Unfortunately, Centeno had been for the past week ill of a
pleurisy, - so ill, indeed, that on the preceding day he had been
bled several times. He was now too feeble to keep his saddle,
but was carried in a litter, and when he had seen his men formed
in order, he withdrew to a distance from the field, unable to
take part in the action. But Solano, the militant bishop of
Cuzco, who, with several of his followers, took part in the
engagement, - a circumstance, indeed, of no strange occurrence, -
rode along the ranks with the crucifix in his hand, bestowing his
benediction on the soldiers, and exhorting each man to do his
duty.
Pizarro's forces were less than half of his rival's, not
amounting to more than four hundred and eighty men. The horse
did not muster above eighty-five in all, and he posted them in a
single body on the right of his battalion. The strength of his
army lay in his arquebusiers, about three hundred and fifty in
number. It was an admirable corps, commanded by Carbajal, by
whom it had been carefully drilled. Considering the excellence
of its arms, and its thorough discipline, this little body of
infantry might be considered as the flower of the Peruvian
soldiery, and on it Pizarro mainly relied for the success of the
day. *30 The remainder of his force, consisting of pikemen, not
formidable for their numbers, though, like the rest of the
infantry, under excellent discipline, he distributed on the left
of his musketeers, so as to repel the enemy's horse.
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