The remainder, which belonged to the
troops, he persuaded them to relinquish for the present; under
the assurance of being repaid from the first spoils that fell
into their hands. *6 With these funds, and other articles
collected in the course of the campaign, he sent back the vessels
to Panama. The gold was applied to paying off the ship-owners,
and those who had furnished the stores for the expedition. That
he should so easily have persuaded his men to resign present
possession for a future contingency is proof that the spirit of
enterprise was renewed in their bosoms in all its former vigor,
and that they looked forward with the same buoyant confidence to
the results.
[Footnote 6: "E sacado el quinto para su Magestad, lo restante
que pertenecio al Egercito de la Conquista, el Gobernador le tomo
prestado de los companeros para se lo pagal del primer oro que se
obiese." Oviedo, Hist. de las Indias, Ms. Parte 3, lib. 8, cap.
2.]
In his late tour of observation, the Spanish commander had
gathered much important intelligence in regard to the state of
the kingdom. He had ascertained the result of the struggle
between the Inca brothers, and that the victor now lay with his
army encamped at the distance of only ten or twelve days' journey
from San Miguel. The accounts he heard of the opulence and power
of that monarch, and of his great southern capital, perfectly
corresponded with the general rumors before received; and
contained, therefore, something to stagger the confidence, as
well as to stimulate the cupidity, of the invaders.
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