiers whose numbers ran into the hundreds of thousands.
The Spanish forces were well equipped and in good condition, but as they left the sea-shore and advanced, without molestation203, to be sure, through the populous country, some idea of the magnitude of their self-appointed task permeated204 the minds of the common soldiery, and evidences of hesitation205, reluctance206 and dissension speedily appeared. The unwillingness207 of the men grew until Pizarro was forced to take notice of it. Halting on the fifth day in a pleasant valley, he met the emergency in his usual characteristic fashion. Parading the men, he addressed to them another of those fiery speeches for which he was famous, and the quality of which, from so illiterate208 a man, is amazingly high.
He painted anew the dangers before them, and then adroitly210 lightened the shadows of his picture by pointing to the rewards. He appealed to all that was best in humanity by saying that he wanted none but the bravest to go forward.[6]
He closed his address by offering to allow all who wished to do so to return to San Miguel, whose feeble garrison, he said, he should be glad to have re?nforced. And, with a subtler stroke of policy, he promised that those who went back should share in the rewards gained by their more constant brethren. But four infantrymen and five horsemen shamefacedly availed themselves of this permission. The rest enthusiastically clamored to be led forward. Both mutiny and timidity were silenced forever in that band.
{75}
On a similar occasion, Cortes had burnt his ships. It is hard to decide which was the better expedient212. Certainly Cortes was incomparably a much abler man than Pizarro, but somehow Pizarro managed to rise to the successive emergencies which confronted him, just the same.
Greatly refreshed in spirits, the army, purged213 of the malcontents, proceeded cautiously on its way south. They were much elated from time to time at receiving envoys214 from Atahualpa, who coupled a superstitious215 reverence216 for the invaders217 as Children of the Sun with demands as to their purposes, and a request that they halt and wait the pleasure of the Inca. Pizarro dissembled his intentions and received them with fair words, but refusing to halt, kept steadily218 on, announcing his intention of visiting Atahualpa wherever he might be found.
Pursuing their journey, the Spaniards came early in November to the foot of the mountains. To the right of them, that is toward the south, extended a great well-paved road which led to the imperial capital of Cuzco. In front of them, a narrow path rose over the mountains. One was easy, the other hard. In spite of suggestions from his soldiery, Pizarro chose the hard way. He had announced his intention of visiting the Inca, and visit him he would although the way to the city of Cuzco was open and the place might easily be taken possession of. The seat of danger and the source of power were alike with the Inca, and not in Cuzco.
With sixty foot and forty horse, this old man, now past sixty years, led the way over the mountains, while his brother brought up the rear with the remainder. The passage was a terrible one, but the indomitable {76} band, catching219 some of the spirit of their leader, surmounted220 all the obstacles, and a few days after from the summits of a mighty221 range, surveyed the fertile, beautiful plains spread out before them on the farther side of the mountain. Close at hand was the white-walled city, Caxamarca or Cajamarca, embowered in verdure in a fruitful valley. The place was an important position, well fortified and containing, under ordinary circumstances, a population of ten thousand. The reader should remember the name, for it was the scene of one of the most remarkable and determinative events in history. The conquest, in fact, was settled there.
Beyond the city, on the slopes of the hills, and divided from it by a river, over which a causeway led, stood the white tents of the fifty thousand soldiers of Atahualpa's army. The number of them filled the Spaniards with amazement222, and in some cases with apprehension223. There was no going back then, however; there was nothing to do but advance. At the hour when the bells of Holy Church in their home land were ringing vespers, in a cold driving rain mingled224 with sleet225, the little cortège entered the city, which they found as the French found Moscow, deserted226 of its inhabitants. With the ready instinct of a soldier, Pizarro led his force to the public square, or Plaza227, which was in the shape of a rude triangle surrounded on two sides by well-built, two-story houses of stone. On the other side, or base, rose a huge fortress228 with a tower overlooking the city on one hand and the Inca's camp on the other.
Without hesitation, the weary Spaniards made themselves at home in the vacant buildings around the square; guards were posted in order that the strictest {77} watch might be kept, and other preparations made for defence. Here they prepared for the repose229 of the night. Meanwhile Hernando de Soto with twenty horse was sent as an ambassador to Atahualpa's camp. He had been gone but a short time when Pizarro, at the suggestion of his brother Hernando, who made the point that twenty horsemen were not sufficient for defense230 and too many to lose, despatched the latter with twenty more cavalrymen to re?nforce the first party.
The two cavaliers and their escort found the Inca in the midst of his camp. The monarch was seated and surrounded by a brilliant assemblage of nobles in magnificent vestments. He was guarded by a great army of soldiers armed with war-clubs, swords and spears of tempered copper, and bows and slings231. He received the deputation with the impassivity of a stone image, vouchsafing232 no answer to their respectful address until it had been several times repeated. At last he declared he would visit the strangers on the morrow, and directed them to occupy the buildings in the public square, and none other until he came to make arrangements. His demeanor233 was cold and forbidding to the last degree. The results of the embassy were highly unsatisfactory. One incident connected with the interview is worthy of mention.
De Soto, who was a most accomplished234 cavalier, a perfect centaur235 in fact, noticing the amazed and somewhat alarmed glances of the Inca's men at the movements of his restless horse, suddenly determined to exhibit his skill at the manège. Striking spurs to his charger, he caused him to curvet and prance236 in the open before the Inca, showing at the same time {78} his own horsemanship and the fiery impetuosity of the high-spirited animal. He concluded this performance—shall I say circus?—by dashing at full speed toward the Inca, reining237 in his steed with the utmost dexterity238 a few feet from the royal person. What the Inca thought of this has not been recorded. I imagine he must have been terribly affronted239. Some of his nobles and soldiers, less able to preserve their iron composure than their master, shrank back from the onrushing avalanche240 of steed and steel presented by De Soto and his horse. The Spaniards found their dead bodies the next day. It did not do to show cowardice241 in the presence of the Inca! They had been summarily executed by Atahualpa's order. Yet, I cannot think the Inca a man of surpassing bravery after all. Certainly he was not a man of sufficient ability worthily242 to hold the scepter of so great an empire. He made a frightful243 mistake in not stopping the invaders where it would have been easy for him to do so, in the narrow defiles244 of the mountains, and he did not even yet seem to have decided in his own mind how he should treat them. To be sure, according to some accounts, he looked upon them as belonging to the immortal gods, but there have been men brave enough in the defence of land and liberty to defy even the immortal gods! A vast deal of sympathy, indeed, has been wasted upon Atahualpa. Without doubt the Spaniards treated him abominably245, and for that treatment the wretched monarch has claims to our consideration, but for his personal qualities or his past record, none. Helps explains his name as derived246 from two words meaning, "sweet valor247!" Markham affirms that the words mean "A chance, or lucky, game-cock!" Neither appellation248, in view of {79} Atahualpa's history can be considered as especially apt or happy.
Much dissatisfied and thoroughly perturbed249, De Soto and Hernando Pizarro returned to the city. Long and serious were the deliberations of the leaders that night. At length they arrived at a momentous250 decision, one for which they have been severely251 and justly censured252, but which under the circumstances was the only possible decision which insured their safety. They had no business in that country. They had come there with the deliberate intention of looting it without regard to the rights of the inhabitants, and in that purpose lay the seeds of all their subsequent crimes, treachery, murder, outrage254 and all other abominations whatsoever255. No surprise need be felt therefore, that they determined upon the seizure256 of the person of the Inca. The example of Cortes with Montezuma was before them. I have no doubt that his amazing exploits in Mexico had been talked over frequently by every camp-fire in the New and the Old World, and many bold spirits had longed for an opportunity to emulate164 his doings. The Spaniards in Peru had already learned enough of the local conditions to realize that with the person of the Inca they could control the government. To seize him was black treachery, of course; but being there, it was the only thing to do, from their point of view. The night was an anxious one and the morning found them engaged in preparations. De Candia was posted with two small falconets and three arquebusiers on the roof of the fortress. His guns pointed88 toward the Inca's camp, though he had instructions to turn them on the square as soon as the Peruvians arrived. De Soto and Hernando Pizarro divided the horse {80} between them and occupied the houses on the other side of the square with them. The infantry211 were distributed at various points of vantage. Pizarro reserved twenty of the trustiest blades for his own escort. The arms of the men were carefully looked to, and nothing that the skill or experience of the captains could suggest was left undone257 to promote the success of their hazardous258 and bold undertaking.
Mass was said with great solemnity by the priest of the expedition, Fra Vincente de Valverde, an iron-souled, fierce-hearted Dominican, meet ecclesiastic259 for such a band. Refreshments260 were then provided liberally for the soldiers—it is not so stated, but it may be presumed that some of them were in liquid shape—and then the whole party settled down to await developments. Nothing seemed to be going on in the Peruvian camp during the morning. The Inca moved toward the city in the afternoon, but stopped just outside the walls, to the great annoyance261 of the Spaniards, who had found the long wait a trying experience indeed. Late in the afternoon, Pizarro received a message that Atahualpa had changed his mind and would not visit him until the following day. This did not suit his plans at all. He instantly returned an answer to the Inca, begging him not to defer262 his visit, saying that he had provided everything for his entertainment—which was quite true although in a very different sense from that conveyed by the words of his messenger—and requesting Atahualpa to arrange to sup with him without fail that night. Pizarro had previously263 assured the Inca that he would receive him as a "friend and brother"! What reasons actuated the Inca we have no means of ascertaining264. Suffice it to say that he changed his mind and came.
{81}
A short time after sunset, therefore, the Inca, attended by a numerous retinue265, entered the square. Atahualpa was borne aloft on a throne made of massive gold, supported on the shoulders of his attendants. He was dressed with barbaric magnificence in robes of exquisite81 texture266, heavily embroidered267 and ornamented268 with gold and silver. Around his neck blazed a necklace of emeralds of wonderful size and great brilliancy. His forehead was hidden by a thick vivid scarlet269 fringe depending from a diadem270 almost to the eyebrows271. This tassel272 (or borla, as the Spaniards called it; llauta, according to the Peruvians) was the supreme mark of the imperial dignity in that no one but the Inca could wear it. The Inca was surrounded by a gorgeously attired273 body of retainers who were preceded by hundreds of menials who cleared the streets of every obstacle which might impede274 the progress of their master, the Son of the Sun. The processions divided at the square, and the monarch was carried forward in the open. Not a Spaniard save the watchful275 sentries276 pacing the fort above, was to be seen.
"Where," asked Atahualpa, looking about in surprise, "are the strangers?"
