It appears that Alvarado, having fitted out a fleet of twelve ships for a voyage to the Spice Islands, was turned from his purpose as will be hereafter related, by the reported marvellous successes of the Peruvian adventures. Believing or affecting to believe that the province of Quito was without the jurisdiction of Pizarro, he determined to conquer that country for himself. His army on landing presented the strongest front of any in Peru, but the march across the snowy sierra was one of the most disastrous in Spanish colonial history.[I‑34] Although the distance was short the entire way was strewn with the dead; more than one hundred Spaniards and two thousand Indians perished. Enough however survived to enable Alvarado to make equitable arrangements with Almagro and Benalcázar. A portion of the vessels and the entire forces of Alvarado were transferred to the associates for one hundred thousand castellanos. Alvarado then visited Pizarro at Pachacamac, where the latter was awaiting the development of events at Quito; after which Alvarado took his departure. Benalcázar remained at Quito and eventually became governor of that province.
After this in the history of Peru comes the feud between the associate conquerors; for here as elsewhere no sooner are the savages slain than their destroyers fall to fighting among themselves. Almagro and Pizarro are old men, old friends, copartners; yet instead of dividing their immense acquisition and devoting the brief remainder of their days to peaceful pursuits, so deadly becomes their hatred that each seems unable to rest while the other lives. Hernando Pizarro reports proceedings in Spain, and Almagro is placed in command of Cuzco, while Pizarro founds his capital at Lima. The king confirms Pizarro in his conquest and makes him Marqués de los Atavillos, and grants Almagro two hundred leagues along the sea-shore commencing from the southern limit of Pizarro's territory. Hernando Pizarro takes Almagro's place at Cuzco. While Benalcázar is at Quito, Almagro in Chile, and the forces of Pizarro divided between Cuzco and Lima, the inca, Manco Capac, revolts. With two hundred thousand men he besieges Cuzco, Lima, and San Miguel simultaneously, and massacres the settlers on plantations. The Spaniards are reduced to the greatest extremity. Cuzco is laid in ashes, and Pizarro, unable to coöperate with his brother Hernando, despatches ships to Panamá and Nicaragua for aid.
The chief point of dispute between the associates is the partition line dividing their respective governments. Each claims the ancient capital of Cuzco as lying within his territory. Almagro, returning from a disastrous expedition into Chile, makes overtures to gain the friendship of Manco Capac; failing in this he defeats the inca in a pitched battle, takes possession of Cuzco, makes Hernando Pizarro his prisoner, and captures his army. Instead of striking off his head as urged to do by Orgoñez, and marching at once on Lima, Almagro falters and thereby falls.
Meanwhile Hernan Cortés sends his imperilled brother-conqueror a vessel laden with provisions; a kingly gift. Gaspar de Espinosa, Father Luque's successor, presents himself about this time in Peru, and is sent to Almagro by Pizarro to effect a settlement of their difficulties, but the latter remains firm, and the sudden death of Espinosa terminates the present overtures. Finally by many solemnly sworn promises, which are broken immediately, his point is gained, Francisco Pizarro obtains the release of his brother; then with seven hundred men, on the plain before Cuzco, he engages and defeats Almagro's force of five hundred men under Orgoñez, captures Almagro, whom he places in chains, and after a mock trial puts him to death. Hernando Pizarro is afterward arrested in Spain for the murder of Almagro, kept confined a prisoner for twenty years, is liberated, and dies at the age of one hundred years.
BLOODY TERMINATION.
And now appears on the scene, as heir to the feud, Almagro's illegitimate son Diego, who henceforth lives but to avenge his father's death. There are those who will not serve the murderer of their master, 'men of Chile,' they are called, and so they see distress and carry thin visages and tattered garments about the streets of Cuzco. These to the number of twenty, with Juan de Rada their leader, meet at the house of young Almagro, and bind themselves by oath to kill Francisco Pizarro on the following Sunday the 26th of June 1541. Almagro's house adjoins the church, while Pizarro's is on the other side of the plaza. They will slay him as he leaves the church after mass. But the governor does not attend church that day; so they cross the square and enter through an open gate into the court-yard, from which stairs lead to an upper room, where Pizarro is at dinner with several friends. Suddenly the diners hear a shout from below, "Long live the king! Death to tyrants!"
Accustomed to danger Pizarro acts on the instant, directs his chief officer Francisco de Chaves to make fast the door, and steps into an adjoining room with his half-brother, Martinez de Alcántara, to arm himself. Chaves springs forward and closes the door, but instead of securing it he parleys with the assailants who are now at the top of the stairs. A sword thrust into the officer's breast cuts short the conference, and the body is flung below. Perceiving blood, most of the guests fly, climbing over a corridor and dropping to the ground; two or three who had come forward with Chaves are quickly despatched by the conspirators. Although his armor is ill-adjusted Pizarro springs forward sword in hand. "How now, villains! would you murder me?" cries this veteran of a hundred fights. Then to Alcántara, "Let us hold bravely against these traitors, for I swear to God we two are enough to slay them all." The men of Chile fall back before him, but only for a moment; again crowding forward one after another of the conspirators is stretched on the ground. The conquest however is too unequal to continue; yet after Alcántara, the two pages of the governor, and every person present except the chief lie dead upon the floor, Pizarro still fights on. At length Rada, exasperated, grasps one of his comrades, named Narvaez, and hurls him against Pizarro's sword. It is death to Narvaez, but it is victory for Almagro; for while the sword of Pizarro is sheathed in the body of the luckless conspirator, the weapon of another strikes him in the throat, and brings him to the floor. "Kill him! kill him!" cry the assailants as they close round the fallen chieftain, thrusting into his body their swords.[I‑35] True to his religious instincts, the expiring hero raises himself on his arm, traces with his own blood upon the floor the sacred emblem of his faith, sighing "Jesu Cristo!" then while he bows his head to kiss the cross which he had made, a blow more dastardly than all the rest terminates his eventful life. Thus perish in sanguinary brawl, each by the hand of the other, these renowned chieftains, whose persistent steadfastness of purpose and manly courage under difficulties were equalled only by their avarice, treachery, and infamous cruelty.
The bloody work accomplished, the conspirators rush forward and cry, "Long live the king! The tyrant is dead! Long live our lawful governor Almagro!" The Almagroists continue in power till the latter part of 1542, when they are exterminated by Vaca de Castro, sent as commissioner by the crown to quiet the country. Almagro is executed, and the name becomes extinct. Juan Pizarro is killed by the Indians while capturing the fortress of Cuzco, and after the defeat of Vasco Nuñez Vela at Añaquito had been avenged by the execution of Gonzalo Pizarro at Xaquixaguana, the affairs of Peru lapse into the hands of the viceroys.[I‑36]
CHAPTER II.
CASTILLA DEL ORO.
1527-1537.
Administration of Pedro de los Rios—He is Superseded by the Licentiate Antonio de la Gama—Barrionuevo's Reign—A Province in Nueva Andalucía Granted to Pedro de Heredia—He Sails for Cartagena—Conflicts with the Natives—Treasure Unearthed—The Devil's Bohío—Prosperity of the Settlement—Alonso Heredia Sent to Rebuild San Sebastian—Is Opposed by Julian Gutierrez—Capture of Gutierrez—The Golden Temple of Dabaiba Once More—Expeditions in Search of the Glittering Phantom, Francisco César and Others—Audiencia Established at Panamá—Maleadministration—Complaints of the Colonists—Destitution in the Province—Bishops of Castilla del Oro—Miraculous Image of the Virgin—Bibliographical.