It was so late, that Pizarro resolved to defer his
entrance till the following morning.
[Footnote 27: "Y dos horas antes que el Sol se pusiese, llegaron
a vista de la ciudad del Cuzco. "Relacion del Primer. Descub.,
Ms]
That night vigilant guard was kept in the camp, and the soldiers
slept on their arms. But it passed away without annoyance from
the enemy, and early on the following day, November 15, 1533,
Pizarro prepared for his entrance into the Peruvian capital. *28
[Footnote 28: The chronicles differ as to the precise date.
There can be no better authorities than Pedro Sancho's narrative
and the Letter of the Magistrates of Xauxa, which have followed
in the text]
The little army was formed into three divisions, of which the
centre, or "battle," as it was called, was led by the general.
The suburbs were thronged with a countless multitude of the
natives, who had flocked from the city and the surrounding
country to witness the showy, and, to them, startling pageant.
All looked with eager curiosity on the strangers, the fame of
whose terrible exploits had spread to the remotest parts of the
empire. They gazed with astonishment on their dazzling arms and
fair complexions, which seemed to proclaim them the true Children
of the Sun; and they listened with feelings of mysterious dread,
as the trumpet sent forth its prolonged notes through the streets
of the capital, and the solid ground shook under the heavy tramp
of the cavalry.
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