At this moment, at the request of Pizarro, Father Valverde came forward in his canonicals, crucifix in one hand, breviary or Bible in the other.[7] He was attended by one of the Peruvians whom Pizarro had taken back to Spain, who was to act as interpreter. This precocious277 little rascal278, named Felippo, was the best interpreter that could be found, which is saying little, for his Spanish was bad and mainly picked up in the camps from the rude soldiery, and his Peruvian {82} was only an uncouth279 dialect of the highly inflected and most flexible and expressive280 Quichua, the language of the educated, indeed of the most of the people. Approaching the litter of the Inca, Valverde delivered an extraordinary address. He briefly281 explained the doctrines282 of the Christian283 religion to the astonished Peruvian, requiring him to conform to this religion and acknowledge the spiritual supremacy284 of the Pope, and at the same time to submit to the sway of his Imperial Majesty285 Charles V. It was a pretty heavy demand to spring upon a great monarch in the midst of his people, and it was not to be wondered at that Atahualpa rejected these requests with contempt.
The Inca answered the friar not without shrewdness. He had gathered the idea from Felippo's vile286 mistranslation that the Christians287 worshipped four Gods, i. e. the Trinity and the Pope. He declared that he himself worshipped one, and there was its sign and symbol—pointing to the declining sun; that he believed one God was better than four. He rejected indignantly the idea that he, "The Lord of the Four Quarters of the Earth," owed allegiance to any Charles V. or any other earthly monarch, of whom he had never heard and who had assuredly never heard of him either.
Valverde had referred to the book in his hand as he had spoken and Atahualpa now asked to see it. The volume was a clasped one and he found it difficult to open. Valverde, probably thinking he could show him to unclasp the volume, stepped nearer to him. The Inca repulsed289 him with disdain290. Wrenching291 open the covers he glanced rapidly at the book, and perhaps suddenly realizing the full sense of the insult which had been offered to him in the demands {83} of the dogmatic and domineering Dominican, he threw the sacred volume to the ground in a violent rage.
"Tell your companions," he said, "that they shall give me an account of their doings in my land. I will not go hence until they have made me full satisfaction for all the wrongs they have committed!"
Then he turned and spoke288 to his people—the last word he was ever to address them as a free monarch from his throne. There was a loud murmur292 from the crowd.
Thereupon, according to some accounts, Valverde picked up the book through which Atahualpa had offered such a deadly insult to his religion and rushed back to Pizarro, exclaiming, "Do you not see that while we stand here wasting our breath in talking with this dog, full of pride as he is, the fields are filling with Indians? Set on at once! I absolve293 you for whatever you do!" I would fain do no man an injustice294. Therefore, I also set down what other authorities say, namely, that Valverde simply told Pizarro what had occurred.
There is no dispute, however, as to what happened immediately. Pizarro stepped out from the doorway295, and drawing a white scarf from his shoulders, threw it into the air. Instantly a shot roared from the fort above his head. The famous war-cry of the Spaniards, "St. Jago, and at them!" rang over every quarter of the square into which, with bared swords, couched lances and drawn296 bows, poured the mail-clad soldiery horse and foot.
They burst upon the astonished ranks of the unarmed Indians with the suddenness and swiftness of a tornado297. From the roof above, the gunners discharged their bullets into the swaying, seething298 mass. With {84} their wands of office, with their naked hands, with whatever they could seize, the Peruvians defended themselves. They rallied around the person of the Inca, freely offering their breasts to the Spanish blades with the vain attempt to protect their monarch.
Atahualpa sat upon his reeling throne gazing upon the bloody scene in a daze299 of surprise. Pizarro and the twenty chosen cut their way to the litter and, striking down the helpless bearers thereof, precipitated300 the Inca to the ground. The Spaniards were mad with carnage now, and were striking indiscriminately at any Indian. Then could be heard Pizarro's stern voice ringing above the melée, "Let no man who values his life strike at the Inca!" Such was the fierceness of his soldiery, however, that in his frenzied301 attempt to protect the monarch, Pizarro was wounded in one of his hands by his own men. As the Inca fell, he had been caught by Pizarro and supported, although a soldier named Estete snatched the imperial llauta from his head as he fell.
With the capture of the Inca, what little futile302 resistance the unarmed host had been able to make ceased. The Indians, relentlessly303 pursued by their bloody conquerors, fled in every direction, and, to anticipate events, the army deprived of its monarch and its generals, dispersed304 the next day without striking a blow. Indeed the army was helpless for offence while the Spaniards held the Inca as a hostage.
The estimates of the numbers slain305 in one half-hour's fighting in the square of Caxamarca vary from two to ten thousand. Whatever the number, it was great and horrible enough. An unparalleled act of treachery had been consummated306, and Peru, in the space of thirty minutes had been conquered and Pizarro held {85} it in the hollow of his hand. Not a Spaniard had been wounded except Pizarro himself, and his wound had been received from his own men while he tried to protect Atahualpa from the Spaniards' fury.
V. The Ransom307 and Murder of the Inca
Pizarro treated the Inca well enough, although he held him in rigorous captivity308. Nobody else in Peru seemed to know what to do under the circumstances, and the Spaniards soon lost all apprehension of resistance. Quiz-Quiz and Chalcuchima still held Huascar a captive at Xuaca, a fortress between Caxamarca and Cuzco. Atahualpa, realizing how important such a man would be to the Spaniards, sent orders that he be put to death and the unfortunate deposed309 Inca was therefore executed by the two generals. Although he was captive, Atahualpa's orders were as implicitly310 obeyed as if he had been free. He was still the Inca, if only by the right of sword, and the forces of his generals were sufficiently311 great to render it impossible for the son of Huascar, named Manco Capac, who had escaped the massacre of his kinfolk and who was the legitimate heir to the throne, to claim the crown.
Pizarro, with a fine show of rectitude, affected312 to be horrified313 by this evidence of brutal314 cruelty, and although Atahualpa claimed no connection with the assassination315 of Huascar, it was impossible to acquit316 him of it. Greatly desiring his freedom, Atahualpa, who had observed the Spanish greed for gold, made an extraordinary proposition to Pizarro. They were together in a room twenty-two feet long by seventeen feet broad. Standing317 on his tiptoes and reaching as high as he could, probably about eight feet, for he was a tall man, {86} Atahualpa offered to fill the room with gold to the height he had touched, if, when he had completed his undertaking, Pizarro would release him.
Pizarro jumped at the offer, and well he might for no such proposition had ever before been offered in the history of the world. The cubic contents enclosed by the figures mentioned are three thousand three hundred and sixty-six feet, or in round numbers, one hundred and twenty-five cubic yards. Such a treasure was even beyond the most delirious318 dreams of the conquerors.[8]
As soon as these astonishing terms had been formally accepted in writing by Pizarro, the Inca sent orders to all parts of his dominion for the people to bring in their treasures. He also directed the royal palaces and temples to be stripped, and his orders were obeyed. He had stipulated319 that he be allowed two months in which to raise the ransom and day after day a stream of Indians poured into the city loaded with treasure which dazzled the eyes of the astonished and delighted conquerors. Atahualpa had stipulated also that the gold was not to be smelted—that is, he would not be required to fill the spaces solidly with ingots, but that it should be put into the room just as it was brought in and allowed to take up as much space as was required, even though it might be in the shape of a manufactured article.
"They Burst Upon the Ranks of the Unarmed Indians."
"They Burst Upon the Ranks of the Unarmed Indians."
{87}
Some of the gold was in the shape of ingenious plants and animals, one especially beautiful object being the corn plant with blades of gold and tassels320 of silver. Pizarro, to his credit, ordered that some of these specimens of exquisite workmanship should be preserved intact. Much of the treasure was in the shape of plates or tiles, from the interior of the temples or palaces which did not take up much space. The great temple of the Sun at Cuzco had a heavy outside cornice, or moulding, of pure gold. It was stripped of this dazzling ornament65 to satisfy the rapacity321 of the conquerors. There was also a vast quantity of silver which was stored in other chambers322. Silver hardly counted in view of the deluge323 of the more precious metal.
"The Three Pizarros . . . Sallied Out to Meet Them"
"The Three Pizarros . . . Sallied Out to Meet Them"
Atahualpa did not quite succeed in filling the space, but he came so near it that Pizarro, in a formal agreement executed before a notary324, declared that the Inca had paid his ransom and that he was released from any further obligation concerning it. That is the only release, however, which the unfortunate Inca ever got. Obviously, it was dangerous to turn loose such a man. Therefore, in spite of his legal quittance, he still was held in captivity. The Spaniards concluded finally that the only safe course was to get rid of him.
The ransom amounted in our money to over seventeen million dollars, according to Prescott; to nearly eighteen million dollars, according to Markham. Pizarro's personal share was seven hundred thousand dollars; Hernando received three hundred and fifty thousand dollars; De Soto two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Each horse soldier received nearly one hundred thousand; the principal foot soldiers, fifty thousand, and the others smaller sums in accordance {88} with their rank and service. The precious metals were so plentiful325 that for the time being they lost their value, for men cheerfully paid thousands of dollars for a horse. Indeed so bulky and unwieldly was the treasure with which the soldiers were loaded, that it is solemnly averred326 that creditors327 avoided their debtors328 fearing lest the latter should pay them what they owed in further heaps of the bulky treasure; and it is certainly a fact that even the animals shared in the opulence329 of the conquest, for the horses were shod with silver. Silver was cheaper and easier to get than iron.
While they were revelling330 in the treasure, dividing the spoils and deliberating what was to be done with Atahualpa, Almagro arrived with his re?nforcements. Naturally he and his men demanded a share of the booty. Great was their disgust and furious their anger when Pizarro and the other conquerors refused to give it up. Finally, the quarrels that ensued were composed by presenting Almagro and his followers331 certain sums, large in themselves though trifling332 in comparison with what Pizarro's men had received. Almagro's men were also given to understand that they could move on to the southwest at some convenient season and conquer another empire and take all they could for themselves. Unfortunately for them, there were no more empires like Peru on this or any other side of the world left them to conquer.
Hernando Pizarro was then dispatched to Spain to deliver the royal fifth to Charles, to give an account of the fortunes of the conquerors and to secure what further rewards and privileges he could for them. Atahualpa saw him leave with the greatest regret. He was a man of fierce, stern, implacable disposition333, {89} not a lovely character, according to any of the chroniclers, but he seems to have been fairer, and in his own way he had treated the unfortunate monarch better, than any of the others, unless it was De Soto. Possibly Hernando might have restrained his brother from the last infamy334 he was about to perpetrate if he had been there. Certainly De Soto would have sought to dissuade335 him. Pizarro realized this and got rid of De Soto by sending him away to investigate as to the truth of rumors that Atahualpa was conspiring336 to obtain his freedom. I have no doubt that he was so conspiring. I hope so, for if he was, it was about the only manly337 thing that he did. While De Soto was away, at the instigation of the soldiers, Pizarro with seeming reluctance, allowed Atahualpa to be brought to trial. I have no doubt that Pizarro instigated the soldiers himself. He was adroit209 enough to do it, and he would have no scruples338 whatever to deter53 him.
