this very moment for the return of Almagro. Marching up with his grim
and travel-worn band, he found himself before Cuzco, surveying the
beleaguered Spaniards and the investing Incas.

Manco Capac had gleaned something of the disputes between the European
leaders. He made advances to Almagro, and did all he could to win him to
his side; but Almagro, little cause though he had to love Pizarro,
proved himself stanch. He was in consequence attacked by the Inca
troops, but these he repulsed with heavy losses, and then entered Cuzco
in triumph. Manco Capac himself escaped, and retired to the other side
of the Andes.

[Illustration: INDIAN HUTS ON THE RIVER CHIPURANA.]

Almagro was destined to receive small thanks for his intervention. The
aged _conquistador_ laid claim to the city as part of his own dominions,
and this woke into fresh activity the warfare between himself and
Francisco Pizarro. Almagro, defeated, lost his head, a white and
seventy-year-old head though it was. His fate by no means ended the
tragedies in Peru. The current of sinister events was running here in a
strangely full flood. It was only three years afterwards that Pizarro
himself was murdered by his enemies, the adherents of Almagro's son,
whom they wished to see elevated to the Governorship of the country, an
event which actually occurred, although it proved of very short
duration.

By the time this had come about, the power of the Incas had been broken
for good and all, so far as practical purposes were concerned. Driven
from their temples and strongholds, certain sections of the race
survived, although among them were remarkably few of the noble families