But as their conduct gave reason to
suspect they were spies, the president caused the holy men to be
seized, and refused to allow them to return to Pizarro. By an
emissary of his own, whom he despatched to the rebel chief, he
renewed the assurance of pardon already given him, in case he
would lay down his arms and submit. Such an act of generosity,
at this late hour, must be allowed to be highly creditable to
Gasca, believing, as he probably did, that the game was in his
own hands. - It is a pity that the anecdote does not rest on the
best authority. *20
[Footnote 20: The fact is not mentioned by any of the parties
present at these transactions. It is to be found, with some
little discrepancy of circumstances, in Gomara (Hist. de las
Indias, cap. 185) and Zarate (Conq. del Peru, lib. 7, cap. 6);
and their positive testimony maybe thought by most readers to
outweigh the negative afforded by the silence of other
contemporaries.]
After a march of a couple of days, the advanced guard of the
royalists came suddenly on the outposts of the insurgents, from
whom they had been concealed by a thick mist, and a slight
skirmish took place between them. At length, on the morning of
the eighth of April, the royal army, turning the crest of the
lofty range that belts round the lovely valley of Xaquixaguana,
beheld far below on the opposite side the glittering lines of the
enemy, with their white pavilions, looking like clusters of wild
fowl nestling among the cliffs of the mountains.
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