The Inca was tried on twelve charges, among which were included accusations339 that he had usurped340 the crown, and given its prerogatives341 to his friends (instead of to the Spaniards!). He was charged with being an idolator, an adulterer and a polygamist, and finally it was urged that he had endeavored to incite342 an insurrection against the Spaniards. Such accusations came with a peculiarly bad grace from the conquerors. The whole thing, charges and all, would have been a farce344 had it not been for the certain grim and terrible outcome.
Felippo, the Infamous, was the only interpreter. He had made love to one of the Inca's wives, whom the Spaniards had allowed to share his captivity. Atahualpa, furiously affronted, desired to have him {90} put to death, but Felippo was too important to the Spaniards, and he was spared. How Atahualpa's defense suffered from Felippo's interpretations345 under such circumstances may easily be imagined. In spite of the courageous346 opposition of a few of the self-appointed judges, the Inca was convicted and sentenced to death, Father Valverde concurring347, in writing, with the sentence.
When the verdict of the court was communicated to Atahualpa, he did not receive it with any remarkable degree of fortitude348. He is a pitiful rather than a heroic figure.
"What have I done," he cried, weeping, "what have my children done, that I should meet with such a fate?" Turning to Pizarro, he added, "And from your hands, too, who have met with friendship and kindness from my people, to whom I have given my treasure, who have received nothing but benefit from my hands!"
He besought349 the conqueror to spare his life, promising350 anything, even to double the enormous ransom he had already paid, and offering to guarantee in any appointed way the safety of every Spaniard in the army. Pedro Pizarro, a cousin of the conqueror, who has left an account of the interview, says that Pizarro was greatly affected by the touching351 appeal of the unfortunate monarch, and that he wept in turn also. However that may be, he refused to interfere352. A man may weep and weep, to paraphrase353 Shakespeare, "and be a villain354!" There was no help for it; Atahualpa had to die.
It was on the 29th of August, 1533. The trial and deliberations had occupied the whole day. It was two hours after sunset before they were ready to execute him in the great square of Caxamarca. {91} The Spanish soldiers, fully47 armed, arranged themselves about a huge stake which had been planted in the square. Back of them were groups of terrified, awe-struck Peruvians, helplessly weeping and lamenting355 the fate of their monarch which they were powerless to prevent. Flickering356 torches held by the troops cast an uncertain light over the tragic357 scene. Atahualpa was led forth in fetters358 and chained to the stake. He showed little of the firmness and fortitude of a proud monarch or a brave man. How feebly he appears when contrasted with the great Aztec Guatemotzin, calmly enduring the tortures of the red-hot gridiron and resolutely359 refusing to gratify either his captors' lust360 for treasure or desire for revenge by vouchsafing them a single fact or a single moan.
By Inca's side was Valverde, who had been assiduous in his endeavors to make him a Christian. The friar was ready to offer such grim consolation361 as he could to the wretched Peruvian in whose death sentence he had concurred362. Atahualpa had hitherto turned a deaf ear to all his importunities, but at the last moment Valverde told him that if he would consent to receive baptism, he should be strangled instead of burnt to death. Atahualpa asked Pizarro if this was true, and being assured that it was, he abjured363 his religion to avoid the agonies of fire, and was thereupon baptised under the name of Juan de Atahualpa. The name John was given to him because this baptism in extremis took place on St. John the Baptist's day. Rarely, if ever, has there been a more ghastly profanation364 of the Holy Sacrament of Regeneration!
Before he was garroted, Atahualpa begged that his remains365 might be preserved at Quito with those of his mother's people. Then he turned to Pizarro and {92} made a final request of that iron-hearted man, that he would look after and care for the Inca's little children. While he was strangled and his body was being burnt, the terrible soldiery could be heard muttering the magnificent words of the Apostolic Creed366 for the redemption of the soul of the monarch. Incidentally it may be noted367 that a little later the Spaniards burnt old Chalcuchima, of whom they had got possession by treacherous promises, at the stake. He did not embrace Christianity at the last moment, but died as he had lived, a soldier and a Peruvian.
The character of Atahualpa may be learned from his career. He was a cruel, ruthless usurper, neither magnanimous in victory nor resolute in defeat. As I have said, it is impossible to admire him, but no one can think of his fate and the treacheries of which he was a victim without being touched by his miseries368. If he sowed the wind he reaped the whirlwind, and bad as he was, his conquerors were worse.
Pizarro placed the diadem on Toparca, a youthful brother of the late Inca. When he was alone with his attendants, the boy tore the llauta from his forehead, and trampled369 it under his foot, as no longer the badge of anything but infamy and shame, and in two short months he pined and died from the consciousness of his disgrace. Whereupon another Peruvian, Manco Capac, the legitimate heir of Huascar, appeared before Pizarro, made good his claim, and on the entry of the conquerors into Cuzco, was crowned Inca with all the ancient ceremonies. He soon realized that he was but a puppet in Pizarro's hands, however, and by and by he, too, made a bold stroke for freedom.
The conquest of Peru was complete. Charles V., dazzled by the report of Hernando Pizarro, and the {93} substantial treasures placed before him, created Pizarro a Marquis of the country, confirmed him in the government of the country for two hundred and seventy leagues south of the Santiago River and gave Almagro authority to conquer everything beyond that limit. Almagro was very much dissatisfied with his share, but concluded, before he made any violent objections, to go to the south and find an El Dorado for himself.
Meanwhile Pizarro, who was almost as much of a builder as Rameses the Great, laid out the city of Lima and the Spaniards flocked into Peru from Spain in thousands. The natives were enslaved and the country divided into great estates, and Almagro and his discontented started for Chili370. Hernando Pizarro, who was appointed governor of Cuzco, held young Manco in close confinement371, and everything outwardly was as fine and lovely as a summer day. There was growing, however, a tremendous uprising in which hitherto somnolent372 Fate was about to lay her belated hands upon nearly all the actors of the great drama which had heretofore been so successfully played.
VI. The Inca and the Peruvians Strike Vainly for Freedom
The city of Cuzco was, without doubt, the most superb capital on the American continent. Indeed, in many respects, it would have compared favorably with, let us say, Paris in the sixteenth century, with its narrow, crooked373, unpaved filthy374 streets, its indifferent protections, and its utterly375 inadequate129 water and sewer376 system. The streets, which were broad and level, crossed each other at regular intervals at right angles. They were smoothly377 paved with large, carefully joined {94} flagstones. The houses in the city were mainly built of stone. The palace of the Inca, which stood alone in the great square, was of marble. The temples and buildings for public assemblages, armories378, granaries, storehouses, et cetera, were of great size. The stones used in their erection were of such dimensions that the Spanish marvelled379 at the engineering genius which could have quarried380 them and put them in place, just as the people of to-day are amazed at Baalbec and the pyramids. Stone conduits ran down each street, bringing delicious water to each doorway, and the city was traversed by two mountain streams crossed by bridges cut by watergates. That the cold, clear water might be kept pure and sweet, the beds of the rivers like those of the Euphrates at Babylon, had been paved.
The city was surrounded by walls and dominated by a great fortress called Sacsahuaman, which stood upon a steep and rocky hill overlooking the capital. On the side toward the city the fortress was practically impregnable on account of the precipitous slopes of the cliffs. The other side was defended by three stone walls laid out in zigzag381 shape, with salient and re?ntrant angles (demi-lunes), like an old-fashioned rail fence, with many doors, each closed by stone portcullis, in each wall. Within the walls was a citadel382 of three tall towers. The whole constituted a most formidable position.
While Francisco Pizarro was founding and laying out on a magnificent scale and with lavish383 generosity384 the city of Lima, near the seaboard, Hernando was made governor of Cuzco. Hernando was, without doubt, the most able and most admirable of the Pizarros, although his fame has been obscured by that of his {95} elder brother. He had been directed by Charles V to treat the Inca and the people with kindness, and, perhaps on that account, he had not exercised so rigorous a surveillance over the movements of young Manco as his ordinary prudence385 would have dictated. At any rate, the bold and youthful emperor found no difficulty in leaving his ancient capital. He repaired immediately to the Valley of Yucay, in the high mountains of the northeastward of Cuzco. There had been brewing387 a vast conspiracy388 against the Spaniards for some time, and at the summons of the Inca, thither389 resorted the great chiefs of the Peruvians with their retainers and dependents, including their women and children.
The partisans390 of the two Inca half-brothers, who had not been slain, made common cause with each other. All internal differences were forgotten in the presence of the common enemy. They had much to revenge. Their treasures had been taken, their temples polluted, their religion profaned391, their monarchs slain, their women outraged392 and the people forced into a degrading, exhausting slavery. Strange is it to recognize that human slavery was introduced into Peru by the Christians!
It is good to think that the manhood of the Peruvians was awakened393 at last. Manco, burning with fiery patriotic394 zeal, summoned his great vassals396 and subjects to his standard. "Death to the Spaniards!" were the watchwords that resounded397 with fierce war-cries among the mountains and hills. With ancient ceremonies, drinking from a common cup, they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to their hereditary398 chief in defense of their altars and their fires, their native land.
{96}
Early in 1536 a vast army swept down through the mountain passes and made toward the ancient capital. The three Pizarros, Hernando, Juan and Gonzalo, put themselves at the head of their horsemen and sallied out to meet them. They killed numbers of Peruvians, but all their valor could not check the resistless force of the patriotic army. The Spaniards were swept back into the city, glad to escape with their lives before such overwhelming numbers; indeed, only a timely attack by a detachment in the rear of the Peruvians saved them from destruction then and there. Cuzco was at once invested. The Indians, with a heroism399 which cannot be too greatly commended, endeavored to carry the place by assault.[9]
They set fire to the thatched roofs of their own houses, devoting their city to flames, like the Russians at Moscow, to compass the annihilation of the detested400 invaders. The wind favored them, and a besom of flame swept over the devoted401 town until over one-half of it was laid in ruins. There were ninety Spanish horse in the city, probably as many foot, and a thousand Indian auxiliaries402, but they were soldiers of the highest quality and led by three captains whose like for daring and skill are not often seen.
No one ever questioned the courage or the military ability of the Pizarros and certainly they exhibited both qualities in full measure during the siege. Of all the brothers, it is probable that Hernando was the most daring cavalier as well as the most capable captain, although in personal prowess his younger brothers were not a whit24 behind him. Indeed, Gonzalo was {97} reckoned as the best lance in the New World. Stifled403 by the smoke, scorched404 by the flames, parched405 with heat, choked with thirst, exhausted with hunger, crazed from loss of sleep, yet battling with the energy of despair against overwhelming numbers of Indians, who, with a reckless disregard for life, hurled406 themselves upon the sword-points, the Spaniards after several days of the most terrific fighting, were forced into the square, which they held against their enemy by dint407 of the most heroic and continuous endeavors.
