Gasca received, also, numerous letters of congratulation
from cavaliers in the interior, most of whom had formerly taken
service under Pizarro. He made courteous acknowledgments for
their offers of assistance, and commanded them to repair to
Caxamalca, the general place of rendezvous.
To this same spot he sent Hinojosa, so soon as that officer had
disembarked with the land forces from the fleet, ordering him to
take command of the levies assembled there, and then join him at
Xauxa. Here he determined to establish his head-quarters. It
lay in a rich and abundant territory, and by its central position
afforded a point for acting with greatest advantage against the
enemy.
He then moved forward, at the head of a small detachment of
cavalry, along the level road on the coast. After halting for a
short time in that loyal city, he traversed the mountain range on
the southeast, and soon entered the fruitful valley of Xauxa.
There he was presently joined by reinforcements from the north,
as well as from the principal places on the coast; and, not long
after his arrival, received a message from Centeno, informing him
that he held the passes by which Gonzalo Pizarro was preparing to
make his escape from the country, and that the insurgent chief
must soon fall into his hands.
The royal camp was greatly elated by these tidings. The war,
then, was at length terminated, and that without the president
having been called upon so much as to lift his sword against a
Spaniard.
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