How the messengers arrived at the camp of Vaca de Castro, how it was learnt that Don Diego had left Vilcas, how Pedro Anzures went to reconnoitre; and how the opposing forces approached to give battle, each leader animating his men and exhorting them to fight.

THE time was now approaching when the hills of Chupas would be sprinkled with the blood of men who were born in Spain, to bear witness in future times that the herbs and stunted bushes growing on them are seedlings sprung from Spanish elements. And you! ghosts of Tabogan captains, if one may call you such, there in the place where your deeds have laid you, gaze upon the[266] fabric you have woven, and watch how your ever-binding oath is accomplished to the utmost! Ay, remember the famous Incas, with their Huayna Capac, and consider the dire vengeance being exacted for the ruin brought about in the Yupanqui lineage, and whether other weapons were not called for rather than those by whose means rash men brought about and wreaked that havoc. And you Romans! who so exalt the events that occurred in your Rome during the civil wars, see how there arose another mad struggle, near the equator, so long-drawn that eleven years sped by before it ended, wherein there were not wanting its Curios, its Scaevolas, its Centalios, nor its Brutuses! For in this war, while hearts were transfixed by lance, and bullets tore by their impetuosity the entrails and the caul, as if to cast the soul out by the mouth, some gave the battle cry "Almagro!" and others "Pizarro!" but all shouted for "the King!" I know not how I shall set about relating such a horror, nor which side I can lock upon as in the right, but, after all, tyranny is a fearsome and hateful thing before the divine throne. And since I must not leave unfinished the task I have begun—though many times I have stayed my hand, and thrust the paper on one side that we might escape the sooner from such pangs—it will be necessary to relate what Lope de Idiáquez and the factor Mercado did when they left the camp which was about to become a sacrifice to its own folly. They were not a little glad to find themselves clear of it, and at once made for Guamanga.

The Governor, Vaca de Castro, having sent the messengers, and with them, as their text, the law of the Partida, which, according to the lawyers, declares those who deny obedience to the king to be traitors, he held a consultation with the principal leaders in his camp. Learning from the Indian Chiefs that Don Diego had departed from Vilcas, and suspecting that he might be going by the route of[267] Guaytara to Lima, where he would do even more harm than when he killed the Marquis, Vaca de Castro moved his forces from where they had halted, and marched that day, which was a Friday, until they took up a position on the level ground of CHUPAS. This was done on the advice of them all.

That night there was a storm so violent that nothing short of torrents of water fell from the clouds and thickness, accompanied by loud peals of thunder, insomuch that the very elements appeared to be enemies. They passed a very troublous night, for many soldiers had no protection from the rain for the arms they would have to fight with on the following day; and if the armies should meet it seemed likely that the artillery and arquebuses could do little harm. If this battle were being joined in Spain, or if one host encountered another in Italy, there would be no cause for wonder, and nothing need be stated beyond the fact that two thousand men met to kill each other. But it is a striking and remarkable thing that, after making such protracted voyages as those by way of the Southern Ocean, and arriving in driblets a few at a time, so many of our people should join together, and that, though in the aggregate their numbers are not large, they should cause all the nations and regions from the Strait to the uttermost parts of the land to tremble, without the barbarians daring to oppose them. I know well that two thousand Spaniards outside my country, wherever they may be, are feared, and that they can carry on civil war with terrible savagery, as will presently be shown by the case of a soldier who filled the post of Sergeant-major in the force of Vaca de Castro.[123] Never was a Marius, or Sylla, a Dionisius, or Falaris, his equal in cruelty; for in[268] every phase of cruelty he showed himself a past master of the class I have mentioned and the trees[124] from Quito to the hill-crest of Potosí bear witness to it.

And now when the night was far spent an............