The Peruvians barricaded408 the streets with the debris409 of their ruined houses and sharpened stakes, and prepared to press home for a final attack. Although the slaughter410 among the Indians had been fearful, the odds411 against the Spaniards did not appear diminished, for it was learned afterward that there were more than one hundred thousand warriors engaged, and, with a host of followers and servants, the total aggregated412 at least eighty thousand more. And, indeed, the Spaniards mourned the death of many a brave cavalier and stout79 man-at-arms. In all the fighting the young Inca, in full war-gear of gold and silver, mounted on a captured horse, with a Spanish lance in his hand, had played a hero's dauntless part.
At the commencement of the siege there had been a discussion as to whether they should occupy the great fortress of Sacsahuaman, or not. Juan Pizarro had dissuaded413 the Spanish from the attempt, for, he said: "Our forces are too weak to hold both places. The city is the most important, and should it happen that we need the fortress we can take it any time." Without opposition the Indian High Priest had occupied it with a large body of men.
It was evident, at last, that the Spaniards would {98} either have to retreat from their town or seize the fortress, which, now that they had been driven from the walls, commanded their position in the square. Most of the cavaliers were for retreat. There is no doubt that the horse could certainly have cut their way through the ranks of the besiegers, and have escaped, together with most of the foot as well.
Hernando was quite as persistent as his indomitable brother Francisco, however, and he talked equally as well to the soldiers. He made them a stirring address which he closed by declaring that he had been sent there to hold the town, and hold it he would if he had to hold it alone; that he would rather die there in the square with the consciousness that he had kept his trust than abandon the place. Juan and Gonzalo seconded his stirring appeal. It was resolved that the fortress should be taken. Hernando proposed to lead the assault in person, but Juan interposed with the remark that he had objected to its seizure in the first instance, and to him rightfully belonged the leadership of the forlorn hope to repair the error. Hernando consented.
Juan and Gonzalo, with their commands and fifty of their best horse, were detailed414 for the purpose. By Hernando's instructions they cut through the Indians and galloped415 headlong down the road in the direction of Lima. The Indians were deceived by the seeming dash of the horsemen through the lines and, supposing them to be in retreat, turned their attention to the Spaniards left in the square. The conflict which had been intermitted for a space began again with the utmost fury.
In the midst of it, Juan Pizarro, who had galloped about a league from the town and then made a long {99} detour416, suddenly appeared at Sacsahuaman. The Spaniards immediately rushed to the assault. This diversion caused the Indians, who had been literally417 forcing the Spaniards in the town up against the wall, and in the last ditch, as it were, to give ground. Thereupon the dauntless Hernando charged upon them, drove them out of the square, and succeeded in establishing communications with Juan and Gonzalo on the hill. He directed Juan to hold his position and make no attack, but Juan thought he saw an opportunity to gain the fortress, and at vespers the Spaniards rushed at the walls.
There were Indians not only within but without the walls, and the fighting was soon of the most sanguinary description. Juan Pizarro had been wounded previously in a skirmish and on account of this wound was unable to wear his morion. Hernando had especially cautioned him to be careful on this account; but the impetuous valor of the Pizarros was not to be restrained by considerations of any personal safety, and Juan was in the front rank of the storming party. They had cut their way through to the fort and were battling for entrance when a stone hurled from the tower struck Juan in the head, knocking him senseless. The wound was of such a character that two weeks afterward he died of it in great agony. He was the first to pay the penalty. History has preserved little concerning him, but some chroniclers have found him the highest-minded of the brothers—possibly because less is known about him! At any rate, he was a valiant soldier.
Gonzalo succeeded to the leadership, and although he and his men fought heroically, they were at last forced back from the fortress in spite of the fact that {100} they had gained the outer walls. The fighting had transferred itself from the city to the hills, which was a sad tactical error on the part of the Peruvians, for they had force enough to overwhelm Hernando and his men in the city, while they held Juan and Gonzalo in play at Sacsahuaman, in which case all the Spaniards would eventually have fallen into their hands.
As night fell Hernando left the city and came up to the hill. The Spaniards busied themselves in making scaling-ladders, and in the morning, with the aid of the ladders, the assault was resumed with desperate fury. Wall after wall was carried, and finally the fighting ranged around the citadel. The Inca had sent five thousand of his best men to re?nforce the defenders418, but the Spaniards succeeded in preventing their entrance to the fort which was now in a sorry plight. The ammunition—arrows, spears, stone, et cetera—of the garrison was almost spent. The Spanish attack was pressed as rigorously as at the beginning. The High Priest—priests have ever been among the first to incite people to war, and among the first to abandon the field of battle—fled with a great majority of his followers, and escaped by subterranean419 passages from the citadel, leaving but a few defenders to do or die.
First among them was a chief, whose name, unfortunately, has not been preserved. He was one of those, however, who had drunk of the cup and pledged himself in the mountains of Yucay. Driven from wall to wall and from tower to tower, he and his followers made a heroic defense. The Spanish chroniclers say that when this hero, whose exploits recall the half-mythical legends of the early Roman Republic, when men were as demi-gods, saw one of his men falter420, he {101} stabbed him and threw his body upon the Spaniards. At last he stood alone upon the last tower. The assailants offered him quarter, which he disdained421. Shouting his war-cry of defiance422, he dashed his sole remaining weapon in the faces of the escaladers and then hurled himself bodily upon them to die on their sword-points. Let him be remembered as a soldier, a patriot395, and a gentleman.
The fortress was gained! Dismayed by the fearful loss that they had sustained, the Peruvians, who had fought so valiantly423, if so unsuccessfully, withdrew temporarily. Hernando Pizarro was master of the situation. He employed the few days of respite424 given him in gathering supplies and strengthening his position. It was well that he did so, for in a short time the Peruvians once more appeared around the city, to which they laid a regular siege.
There was more sharp fighting, but nothing like the Homeric combats of the first investment. The Peruvians had risen all over the land. Detached parties of Spaniards had been cut off without mercy. Francisco Pizarro was besieged425 in Lima. Messengers and ships were despatched in every direction, craving426 assistance. Francisco did not know what had happened in Cuzco, and the brothers in that city began to despair of their being extricated427 from their terrible predicament. Help came to them from an unexpected source.
We left Almagro marching toward Chili. His was no lovely promenade428 through a pleasant, smiling, fertile, wealthy land. He traversed vast deserts under burning skies. He climbed lofty mountains in freezing cold and found nothing. In despair, he turned back to Peru. The limits assigned to Pizarro were {102} not clear. Almagro claimed that the city of Cuzco was within his province, and determined to return and take it. On the way his little army, under the command of a very able soldier named Orgonez, met and defeated a large army of Peruvians. This, taken with the arrival of the harvest time, which must of necessity be gathered if the people were not to starve, caused the subsequent dissipation of the Peruvian army. The Inca maintained a fugitive429 court in the impregnable and secret fastnesses of the mountains, but the Peruvians never gave any more trouble to the Spaniards. They had spent themselves in this one fierce but futile blow. I am glad for the sake of their manhood that at least they had fought one great battle for their lands and liberties.
"He Threw His Sole Remaining Weapon in the Faces of the Escaladers"
"He Threw His Sole Remaining Weapon in the Faces of the Escaladers"
VII. "The Men of Chili" and the Civil Wars
Almagro, assisted by treachery on the part of some of the Spaniards who hated the Pizarros, made himself master of the city, and, breaking his plighted430 word, seized Hernando and Gonzalo.
Meanwhile Francisco, the Marquis, had despatched a certain captain named Alvarado with a force to relieve Cuzco. Almagro marched out with his army and defeated the superior force of Alvarado in the battle of Abancay, in July, 1537, in which, through the generalship of Orgonez, Alvarado's troops were captured with little or no loss in Almagro's army. Almagro had left Gonzalo Pizarro behind in Cuzco, but had taken Hernando, heavily guarded, with him. Orgonez had urged Almagro to put both of them to death. "Dead men," he pithily431 remarked, "need no guards." On the principle of "In for a penny, in for a pound," {103} Almagro was already deep enough in the bad graces of Francisco Pizarro, and he might as well be in deeper than he was, especially as the execution of Hernando would remove his worst enemy. But Almagro does not appear to have been an especially cruel man. He was an easy-going, careless, jovial432, pleasure-loving soldier, and he spared the lives of the two brothers. Gonzalo escaped, and assembling a force, immediately took the field.
Fernando Cortes. From a Picture in the Florence Gallery
Fernando Cortes. From a Picture in the Florence Gallery
There had been a meeting between Francisco and Almagro. The latter got an inkling that there was treachery intended, and though the meeting had begun with embraces and tears, it was broken off abruptly433 and both the ancient partners prepared for an appeal to arms. Almagro had released Hernando on his promise to return immediately to Spain. This promise Hernando broke. Francisco made his brother commander of the army, and the forces of the two commanders met on the plains of Salinas on the 6th of April, 1538.
There were about seven hundred on one side, Pizarro's, and five hundred on the other, equally divided between horse and foot, with a few pieces of artillery in both armies. The men of Chili, as Almagro's forces were called, hated their former comrades, and Pizarro's men returned this feeling with such animosities as are engendered434 nowhere save in civil war. Victory finally attended Hernando Pizarro. He had fought in the ranks like a common soldier, save that he had been at great pains so to distinguish himself by his apparel that every one could know him, so that all who sought him could find him. Orgonez was slain as he lay on the ground, wounded. Such was the close, fierce fighting that the killed alone numbered nearly {104} two hundred, besides a proportionately greater number wounded.
Almagro had watched the battle from an adjacent hill. He was old and ill, broken down from excesses and dissipations. Unable to sit a horse, he had been carried thither on a litter. The sight of his routed army admonished435 him to try to escape. With great pain and difficulty he got upon a horse, but being pursued, the animal stumbled and Almagro fell to the ground. Some of Pizarro's men were about to dispatch him when Hernando interfered436. He was taken prisoner to Cuzco and held in captivity for a while. Hernando had announced his intention of sending him to Spain for trial, but a conspiracy to effect his release, in which was our old friend De Candia, caused a change in his purposes. Almagro was tried on charges which were easily trumped437 up, was found guilty, of course, and in spite of his protestations and piteous appeals for life, he was strangled to death at night in his prison on the 8th of July, 1538, in the sixty-fifth year of his life. His head was then struck from his shoulders and both were exhibited in the great square at Cuzco. Vainglorious438, ignorant, incompetent439, yet cheerful, generous, frank, kindly440 and open-hearted, and badly treated by Pizarro and his brothers, he possibly deserved a better fate.
The Pizarro brothers affected to be overcome by the stern necessity which compelled poor Almagro's execution. As Francisco had done when he had killed Atahualpa, these two put on mourning and insisted upon being pall-bearers, and exhibited every outward manifestation of deep and abiding441 grief.
