It was headed by Diego Centeno, one of his own officers,
whom he had established in La Plata, the inhabitants of which
place had joined in the revolt and raised the standard for the
Crown. With the rest of his forces, Pizarro resolved to remain
at Quito, waiting the hour when the viceroy would reenter his
dominions; as the tiger crouches by some spring in the
wilderness, patiently waiting the return of his victims.
Meanwhile Blasco Nunez had pushed forward his retreat to Popayan,
the capital of Benalcazar's province. Here he was kindly
received by the people; and his soldiers, reduced by desertion
and disease to one fifth of their original number, rested from
the unparalleled fatigues of a march which had continued for more
than two hundred leagues. *16 It was not long before he was
joined by Cabrera, Benalcazar's lieutenant, with a stout
reinforcement, and, soon after, by that chieftain himself. His
whole force now amounted to near four hundred men, most of them
in good condition, and well trained in the school of American
warfare. His own men were sorely deficient both in arms and
ammunition; and he set about repairing the want by building
furnaces for manufacturing arquebuses and pikes. *17 - One
familiar with the history of these times is surprised to see the
readiness with which the Spanish adventurers turned their hands
to various trades and handicrafts usually requiring a long
apprenticeship. They displayed the dexterity so necessary to
settlers in a new country, where every man must become in some
degree his own artisan.
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