Summary

The story is narrated by a Spanish conquistador. He recalled how he had accidentally killed a native woman who approached him from behind. While he wept over her body, he heard footsteps approaching. Uncomfortable at the narrator’s apparent emotion, his men encountered him kneeling next to the woman and asked him what he had done. He lied and told them he had raped her to death. He then related various episodes of conquest, imagined his life in Spain on his return and his desires for a quiet life with a family while continuously returning to the death of this woman. He described how when he had showed hesitation in destroying a village, he saw the look of disgust in his men’s eyes. He described how his need for gold was purely so that he could pay back his...