Almagro left a son, Diego, by an Indian woman, to whom he had not been married. This young man {105} was under the guardianship442 of Pizarro at Lima. The sword of Damocles hung over his head for a while, but he was spared eventually and, the rebellion of Almagro having been cut down, the revolt of the Inca crushed, peace appeared once more to dwell in the land.
VIII. The Mean End of the Great Conquistador
But fate had not finished with the Pizarros as yet. Hernando was sent back to Spain to explain the situation, and Gonzalo despatched to Quito, of which province he was made governor. He had instructions to explore the country eastward386 to see if he could find another Peru. He made a marvelous march to the head-waters of the Amazon River, where he was deserted by one of his commanders, Orellana, who built a brigantine, sailed down the whole length of the Amazon, finally reaching Europe, while Gonzalo and those few of his wretched followers who survived the terrible hardships of that march, struggled back to Quito.
Francisco, the Marquis, was thus left alone in Peru. The position of the men of Chili was precarious443. Although outwardly things were peaceful, yet they felt that at any time Pizarro might institute war against them. They got the young Almagro away from him, and a score of men under Juan de Rada, a stout-hearted veteran, mercenary soldier, determined to put the Marquis to death and proclaim the young Almagro as Lord and Dictator of Peru.
On Sunday afternoon, the 26th of June, 1541, De Rada and nineteen desperate men of Chili, met at De Rada's house in Lima. Pizarro had received a number of warnings which he had neglected, confident {106} in the security of his position, but the existence of the conspiracy had been brought home to him with peculiar343 force that Sunday, and he had remained in his palace at Lima surrounded by a number of gentlemen devoted to his cause. At vespers—which seems to have been a favorite hour for nefarious444 deeds among the Spaniards—the assassins sallied forth from the home of De Rada and started for the palace.
Such was the indifference in which the people held the squabbles between the Pizarrists and the Almagrists, that it was casually445 remarked by many of them, as the assassins proceeded through the streets, that they were probably on their way to kill the governor. The governor was at supper on the second floor of his palace. There was a sudden tumult446 in the square below. The door was forced open and the Almagrists, shouting "Death to Pizarro!" rushed for the stairs. Most of the noble company with the old Marquis fled. The great conquistador at least had no thought of flight. There remained with him, however, two pages, his brother Martin de Alcántara, Francisco de Chaves, one of the immortal thirteen of Gallo, and another cavalier, named De Luna.
As they heard the clash of arms on the stairs and the shouting of the assailants, the Marquis ordered De Chaves to close the door; then he sprang to the wall, tore from it his corselet and endeavored to buckle447 it on his person. De Chaves unwisely attempted to parley448, instead of closing the door and barring it. The assailants forced the entrance, cut down De Chaves, and burst into the room. Pizarro gave over the attempt to fasten his breastplate, and seizing a sword and spear, defended himself stoutly449 while pealing450 his war-cry: "Santiago!" through the palace. The two pages, {107} fighting valiantly, were soon cut down. De Alcántara and De Luna were also killed, and finally, Pizarro, an old man over seventy years of age, stood alone before the murderers.
Such was the wonderful address of the sword play with which he defended himself that the conspirators451 were at a loss how to take him, until De Rada, ruthlessly seizing one of his comrades, pitilessly thrust him upon Pizarro's sword-point, and, before the old man could withdraw the weapon, cut him in the throat with his sword. Instantly Pizarro was struck by a dozen blades. He fell back upon the floor, but he was not yet dead, and with his own blood he marked a cross on the stones. It is alleged by some that he asked for a confessor, but that is hardly likely, for as he bent452 his head to press his lips upon the cross, one of the murderers, seizing a huge stone bowl, or earthen vessel, threw it upon his head and killed him. Sic transit453 Pizarro!
If he has been the subject of much severe censure253, he has not lacked, especially of late, zealous454 defenders. I have endeavored to treat him fairly in these sketches455. Considering him in comparison with his contemporaries, Cortes surpassed him in ability, Hernando in executive capacity, Almagro in generosity, Balboa in gallantry, and De Soto in courtesy. On the other hand, he was inferior to none of them in bravery and resolution, and he made up for his lack of other qualities by a terrible and unexampled persistency456. Nothing could swerve457 him from his determination. He had a faculty458 of rising to each successive crisis which confronted him, wresting victory from the most adverse459 circumstances in a way worthy of the highest admiration. He was not so cruel as Pedrarias, but he was {108} ruthless enough and his fame is forever stained by atrocities460 and treacheries from which no personal or public success can redeem461 it. In passing judgment462 upon him, account must be taken of the humble circumstances of his early life, his lack of decent, healthy environment, his neglected youth, his total ignorance of polite learning. Take him all in all, in some things he was better and in other things no worse than his day and generation.
IX. The Last of the Brethren
Hernando Pizarro was delayed on his voyage to Spain and some of Almagro's partisans got the ear of the King before he arrived. He was charged with having permitted by his carelessness the Peruvian uprising and having unlawfully taken the life of Almagro. The story of his desperate defense of Cusco was unavailing to mitigate463 the anger of the King at the anarchy464 and confusion—and incidentally the diminution465 of the royal revenue—which prevailed in Peru. Hernando was thrown into prison at Medina, and kept there for twenty-three long and weary years.
He had married his own niece, Francisca Pizarro, illegitimate daughter of the Marquis Francisco, by a daughter of the great Inca, Huayna Capac. The woman was a half-sister of Atahualpa and Huascar. By this questionable466 means, the family of the Pizarros, with certain dignities, restored for their Peruvian service, was perpetuated467 in Spain. Hernando died at the age of one hundred and four.
De Rada, after the assassination of Francisco, assembled the ancient partisans of Almagro. They swore fealty468 to the young Almagro, and immediately {109} took the field against a new governor sent out by Charles V. to take charge of affairs in Peru. This Vaca de Castro, through his able lieutenants469, Alvarado and Carvajal, defeated the forces of Almagro on the bloody and desperately471 fought field of Chapus, took the young man prisoner to Cuzco, and beheaded him forthwith. He met his death bravely, without beseeching472 or repining. Before the fate of the battle was decided, Almagro, suspecting that the gunner, De Candia, another of the thirteen who had adhered to his cause, was not serving his artillery with so good effect as he might, ran him through the body.
There remains but one of the brothers who gave Peru to Spain, the magnificent cavalier, Gonzalo. His fate may be briefly summarized. Another Viceroy, named Blasco Nu?ez Vela, succeeded De Castro. He had orders to release the Peruvians from servitude, which meant that the conquerors and the thousands who had come after, would have been compelled to work. Led by Gonzalo, who had been rewarded for his services in the rebellion against Almagro by a domain151 in Peru which included the newly discovered mines of Potosi, which provided him with the sinews of war, the people rebelled against the Viceroy. Pizarro and his lieutenant470, Carvajal, deposed and defeated the Viceroy in a battle near Quito on the 18th of January, 1546, the latter losing his life.
Gonzalo Pizarro was now the supreme lord of Peru, which included practically the whole of the South American coast from the Isthmus of Darien to the Straits of Magellan, for Valdivia, one of Francisco Pizarro's lieutenants, had partially473 conquered Chili at last.
The Spanish monarch, three thousand miles away, {110} could do nothing by force. He sent an able and devoted ecclesiastic, Gasca by name, clothing him with dictatorial474 powers, to see what he could do. Gasca arrived at Panama, cunningly and tactfully won the captains of Gonzalo's navy to his side, went to Peru, assembled a force, and although Centeno, one of his lieutenants, was badly defeated by Gonzalo and Carvajal on the 26th of October, 1547, at Huarina, the bloodiest475 battle ever fought in Peru, finally gained strength enough to march to Cuzco, where Gonzalo had command of a large and splendidly equipped army. Gasca, by promising that the obnoxious476 laws concerning the Indians should be repealed477, and adroitly pointing out that those who adhered to Gonzalo were, in effect, in rebellion against their sovereign, had so undermined the allegiance of his men that Gonzalo, who had marched to the Valley of Xaquixaguana, found himself deserted on the eve of the battle by all but a handful of faithful retainers.
"What shall we do?" asked one of the devoted followers.
"Fall on them and die like Romans."
"I believe I should prefer to die like a Christian," said Gonzalo calmly.
Recognizing that it was all up with him, riding forward with Carvajal and the rest, he coolly surrendered himself to Gasca.
Carvajal was hung, drawn and quartered.
Gonzalo, the last of the brothers, was beheaded in the great square at Cuzco. He was magnificently arrayed as he rode to his death. His vast estates, including the mines of Potosi, had been confiscated478 and all his possessions were on his back. He met his fate with the courage of the family. Before he {111} died he made a little address from the scaffold. Contrasting his present poverty with his former state, he asked those who had been his friends and who owed him anything, and also those who had been his enemies, to lay out some of the treasure they had gained through his family and himself in masses for the repose of his soul. Then he knelt down before a table bearing a crucifix, and prayed silently. At last he turned to the executioner and said:
"Do your duty with a steady hand!"
So he made a rather dramatic and picturesque479 exit there in the square at Cuzco, on that sunny morning in April, 1548. His head was exhibited at Lima with that of Carvajal. To it was attached this inscription480:
"This is the head of the traitor481, Gonzalo Pizarro, who rebelled in Peru against his sovereign and battled against the royal standard at the Valley of Xaquixaguana."
There remains but one other person whose fate excites a passing interest, unless it be Bishop Valverde, who was killed, while on a journey, by the Peruvians, some years before; this is the last Inca, Manco Capac. When De Rada and his band started out to assassinate482 Pizarro, one of the soldiers, named Gomez Perez, made a detour as they crossed the square, to keep from getting his feet wet in a puddle483 of muddy water which had overflowed484 from one of the conduits.
"You shrink," cried De Rada, in contempt, "from wetting your feet, who are about to wade485 in the blood of the governor! Go back, we will have none of you."
He had not permitted Perez to take part in the assassination. This Perez, after the final defeat of the Almagrists, fled to the mountains where Manco still exercised a fugitive sway over such of his people {112} as could escape the Spaniards. He was afterward pardoned and used as a medium of communication between Gasca and the Inca. The priest viceroy was anxious to be at peace with the Inca, but Manco refused to trust himself to the Spaniards.
Perez and he were playing bowls one day in the mountains. Perez either cheated, or in some way incensed the unfortunate Inca, who peremptorily486 reproved him, whereupon the Spaniard, in a fit of passion, hurled his heavy stone bowl at the last of the Incas, and killed him. That was the end of Perez, also, for the attendants of the young Inca stabbed him to death.
Thus all those who had borne a prominent part in the great adventures had gone to receive such certain reward as they merited; which reward was not counted out to them in the form of gold and silver, or stones of price. The sway in the new land of the king over the sea was absolute at last, and there was peace, such as it was, in Peru.
