" Fernandez, Hist. del Peru Parte 1,
lib. 2, cap. 45.]
It was at this period that Paniagua arrived off the port with
Gasca's despatches to Pizarro, consisting of the emperor's letter
and his own. They were instantly submitted by that chieftain to
his trusty counsellors, Carbajal and Cepeda, and their opinions
asked as to the course to be pursued. It was the crisis of
Pizarro's fate.
Carbajal, whose sagacious eye fully comprehended the position in
which they stood, was in favor of accepting the royal grace on
the terms proposed; and he intimated his sense of their
importance by declaring, that "he would pave the way for the
bearer of them into the capital with ingots of gold and silver."
*4 Cepeda was of a different way of thinking. He was a judge of
the Royal Audience; and had been sent to Peru as the immediate
counsellor of Blasco Nunez. But he had turned against the
viceroy, had encountered him in battle, and his garments might be
said to be yet wet with his blood! What grace was there, then,
for him? Whatever respect might be shown to the letter of the
royal provisions, in point of fact, he must ever live under the
Castilian rule a ruined man. He accordingly strongly urged the
rejection of Gasca's offers. "They will cost you your
government," he said to Pizarro; "the smooth-tongued priest is
not so simple a person as you take him to be. He is deep and
politic. *5 He knows well what promises to make; and, once master
of the country, he will know, too, how to keep them.
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