Where the summons was
accompanied by a military force, as at Truxillo and Arequipa, it
was obeyed without much cavil. But in other cities a colder
assent was given, and in some the requisition was treated with
contempt. In Cuzco, the place of most importance next to Lima, a
considerable number of the Almagro faction secured the ascendency
of their party; and such of the magistracy as resisted were
ejected from their offices to make room for others of a more
accommodating temper. But the loyal inhabitants of the city,
dissatisfied with this proceeding, privately sent to one of
Pizarro's captains, named Alvarez de Holguin, who lay with a
considerable force in the neighbourhood; and that officer,
entering the place, soon dispossessed the new dignitaries of
their honors, and restored the ancient capital to its allegiance.
The conspirators experienced a still more determined opposition
from Alonso de Alvarado. one of the principal captains of
Pizarro, - defeated, as the reader will remember, by the elder
Almagro at the bridge of Abancay, - and now lying in the north
with a corps of about two hundred men, as good troops as any in
the land. That officer, on receiving tidings of his general's
assassination, instantly wrote to the Licentiate Vaca de Castro,
advising him of the state of affairs in Peru, and urging him to
quicken his march towards the south. *1
[Footnote 1: Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 13. - Herrera,
Hist. General, dec.
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