A reconciliation consequently took
place, sufficient, at least in outward show, to allow the two
commanders to act together in concert. Almagro's plan was then
adopted; and it only remained to find out the most secure and
convenient spot for Pizarro's quarters.
[Footnote 25: "Como iba, i venia en los Navios, adonde no le
faltaba Vitualla, no padecia la miseria de la hambre, i otras
angustias que tenian, i ponian a todos en estrema congoja."
(Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 3, lib. 10, cap. 2.) The cavaliers
of Cortes and Pizarro however doughty their achievements,
certainly fell short of those knights-errant, commemorated by
Hudibras, who,
"As some think,
Of old did neither eat nor drink;
Because, when thorough deserts vast
And regions desolate they past,
Unless they grazed, there's not one word
Of their provision on record;
Which made some confidently write,
They had no stomachs but to fight."]
Several days were passed in touching at different parts of the
coast, as they retraced their course; but everywhere the natives
appeared to have caught the alarm, and assumed a menacing, and
from their numbers a formidable, aspect. The more northerly
region, with its unwholesome fens and forest, where nature wages
a war even more relentless than man, was not to be thought of.
In this perplexity, they decided on the little island of Gallo,
as being, on the whole, from its distance from the shore, and
from the scantiness of its population, the most eligible spot for
them in their forlorn and destitute condition.
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