点击收听单词发音
1 scion | |
n.嫩芽,子孙 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 conquerors | |
征服者,占领者( conqueror的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 conqueror | |
n.征服者,胜利者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 par | |
n.标准,票面价值,平均数量;adj.票面的,平常的,标准的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 progeny | |
n.后代,子孙;结果 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 eldest | |
adj.最年长的,最年老的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 advent | |
n.(重要事件等的)到来,来临 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 conjecture | |
n./v.推测,猜测 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 lawful | |
adj.法律许可的,守法的,合法的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 promiscuous | |
adj.杂乱的,随便的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 legitimate | |
adj.合法的,合理的,合乎逻辑的;v.使合法 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 anomalous | |
adj.反常的;不规则的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 fable | |
n.寓言;童话;神话 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 immortal | |
adj.不朽的;永生的,不死的;神的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 alleged | |
a.被指控的,嫌疑的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 gulf | |
n.海湾;深渊,鸿沟;分歧,隔阂 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 survivors | |
幸存者,残存者,生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 isthmus | |
n.地峡 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 whit | |
n.一点,丝毫 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 arias | |
n.咏叹调( aria的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 Founder | |
n.创始者,缔造者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27 infamous | |
adj.声名狼藉的,臭名昭著的,邪恶的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28 ciphers | |
n.密码( cipher的名词复数 );零;不重要的人;无价值的东西 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29 intervals | |
n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 );间隔时间;[数学]区间;(戏剧、电影或音乐会的)幕间休息 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30 fabulous | |
adj.极好的;极为巨大的;寓言中的,传说中的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31 abounded | |
v.大量存在,充满,富于( abound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32 jealousy | |
n.妒忌,嫉妒,猜忌 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33 judicial | |
adj.司法的,法庭的,审判的,明断的,公正的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34 persistence | |
n.坚持,持续,存留 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36 inciting | |
刺激的,煽动的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37 elusive | |
adj.难以表达(捉摸)的;令人困惑的;逃避的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38 partnership | |
n.合作关系,伙伴关系 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39 labor | |
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40 laboring | |
n.劳动,操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 );苦干;详细分析;(指引擎)缓慢而困难地运转 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41 astute | |
adj.机敏的,精明的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42 circumspect | |
adj.慎重的,谨慎的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43 chary | |
adj.谨慎的,细心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44 resolute | |
adj.坚决的,果敢的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45 tenacious | |
adj.顽强的,固执的,记忆力强的,粘的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46 impulsive | |
adj.冲动的,刺激的;有推动力的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
47 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
48 deficient | |
adj.不足的,不充份的,有缺陷的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
49 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
50 disciples | |
n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 );门徒;耶稣的信徒;(尤指)耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
51 middle-aged | |
adj.中年的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
52 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
53 deter | |
vt.阻止,使不敢,吓住 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
54 gratuitous | |
adj.无偿的,免费的;无缘无故的,不必要的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
55 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
56 vessels | |
n.血管( vessel的名词复数 );船;容器;(具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的)人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
57 enlisting | |
v.(使)入伍, (使)参军( enlist的现在分词 );获得(帮助或支持) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
58 latitude | |
n.纬度,行动或言论的自由(范围),(pl.)地区 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
59 cleave | |
v.(clave;cleaved)粘着,粘住;坚持;依恋 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
60 penetrate | |
v.透(渗)入;刺入,刺穿;洞察,了解 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
61 afterward | |
adv.后来;以后 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
62 persistent | |
adj.坚持不懈的,执意的;持续的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
63 isles | |
岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
64 desolate | |
adj.荒凉的,荒芜的;孤独的,凄凉的;v.使荒芜,使孤寂 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
65 ornament | |
v.装饰,美化;n.装饰,装饰物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
66 ornaments | |
n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 );点缀;装饰品;首饰v.装饰,点缀,美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
67 confirmation | |
n.证实,确认,批准 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
68 fabric | |
n.织物,织品,布;构造,结构,组织 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
69 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
70 rumor | |
n.谣言,谣传,传说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
71 compensate | |
vt.补偿,赔偿;酬报 vi.弥补;补偿;抵消 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
72 expenditures | |
n.花费( expenditure的名词复数 );使用;(尤指金钱的)支出额;(精力、时间、材料等的)耗费 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
73 rumors | |
n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 );[古]名誉;咕哝;[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 );[古]名誉;咕哝;[古]喧嚷 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
74 steered | |
v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 );操纵;控制;引导 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
75 prodigious | |
adj.惊人的,奇妙的;异常的;巨大的;庞大的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
76 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
77 stranded | |
a.搁浅的,进退两难的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
78 stoutest | |
粗壮的( stout的最高级 ); 结实的; 坚固的; 坚定的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
80 specimens | |
n.样品( specimen的名词复数 );范例;(化验的)抽样;某种类型的人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
81 exquisite | |
adj.精美的;敏锐的;剧烈的,感觉强烈的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
82 exquisitely | |
adv.精致地;强烈地;剧烈地;异常地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
83 cultivation | |
n.耕作,培养,栽培(法),养成 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
84 warriors | |
武士,勇士,战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
85 disastrous | |
adj.灾难性的,造成灾害的;极坏的,很糟的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
86 fray | |
v.争吵;打斗;磨损,磨破;n.吵架;打斗 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
87 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
88 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
89 marooned | |
adj.被围困的;孤立无援的;无法脱身的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
90 obstinate | |
adj.顽固的,倔强的,不易屈服的,较难治愈的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
91 plight | |
n.困境,境况,誓约,艰难;vt.宣誓,保证,约定 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
92 concealed | |
a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
93 smuggled | |
水货 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
94 ashore | |
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
95 vigilant | |
adj.警觉的,警戒的,警惕的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
96 incensed | |
盛怒的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
97 tangible | |
adj.有形的,可触摸的,确凿的,实际的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
98 remonstrances | |
n.抱怨,抗议( remonstrance的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
99 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
100 inclement | |
adj.严酷的,严厉的,恶劣的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
101 toil | |
vi.辛劳工作,艰难地行动;n.苦工,难事 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
102 drenching | |
n.湿透v.使湿透( drench的现在分词 );在某人(某物)上大量使用(某液体) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
103 electrifying | |
v.使电气化( electrify的现在分词 );使兴奋 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
104 succor | |
n.援助,帮助;v.给予帮助 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
105 fiery | |
adj.燃烧着的,火红的;暴躁的;激烈的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
106 nadir | |
n.最低点,无底 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
107 wresting | |
动词wrest的现在进行式 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
108 abrogated | |
废除(法律等)( abrogate的过去式和过去分词 ); 取消; 去掉; 抛开 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
109 auxiliary | |
adj.辅助的,备用的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
110 precluded | |
v.阻止( preclude的过去式和过去分词 );排除;妨碍;使…行不通 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
111 bigotry | |
n.偏见,偏执,持偏见的行为[态度]等 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
112 stifling | |
a.令人窒息的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
113 throttling | |
v.扼杀( throttle的现在分词 );勒死;使窒息;压制 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
114 onward | |
adj.向前的,前进的;adv.向前,前进,在先 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
115 kindled | |
(使某物)燃烧,着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 ); 激起(感情等); 发亮,放光 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
116 decadent | |
adj.颓废的,衰落的,堕落的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
117 wrecked | |
adj.失事的,遇难的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
118 zeal | |
n.热心,热情,热忱 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
119 opposition | |
n.反对,敌对 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
120 persecution | |
n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
121 wrung | |
绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 ); 握紧(尤指别人的手); 把(湿衣服)拧干; 绞掉(水) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
122 populous | |
adj.人口稠密的,人口众多的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
123 intercourse | |
n.性交;交流,交往,交际 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
124 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
125 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
126 undertaking | |
n.保证,许诺,事业 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
127 bestow | |
v.把…赠与,把…授予;花费 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
128 inadequately | |
ad.不够地;不够好地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
129 inadequate | |
adj.(for,to)不充足的,不适当的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
130 bishop | |
n.主教,(国际象棋)象 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
131 artillery | |
n.(军)火炮,大炮;炮兵(部队) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
132 bastard | |
n.坏蛋,混蛋;私生子 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
133 chagrined | |
adj.懊恼的,苦恼的v.使懊恼,使懊丧,使悔恨( chagrin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
134 antagonism | |
n.对抗,敌对,对立 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
135 instinctive | |
adj.(出于)本能的;直觉的;(出于)天性的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
136 instinctively | |
adv.本能地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
137 hatred | |
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
138 purely | |
adv.纯粹地,完全地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
139 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
140 gallant | |
adj.英勇的,豪侠的;(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
141 vividly | |
adv.清楚地,鲜明地,生动地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
142 bloody | |
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
143 admiration | |
n.钦佩,赞美,羡慕 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
144 embarked | |
乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 ); 装载; 从事 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
145 attained | |
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
146 ingenuity | |
n.别出心裁;善于发明创造 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
147 excellence | |
n.优秀,杰出,(pl.)优点,美德 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
148 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
149 theocratic | |
adj.神权的,神权政治的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
150 indifference | |
n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
151 domain | |
n.(活动等)领域,范围;领地,势力范围 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
152 domains | |
n.范围( domain的名词复数 );领域;版图;地产 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
153 grandiloquently | |
参考例句: |
|
|
154 brute | |
n.野兽,兽性 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
155 dictated | |
v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 );口授;支配;摆布 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
156 prudent | |
adj.谨慎的,有远见的,精打细算的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
157 herds | |
兽群( herd的名词复数 ); 牧群; 人群; 群众 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
158 domesticated | |
adj.喜欢家庭生活的;(指动物)被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
159 temperate | |
adj.温和的,温带的,自我克制的,不过分的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
160 diversified | |
adj.多样化的,多种经营的v.使多样化,多样化( diversify的过去式和过去分词 );进入新的商业领域 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
161 utilized | |
v.利用,使用( utilize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
162 industrious | |
adj.勤劳的,刻苦的,奋发的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
163 emulated | |
v.与…竞争( emulate的过去式和过去分词 );努力赶上;计算机程序等仿真;模仿 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
164 emulate | |
v.努力赶上或超越,与…竞争;效仿 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
165 curiously | |
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
166 strings | |
n.弦 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
167 erect | |
n./v.树立,建立,使竖立;adj.直立的,垂直的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
168 marvels | |
n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 );令人惊奇的事物(或事例);不平凡的成果;成就v.惊奇,对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
169 frail | |
adj.身体虚弱的;易损坏的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
