To carry their plans into effect, it became necessary that the
Inca Manco should leave the city and present himself among his
people. He found no difficulty in withdrawing from Cuzco, where
his presence was scarcely heeded by the Spaniards, as his nominal
power was held in little deference by the haughty and confident
Conquerors. But in the capital there was a body of Indian allies
more jealous of his movements. These were from the tribe of the
Canares, a warlike race of the north, too recently reduced by the
Incas to have much sympathy with them or their institutions.
There were about a thousand of this people in the place, and, as
they had conceived some suspicion of the Inca's purposes, they
kept an eye on his movements, and speedily reported his absence
to Juan Pizarro.
That cavalier, at the head of a small body of horse, instantly
marched in pursuit of the fugitive, whom he was so fortunate as
to discover in a thicket of reeds, in which he sought to conceal
himself, at no great distance from the city. Manco was arrested,
brought back a prisoner to Cuzco, and placed under a strong guard
in the fortress. The conspiracy seemed now at an end; and
nothing was left to the unfortunate Peruvians but to bewail their
ruined hopes, and to give utterance to their disappointment in
doleful ballads, which rehearsed the captivity of their Inca, and
the downfall of his royal house. *3
[Footnote 3: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Herrera, Hist.
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