When brought before the
Spanish commander, he exonerated himself from any share in the
violence offered to the white men, saying that it was done by a
lawless party of his people, without his knowledge at the time;
and he expressed his willingness to deliver them up to
punishment, if they could be detected. He explained the
dilapidated condition of the town by the long wars carried on
with the fierce tribes of Puna, who had at length succeeded in
getting possession of the place, and driving the inhabitants into
the neighbouring woods and mountains. The Inca, to whose cause
they were attached, was too much occupied with his own feuds to
protect them against their enemies.
Whether Pizarro gave any credit to the cacique's exculpation of
himself may be doubted. He dissembled his suspicions, however,
and, as the Indian lord promised obedience in his own name, and
that of his vassals, the Spanish general consented to take no
further notice of the affair. He seems now to have felt for the
first time, in its full force, that it was his policy to gain the
good-will of the people among whom he had thrown himself in the
face of such tremendous odds. It was, perhaps, the excesses of
which his men had been guilty in the earlier stages of the
expedition that had shaken the confidence of the people of
Tumbez, and incited them to this treacherous retaliation.
Pizarro inquired of the natives who now, under promise of
impunity, came into the camp, what had become of his two
followers that remained with them in the former expedition.
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