The two armies met on the plains of Quipaypan, in the
neighbourhood of the Indian metropolis. Their numbers are stated
with the usual discrepancy; but Atahuallpa's troops had
considerably the advantage in discipline and experience, for many
of Huascar's levies had been drawn hastily together from the
surrounding country. Both fought, however, with the desperation
of men who felt that everything was at stake. It was no longer a
contest for a province, but for the possession of an empire.
Atahuallpa's troops, flushed with recent success, fought with the
confidence of those who relied on their superior prowess; while
the loyal vassals of the Inca displayed all the self-devotion of
men who held their own lives cheap in the service of their
master.
The fight raged with the greatest obstinacy from sunrise to
sunset; and the ground was covered with heaps of the dying and
the dead, whose bones lay bleaching on the battle-field long
after the conquest by the Spaniards. At length, fortune declared
in favor of Atahuallpa; or rather, the usual result of superior
discipline and military practice followed. The ranks of the Inca
were thrown into irretrievable disorder, and gave way in all
directions. The conquerors followed close on the heels of the
flying. Huascar himself, among the latter, endeavoured to make
his escape with about a thousand men who remained round his
person. But the royal fugitive was discovered before he had left
the field; his little party was enveloped by clouds of the enemy,
and nearly every one of the devoted band perished in defence of
their Inca.
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