*1 Stripped of all
means of support, without office or employment of any kind, the
men of Chili, for so Almagro's adherents continued to be called,
were reduced to the utmost distress. So poor were they, as is
the story of the time, that twelve cavaliers, who lodged in the
same house, could muster only one cloak among them all; and, with
the usual feeling of pride that belongs to the poor hidalgo,
unwilling to expose their poverty, they wore this cloak by turns,
those who had no right to it remaining at home. *2 Whether true
or not, the anecdote well illustrates the extremity to which
Almagro's faction was reduced. And this distress was rendered
yet more galling by the effrontery of their enemies, who,
enriched by their forfeitures, displayed before their eyes all
the insolent bravery of equipage and apparel that could annoy
their feelings.
[Footnote 1: Carta de Almagro, Ms.]
[Footnote 2: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 8, cap. 6.]
Men thus goaded by insult and injury were too dangerous to be
lightly regarded. But, although Pizarro received various
intimations intended to put him on his guard, he gave no heed to
them. "Poor devils!" he would exclaim, speaking with
contemptuous pity of the men of Chili; "they have had bad luck
enough. We will not trouble them further." *3 And so little did
he consider them, that he went freely about, as usual, riding
without attendants to all parts of the town and to its immediate
environs.
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