" (Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms.) This way of
accounting for the panic of the barbarians is certainly quite as
credible as the explanation, under similar circumstances,
afforded by the apparition of the militant apostle St. James, so
often noticed by the historians of these wars.]
A council of war was now called. It was evident that the forces
of the Spaniards were unequal to a contest with so numerous and
well-appointed a body of natives; and, even if they should
prevail here, they could have no hope of stemming the torrent
which must rise against them in their progress - for the country
was becoming more and more thickly settled, and towns and hamlets
started into view at every new headland which they doubled. It
was better, in the opinion of some, - the faint-hearted, - to
abandon the enterprise at once, as beyond their strength. But
Almagro took a different view of the affair. "To go home," he
said, "with nothing done, would be ruin, as well as disgrace.
There was scarcely one but had left creditors at Panama, who
looked for payment to the fruits of this expedition. To go home
now would be to deliver themselves at once into their hands. It
would be to go to prison. Better to roam a freeman, though in
the wilderness, than to lie bound with fetters in the dungeons of
Panama. *24 The only course for them," he concluded, "was the one
lately pursued. Pizarro might find some more commodious place
where he could remain with part of the force, while he himself
went back for recruits to Panama.
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