170 copper | |
n.铜;铜币;铜器;adj.铜(制)的;(紫)铜色的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
171 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
172 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
173 conclusively | |
adv.令人信服地,确凿地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
174 adoration | |
n.爱慕,崇拜 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
175 manifestation | |
n.表现形式;表明;现象 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
176 monarchs | |
君主,帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
177 monarch | |
n.帝王,君主,最高统治者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
178 dominion | |
n.统治,管辖,支配权;领土,版图 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
179 reign | |
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
180 doting | |
adj.溺爱的,宠爱的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
181 massacres | |
大屠杀( massacre的名词复数 ); 惨败 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
182 massacre | |
n.残杀,大屠杀;v.残杀,集体屠杀 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
183 instigated | |
v.使(某事物)开始或发生,鼓动( instigate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
184 devastated | |
v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词);摧毁;毁灭;在感情上(精神上、财务上等)压垮adj.毁坏的;极为震惊的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
185 internecine | |
adj.两败俱伤的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
186 languished | |
长期受苦( languish的过去式和过去分词 ); 受折磨; 变得(越来越)衰弱; 因渴望而变得憔悴或闷闷不乐 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
187 gasping | |
adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
188 usurper | |
n. 篡夺者, 僭取者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
189 strife | |
n.争吵,冲突,倾轧,竞争 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
190 warfare | |
n.战争(状态);斗争;冲突 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
191 prostrate | |
v.拜倒,平卧,衰竭;adj.拜倒的,平卧的,衰竭的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
192 exhausted | |
adj.极其疲惫的,精疲力尽的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
193 treacherous | |
adj.不可靠的,有暗藏的危险的;adj.背叛的,背信弃义的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
194 fortified | |
adj. 加强的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
195 ERECTED | |
adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
196 valiant | |
adj.勇敢的,英勇的;n.勇士,勇敢的人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
197 mustered | |
v.集合,召集,集结(尤指部队)( muster的过去式和过去分词 );(自他人处)搜集某事物;聚集;激发 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
198 deducting | |
v.扣除,减去( deduct的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
199 garrison | |
n.卫戍部队;驻地,卫戍区;vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
200 insignificant | |
adj.无关紧要的,可忽略的,无意义的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
201 Augmented | |
adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
202 acting | |
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
203 molestation | |
n.骚扰,干扰,调戏;折磨 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
204 permeated | |
弥漫( permeate的过去式和过去分词 ); 遍布; 渗入; 渗透 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
205 hesitation | |
n.犹豫,踌躇 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
206 reluctance | |
n.厌恶,讨厌,勉强,不情愿 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
207 unwillingness | |
n. 不愿意,不情愿 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
208 illiterate | |
adj.文盲的;无知的;n.文盲 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
209 adroit | |
adj.熟练的,灵巧的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
210 adroitly | |
adv.熟练地,敏捷地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
211 infantry | |
n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
212 expedient | |
adj.有用的,有利的;n.紧急的办法,权宜之计 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
213 purged | |
清除(政敌等)( purge的过去式和过去分词 ); 涤除(罪恶等); 净化(心灵、风气等); 消除(错事等)的不良影响 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
214 envoys | |
使节( envoy的名词复数 ); 公使; 谈判代表; 使节身份 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
215 superstitious | |
adj.迷信的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
216 reverence | |
n.敬畏,尊敬,尊严;Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称;v.尊敬,敬畏,崇敬 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
217 invaders | |
入侵者,侵略者,侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
218 steadily | |
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
219 catching | |
adj.易传染的,有魅力的,迷人的,接住 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
220 surmounted | |
战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 ); 克服(困难); 居于…之上; 在…顶上 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
221 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
222 amazement | |
n.惊奇,惊讶 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
223 apprehension | |
n.理解,领悟;逮捕,拘捕;忧虑 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
224 mingled | |
混合,混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 ); 混进,与…交往[联系] | |
参考例句: |
|
|
225 sleet | |
n.雨雪;v.下雨雪,下冰雹 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
226 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
227 plaza | |
n.广场,市场 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
228 fortress | |
n.堡垒,防御工事 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
229 repose | |
v.(使)休息;n.安息 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
230 defense | |
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
231 slings | |
抛( sling的第三人称单数 ); 吊挂; 遣送; 押往 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
232 vouchsafing | |
v.给予,赐予( vouchsafe的现在分词 );允诺 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
233 demeanor | |
n.行为;风度 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
234 accomplished | |
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
235 centaur | |
n.人首马身的怪物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
236 prance | |
v.(马)腾跃,(人)神气活现地走 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
237 reining | |
勒缰绳使(马)停步( rein的现在分词 ); 驾驭; 严格控制; 加强管理 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
238 dexterity | |
n.(手的)灵巧,灵活 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
239 affronted | |
adj.被侮辱的,被冒犯的v.勇敢地面对( affront的过去式和过去分词 );相遇 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
240 avalanche | |
n.雪崩,大量涌来 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
241 cowardice | |
n.胆小,怯懦 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
242 worthily | |
重要地,可敬地,正当地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
243 frightful | |
adj.可怕的;讨厌的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
244 defiles | |
v.玷污( defile的第三人称单数 );污染;弄脏;纵列行进 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
245 abominably | |
adv. 可恶地,可恨地,恶劣地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
246 derived | |
vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
247 valor | |
n.勇气,英勇 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
248 appellation | |
n.名称,称呼 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
249 perturbed | |
adj.烦燥不安的v.使(某人)烦恼,不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
250 momentous | |
adj.重要的,重大的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
251 severely | |
adv.严格地;严厉地;非常恶劣地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
252 censured | |
v.指责,非难,谴责( censure的过去式 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
253 censure | |
v./n.责备;非难;责难 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
254 outrage | |
n.暴行,侮辱,愤怒;vt.凌辱,激怒 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
255 whatsoever | |
adv.(用于否定句中以加强语气)任何;pron.无论什么 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
256 seizure | |
n.没收;占有;抵押 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
257 undone | |
a.未做完的,未完成的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
258 hazardous | |
adj.(有)危险的,冒险的;碰运气的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
259 ecclesiastic | |
n.教士,基督教会;adj.神职者的,牧师的,教会的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
260 refreshments | |
n.点心,便餐;(会议后的)简单茶点招 待 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
261 annoyance | |
n.恼怒,生气,烦恼 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
262 defer | |
vt.推迟,拖延;vi.(to)遵从,听从,服从 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
263 previously | |
adv.以前,先前(地) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
264 ascertaining | |
v.弄清,确定,查明( ascertain的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
265 retinue | |
n.侍从;随员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
266 texture | |
n.(织物)质地;(材料)构造;结构;肌理 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
267 embroidered | |
adj.绣花的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
268 ornamented | |
adj.花式字体的v.装饰,点缀,美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
269 scarlet | |
n.深红色,绯红色,红衣;adj.绯红色的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
270 diadem | |
n.王冠,冕 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
271 eyebrows | |
眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
272 tassel | |
n.流苏,穗;v.抽穗, (玉米)长穗须 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
273 attired | |
adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服,使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
274 impede | |
v.妨碍,阻碍,阻止 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
275 watchful | |
adj.注意的,警惕的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
276 sentries | |
哨兵,步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
277 precocious | |
adj.早熟的;较早显出的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
278 rascal | |
n.流氓;不诚实的人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
279 uncouth | |
adj.无教养的,粗鲁的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
280 expressive | |
adj.表现的,表达…的,富于表情的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
281 briefly | |
adv.简单地,简短地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
282 doctrines | |
n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 );教义;学说;(政府政策的)正式声明 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
283 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
284 supremacy | |
n.至上;至高权力 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
285 majesty | |
n.雄伟,壮丽,庄严,威严;最高权威,王权 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
286 vile | |
adj.卑鄙的,可耻的,邪恶的;坏透的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
287 Christians | |
n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
288 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
289 repulsed | |
v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 );驳斥;拒绝 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
290 disdain | |
n.鄙视,轻视;v.轻视,鄙视,不屑 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
291 wrenching | |
n.修截苗根,苗木铲根(铲根时苗木不起土或部分起土)v.(猛力地)扭( wrench的现在分词 );扭伤;使感到痛苦;使悲痛 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
292 murmur | |
n.低语,低声的怨言;v.低语,低声而言 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
293 absolve | |
v.赦免,解除(责任等) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
294 injustice | |
n.非正义,不公正,不公平,侵犯(别人的)权利 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
295 doorway | |
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
296 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
297 tornado | |
n.飓风,龙卷风 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
298 seething | |
沸腾的,火热的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
299 daze | |
v.(使)茫然,(使)发昏 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
300 precipitated | |
v.(突如其来地)使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 );促成;猛然摔下;使沉淀 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
301 frenzied | |
a.激怒的;疯狂的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
302 futile | |
adj.无效的,无用的,无希望的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
303 relentlessly | |
adv.不屈不挠地;残酷地;不间断 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
304 dispersed | |
adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
305 slain | |
杀死,宰杀,杀戮( slay的过去分词 ); (slay的过去分词) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
306 consummated | |
v.使结束( consummate的过去式和过去分词 );使完美;完婚;(婚礼后的)圆房 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
307 ransom | |
n.赎金,赎身;v.赎回,解救 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
308 captivity | |
n.囚禁;被俘;束缚 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
309 deposed | |
v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 );(在法庭上)宣誓作证 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
310 implicitly | |
adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
311 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
312 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
313 horrified | |
a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
314 brutal | |
adj.残忍的,野蛮的,不讲理的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
315 assassination | |
n.暗杀;暗杀事件 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
316 acquit | |
vt.宣判无罪;(oneself)使(自己)表现出 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
317 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
318 delirious | |
adj.不省人事的,神智昏迷的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
319 stipulated | |
vt.& vi.规定;约定adj.[法]合同规定的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
320 tassels | |
n.穗( tassel的名词复数 );流苏状物;(植物的)穗;玉蜀黍的穗状雄花v.抽穗, (玉米)长穗须( tassel的第三人称单数 );使抽穗, (为了使作物茁壮生长)摘去穗状雄花;用流苏装饰 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
321 rapacity | |
n.贪婪,贪心,劫掠的欲望 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
322 chambers | |
n.房间( chamber的名词复数 );(议会的)议院;卧室;会议厅 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
323 deluge | |
n./vt.洪水,暴雨,使泛滥 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
324 notary | |
n.公证人,公证员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
325 plentiful | |
adj.富裕的,丰富的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
326 averred | |
v.断言( aver的过去式和过去分词 );证实;证明…属实;作为事实提出 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
327 creditors | |
n.债权人,债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
328 debtors | |
n.债务人,借方( debtor的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
329 opulence | |
n.财富,富裕 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
330 revelling | |
v.作乐( revel的现在分词 );狂欢;着迷;陶醉 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
331 followers | |
