South American Fights and Fighters, and Other Tales of Adventure Read online

  [1] "What is this, Francisco Pizarro?" Balboa asked, in greatastonishment, of his former lieutenant and comrade, meeting him and hissoldiers on the way with the order of arrest. "You were not wont tocome out in this fashion to receive me!"

  [2] Magellan had crossed it from the south five years before.

  [3] Prescott, to whose remarkable accuracy, considering the time inwhich he wrote, the authorities at his command, and the disabilitiesunder which he labored, I am glad to testify, in view of the prevalentopinion that his books are literature and not history, says thirteen;Helps says fifteen, while Markham and Fiske say sixteen. Kirk verifiesPrescott's conclusion with a good argument. One thing there is towhich no one but Prescott seems to have called attention or explained.Everybody says Ruiz, the old pilot, was the first to follow Pizarroacross the line. If so, he must have stepped back again, probably atPizarro's request, for six months later we find him leaving Panama incharge of the ship which took Pizarro and his devoted subordinates offthe Island of Gorgona. Ruiz could only have reached Panama in Tafur'sship. Certain it is that only thirteen men were ennobled for theirheroic constancy on the Island of Gallo, as we shall see later. Thethree names added to Prescott's list are put there on the authority ofGarcilasso de la Vega, the son of a Spanish cavalier and an Incaprincess. Two of the three men he mentions he claims told himpersonally that they had been of the heroic band which had refused toabandon Pizarro. Such claims made by men who may really believe themto be true after the event, are not rare in history.

  Whatever the exact number, there were but a handful. The rest,choosing Panama, remained on the north side of the line, and I have nodoubt regretted their decision for the rest of their lives.

  [4] Generally speaking, the Peruvians were monogamous, except in caseof the Inca, who had as many wives as he wished, and who sometimesrewarded exceptional services by allowing some favored adherent anextra wife.

  [5] The exact number varies with different authorities, none of whom,however, makes the total greater than two hundred.

  [6] Napoleon at Toulon succeeded in getting volunteers to man aparticularly dangerous artillery outpost swept by the guns of theenemy, by the simple expedient of denominating the position as the"Battery of the Fearless," or the "Battery of those who are notafraid." Even better than Pizarro, this great Corsican soldier offortune knew how to handle his men.

  [7] Authorities differ as to which it was. The matter is not material,anyway.

  [8] The ransom of King John II. of France, taken prisoner by the BlackPrince, was three million golden crowns. The value of the ancient ecude la couronne varied between $1.50 and $1.30, so that the ransom ofJohn was between four and one-half and seven million dollars.Estimating the purchasing power of money in John's time at two andone-half times that of the present, we arrive at a ransom of betweeneleven and eighteen million dollars. If we split the difference andcall the ransom fourteen and a half millions, we still find that theChristian monarch was slightly undervalued as compared with his heathenfellow in misery. However, all this is profitless, because the ransomof John was never paid.

  [9] Query: Does the reader not wish that the Peruvians had succeeded?Indeed, how can the reader help wishing that? Yet would it have beenbetter for the world if the Peruvians had succeeded in expelling theSpaniards, or would it have been worse? These questions afford matterfor interesting speculation.