*4 The Castilian women and children,
too, with still deeper anxiety, had thronged out from Cuzco to
witness the deadly strife in which brethren and kindred were to
contend for mastery. *5 The whole number of the combatants was
insignificant; though not as compared with those usually engaged
in these American wars It is not, however, the number of the
players, but the magnitude of the stake, that gives importance
and interest to the game; and in this bloody game, they were to
play for the possession of an empire.
[Footnote 4: Herrera, Hist. General, dec 6, lib. 4, cap. 5, 6.]
[Footnote 5: Ibid., ubi supra.]
The night passed away in silence, unbroken by the vast assembly
which covered the surrounding hill-tops. Nor did the soldiers of
the hostile camps, although keeping watch within hearing of one
another, and with the same blood flowing in their veins, attempt
any communication. So deadly was the hate in their bosoms! *6
[Footnote 6: "I fue cosa de notar, que se estuvieron toda la
Noche, sin que nadie de la vna i otra parte pensase en mover
tratos de Paz: tanta era la ira i aborrecimiento de ambas
partes." Ibid., cap. 6.]
The sun rose bright, as usual in this beautiful climate, on
Saturday, the twenty-sixth day of April, 1538. *7 But long before
his beams were on the plain, the trumpet of Hernando Pizarro had
called his men to arms. His forces amounted in all to about seven
hundred. They were drawn from various quarters, the veterans of
Pizarro, the followers of Alonso de Alvarado, - many of whom,
since their defeat, had found their way back to Lima, - and the
late reinforcement from the isles, most of them seasoned by many
a toilsome march in the Indian campaigns, and many a hard-fought
field.
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