追随者( follower的名词复数 ); 用户; 契据的附面; 从动件 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
332 trifling | |
adj.微不足道的;没什么价值的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
333 disposition | |
n.性情,性格;意向,倾向;排列,部署 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
334 infamy | |
n.声名狼藉,出丑,恶行 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
335 dissuade | |
v.劝阻,阻止 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
336 conspiring | |
密谋( conspire的现在分词 ); 搞阴谋; (事件等)巧合; 共同导致 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
337 manly | |
adj.有男子气概的;adv.男子般地,果断地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
338 scruples | |
n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 );顾虑,顾忌v.感到于心不安,有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
339 accusations | |
n.指责( accusation的名词复数 );指控;控告;(被告发、控告的)罪名 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
340 usurped | |
篡夺,霸占( usurp的过去式和过去分词 ); 盗用; 篡夺,篡权 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
341 prerogatives | |
n.权利( prerogative的名词复数 );特权;大主教法庭;总督委任组成的法庭 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
342 incite | |
v.引起,激动,煽动 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
343 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
344 farce | |
n.闹剧,笑剧,滑稽戏;胡闹 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
345 interpretations | |
n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 );表演;演绎;理解 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
346 courageous | |
adj.勇敢的,有胆量的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
347 concurring | |
同时发生的,并发的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
348 fortitude | |
n.坚忍不拔;刚毅 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
349 besought | |
v.恳求,乞求(某事物)( beseech的过去式和过去分词 );(beseech的过去式与过去分词) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
350 promising | |
adj.有希望的,有前途的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
351 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
352 interfere | |
v.(in)干涉,干预;(with)妨碍,打扰 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
353 paraphrase | |
vt.将…释义,改写;n.释义,意义 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
354 villain | |
n.反派演员,反面人物;恶棍;问题的起因 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
355 lamenting | |
adj.悲伤的,悲哀的v.(为…)哀悼,痛哭,悲伤( lament的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
356 flickering | |
adj.闪烁的,摇曳的,一闪一闪的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
357 tragic | |
adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
358 fetters | |
n.脚镣( fetter的名词复数 );束缚v.给…上脚镣,束缚( fetter的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
359 resolutely | |
adj.坚决地,果断地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
360 lust | |
n.性(淫)欲;渴(欲)望;vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
361 consolation | |
n.安慰,慰问 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
362 concurred | |
同意(concur的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
363 abjured | |
v.发誓放弃( abjure的过去式和过去分词 );郑重放弃(意见);宣布撤回(声明等);避免 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
364 profanation | |
n.亵渎 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
365 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
366 creed | |
n.信条;信念,纲领 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
367 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
368 miseries | |
n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 );痛苦的事;穷困;常发牢骚的人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
369 trampled | |
踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 ); 践踏; 无视; 侵犯 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
370 chili | |
n.辣椒 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
371 confinement | |
n.幽禁,拘留,监禁;分娩;限制,局限 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
372 somnolent | |
adj.想睡的,催眠的;adv.瞌睡地;昏昏欲睡地;使人瞌睡地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
373 crooked | |
adj.弯曲的;不诚实的,狡猾的,不正当的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
374 filthy | |
adj.卑劣的;恶劣的,肮脏的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
375 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
376 sewer | |
n.排水沟,下水道 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
377 smoothly | |
adv.平滑地,顺利地,流利地,流畅地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
378 armories | |
n.纹章( armory的名词复数 );纹章学;兵工厂;军械库 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
379 marvelled | |
v.惊奇,对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
380 quarried | |
v.从采石场采得( quarry的过去式和过去分词 );从(书本等中)努力发掘(资料等);在采石场采石 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
381 zigzag | |
n.曲折,之字形;adj.曲折的,锯齿形的;adv.曲折地,成锯齿形地;vt.使曲折;vi.曲折前行 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
382 citadel | |
n.城堡;堡垒;避难所 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
383 lavish | |
adj.无节制的;浪费的;vt.慷慨地给予,挥霍 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
384 generosity | |
n.大度,慷慨,慷慨的行为 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
385 prudence | |
n.谨慎,精明,节俭 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
386 eastward | |
adv.向东;adj.向东的;n.东方,东部 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
387 brewing | |
n. 酿造, 一次酿造的量 动词brew的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
388 conspiracy | |
n.阴谋,密谋,共谋 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
389 thither | |
adv.向那里;adj.在那边的,对岸的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
390 partisans | |
游击队员( partisan的名词复数 ); 党人; 党羽; 帮伙 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
391 profaned | |
v.不敬( profane的过去式和过去分词 );亵渎,玷污 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
392 outraged | |
a.震惊的,义愤填膺的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
393 awakened | |
v.(使)醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 );(使)觉醒;弄醒;(使)意识到 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
394 patriotic | |
adj.爱国的,有爱国心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
395 patriot | |
n.爱国者,爱国主义者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
396 vassals | |
n.奴仆( vassal的名词复数 );(封建时代)诸侯;从属者;下属 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
397 resounded | |
v.(指声音等)回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 );产生回响;(指某处)回荡着声音 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
398 hereditary | |
adj.遗传的,遗传性的,可继承的,世袭的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
399 heroism | |
n.大无畏精神,英勇 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
400 detested | |
v.憎恶,嫌恶,痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
401 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
402 auxiliaries | |
n.助动词 ( auxiliary的名词复数 );辅助工,辅助人员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
403 stifled | |
(使)窒息, (使)窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 ); 镇压,遏制; 堵 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
404 scorched | |
烧焦,烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 ); 使(植物)枯萎,把…晒枯; 高速行驶; 枯焦 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
405 parched | |
adj.焦干的;极渴的;v.(使)焦干 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
406 hurled | |
v.猛投,用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 );大声叫骂 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
407 dint | |
n.由于,靠;凹坑 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
408 barricaded | |
设路障于,以障碍物阻塞( barricade的过去式和过去分词 ); 设路障[防御工事]保卫或固守 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
409 debris | |
n.瓦砾堆,废墟,碎片 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
410 slaughter | |
n.屠杀,屠宰;vt.屠杀,宰杀 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
411 odds | |
n.让步,机率,可能性,比率;胜败优劣之别 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
412 aggregated | |
a.聚合的,合计的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
413 dissuaded | |
劝(某人)勿做某事,劝阻( dissuade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
414 detailed | |
adj.详细的,详尽的,极注意细节的,完全的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
415 galloped | |
(使马)飞奔,奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 ); 快速做[说]某事 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
416 detour | |
n.绕行的路,迂回路;v.迂回,绕道 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
417 literally | |
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
418 defenders | |
n.防御者( defender的名词复数 );守卫者;保护者;辩护者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
419 subterranean | |
adj.地下的,地表下的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
420 falter | |
vi.(嗓音)颤抖,结巴地说;犹豫;蹒跚 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
421 disdained | |
鄙视( disdain的过去式和过去分词 ); 不屑于做,不愿意做 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
422 defiance | |
n.挑战,挑衅,蔑视,违抗 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
423 valiantly | |
adv.勇敢地,英勇地;雄赳赳 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
424 respite | |
n.休息,中止,暂缓 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
425 besieged | |
包围,围困,围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
426 craving | |
n.渴望,热望 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
427 extricated | |
v.使摆脱困难,脱身( extricate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
428 promenade | |
n./v.散步 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
429 fugitive | |
adj.逃亡的,易逝的;n.逃犯,逃亡者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
430 plighted | |
vt.保证,约定(plight的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
431 pithily | |
adv.有力地,简洁地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
432 jovial | |
adj.快乐的,好交际的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
433 abruptly | |
adv.突然地,出其不意地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
434 engendered | |
v.产生(某形势或状况),造成,引起( engender的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
435 admonished | |
v.劝告( admonish的过去式和过去分词 );训诫;(温和地)责备;轻责 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
436 interfered | |
v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 );调停;妨碍;干涉 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
437 trumped | |
v.(牌戏)出王牌赢(一牌或一墩)( trump的过去分词 );吹号公告,吹号庆祝;吹喇叭;捏造 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
438 vainglorious | |
adj.自负的;夸大的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
439 incompetent | |
adj.无能力的,不能胜任的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
440 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
441 abiding | |
adj.永久的,持久的,不变的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
442 guardianship | |
n. 监护, 保护, 守护 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
443 precarious | |
adj.不安定的,靠不住的;根据不足的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
444 nefarious | |
adj.恶毒的,极坏的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
445 casually | |
adv.漠不关心地,无动于衷地,不负责任地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
446 tumult | |
n.喧哗;激动,混乱;吵闹 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
447 buckle | |
n.扣子,带扣;v.把...扣住,由于压力而弯曲 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
448 parley | |
n.谈判 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
449 stoutly | |
adv.牢固地,粗壮的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
450 pealing | |
v.(使)(钟等)鸣响,(雷等)发出隆隆声( peal的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
451 conspirators | |
n.共谋者,阴谋家( conspirator的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
452 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
453 transit | |
n.经过,运输;vt.穿越,旋转;vi.越过 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
454 zealous | |
adj.狂热的,热心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
455 sketches | |
n.草图( sketch的名词复数 );素描;速写;梗概 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
456 persistency | |
n. 坚持(余辉, 时间常数) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
457 swerve | |
v.突然转向,背离;n.转向,弯曲,背离 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
458 faculty | |
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
459 adverse | |
adj.不利的;有害的;敌对的,不友好的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
460 atrocities | |
n.邪恶,暴行( atrocity的名词复数 );滔天大罪 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
461 redeem | |
v.买回,赎回,挽回,恢复,履行(诺言等) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
462 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
463 mitigate | |
vt.(使)减轻,(使)缓和 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
464 anarchy | |
n.无政府状态;社会秩序混乱,无秩序 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
465 diminution | |
n.减少;变小 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
466 questionable | |
adj.可疑的,有问题的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
467 perpetuated | |
vt.使永存(perpetuate的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
468 fealty | |
n.忠贞,忠节 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
469 lieutenants | |
n.陆军中尉( lieutenant的名词复数 );副职官员;空军;仅低于…官阶的官员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
470 lieutenant | |
n.陆军中尉,海军上尉;代理官员,副职官员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
471 desperately | |
adv.极度渴望地,绝望地,孤注一掷地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
472 beseeching | |
adj.恳求似的v.恳求,乞求(某事物)( beseech的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
473 partially | |
adv.部分地,从某些方面讲 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
474 dictatorial | |
adj. 独裁的,专断的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
475 bloodiest | |
adj.血污的( bloody的最高级 );流血的;屠杀的;残忍的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
476 obnoxious | |
adj.极恼人的,讨人厌的,可憎的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
477 repealed | |
撤销,废除( repeal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
478 confiscated | |
没收,充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
479 picturesque | |
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
480 inscription | |
n.(尤指石块上的)刻印文字,铭文,碑文 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
481 traitor | |
n.叛徒,卖国贼 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
482 assassinate | |
vt.暗杀,行刺,中伤 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
483 puddle | |
n.(雨)水坑,泥潭 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
484 overflowed | |
溢出的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
485 wade | |
v.跋涉,涉水;n.跋涉 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
486 peremptorily | |
adv.紧急地,不容分说地,专横地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |