'" De los enemigos, los
menos. Hist. del Peru, Parte 1, lib. 1, cap. 40.]
The sufferings of Pizarro and his troop were scarcely less than
those of the viceroy; though they were somewhat mitigated by the
natives of the country, who, with ready instinct, discerned which
party was the strongest, and, of course, the most to be feared.
But, with every alleviation, the chieftain's sufferings were
terrible. It was repeating the dismal scenes of the expedition
to the Amazon. The soldiers of the Conquest must be admitted to
have purchased their triumphs dearly.
Yet the viceroy had one source of disquietude, greater, perhaps,
than any arising from physical suffering. This was the distrust
of his own followers. There were several of the principal
cavaliers in his suite whom he suspected of being in
correspondence with the enemy, and even of designing to betray
him into their hands. He was so well convinced of this, that he
caused two of these officers to be put to death on the march; and
their dead bodies, as they lay by the roadside, meeting the eye
of the soldier, told him that there were others to be feared in
these frightful solitudes besides the enemy in his rear. *12
[Footnote 12: "Los afligidos Soldados, que por el cansancio de
los Caballos iban a pie con terrible angustia, por la persecucion
de los Enemigos, que iban cerca, i por la fatiga de la hambre,
quando vieron los Cuerpos de los dos Capitanes muertos en aquel
camino quedaron atonitos.
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