CHAPTER VIII
After having suffered various inconveniences, and having passed the cities of Bilcas and of Andabailla,[42] and before arriving at Airamba,[43] they have letters from the Spaniards in which they ask for the aid of thirty cavaliers.
Having received this letter, the Governor and all the Spaniards who were with him were filled with infinite content over the victory which the captain had obtained, and at once he sent it, together with another, to the city of Xauxa, to the treasurer and to the Spaniards who had remained there in order that they might share in the gladness over the victory of the captain. And likewise he sent despatches to the captain and the Spaniards who were with him congratulating them much on the victory they had won, and begging them and counseling them to be governed in these matters more by prudence than by confidence in their own strength, and commanding, at all events, that, having passed the last bridge, they should await him [the Governor] there so that they might then enter the city of Cuzco all together. This done, the Governor set out the following day and went by a rough and tiring road through rocky mountains and over ascents and descents of stone steps from which all believed they could only bring their horses with difficulty, considering the road already traversed and that still to be traversed. They slept that night in a village on the other side of the river, which here, as elsewhere, had a bridge of net-work. The horses crossed through the water and the footsoldiers and the servants of the Spaniards by the bridge. On the next day they had a good road beside the river where they encountered many wild animals, deer and antelope; and that day they arrived at nightfall at some rooms in the vicinity of Bilcas where the captain who was going ahead had made halt in order to travel by night and so enter Bilcas without being found out, as he did enter it, and here was received another letter from him in which he said that he had left Bilcas two days before, and had come to a river four leagues ahead which he had forded because the bridge had been burned, and here he had understood that the captain Narabaliba was fleeing with some twenty Indians and that he had met two thousand Indians whom the captain of Cuzco had sent to him as aid who, as soon as they knew of the rout at Bilcas, turned around and fled with him, endeavouring to join with the scattered remnants of those who were fleeing, in order to await them [the Spaniards] in a village called Andabailla,[44] and [the Spanish captain said] that he was resolved not to stay his course until he should encounter them. These announcements being understood by the Governor, he first thought of sending aid to the captain, but later he did not do so because he considered that if there were to be a battle at all it would have occurred already and the aid would not arrive in time, and he determined furthermore not to linger a single day until he should catch up with him, and in this way he set out for Bilcas which he entered very early the following day, and on that day he did not wish to go further. This city of Bilcas[45] is placed on a high mountain and is a large town and the head of a province. It has a beautiful and fine fortress; there are many well built houses of stone, and it is half-way by road from Xauxa to Cuzco. And on the next day the Governor encamped on the other side of the river, four leagues from Bilcas, and although the day's march was short, it was nevertheless toilsome because it was entirely a descent almost all composed of stone steps, and the troops waded the river with much fatigue because it was very full, and he set up his camp on the other bank among some groves. Scarcely had the Governor arrived here, when he received a letter from the captain who was reconnoitring in which the latter informed him that the enemy had gone on five leagues and were in waiting on the slope of a mountain in a land called Curamba,[46] and that there were many warriors there, and that they had made many preparations and had arranged great quantities of stones so that the Spaniards would not be able to go up. The Governor, when he understood this, although the captain did not ask him for aid, believed that it was necessary now, and he at once ordered the Marshal D. Diego de Almagro to get ready with thirty light horsemen, well equipped as to arms and horses, and he did not wish him to take a single peon with him, because he ordered him [Almagro] not to delay for anything until he should come up with the captain who was ahead with the others. And when he [Almagro] had set out, the Governor likewise started, on the following day, with ten horsemen and the twenty peons who were guarding Chilichuchima, and he quickened his pace so much that day that of two days' marches he made one. And just as he was about to arrive at the village called Andabailla, where he was to sleep, an Indian came to him on the run to say that on a certain slope of the mountain, which he pointed out with his finger, there had been discovered hostile troops of war, on which account, the Governor, armed as he was and on horseback, went with the Spaniards he had with him to take the summit of that slope, and he examined the whole of it without finding the warriors of whom the Indian had spoken, because they were troops native to the land who were fleeing from the Indians of Quito because the latter did them very great harm. The Governor and company having arrived at that village of Andabailla, they supped and spent the night there. On the next day, they arrived at the village of Airamba from where the captain had written that he was with the armed troops waiting for them upon the road.[47]
CHAPTER IX
Having arrived at a village, they find much silver in plates twenty-feet long. Proceeding on their journey, they receive letters from the Spaniards relating the brisk and adverse struggle they had had against the army of the Indians.
Here were found two dead horses,[48] from which it was suspected that some misfortune had befallen the captain. But, having entered the village, they learned, from a letter that arrived before they retired for the night, that the captain had here encountered some warriors, and that, in order to gain the mountain, he had gone up a slope where he had found assembled a great quantity of stone, a sign which showed that they [the Indians] wished to guard [the pass], and that they were gone in search of [other] Indians because they had warning that [the Spaniards] were not far off and that the two horses had died of so many changes from heat to cold. He [the captain] wrote nothing of the aid which the Governor had sent to him, because of which it was thought that it had not yet arrived. The next day the Governor set out from there, and slept [the next night] by a river whose bridge had been burned by the enemy, so that it was necessary to ford it, with great fatigue on account of the fact that the current was very swift and the bottom very stony. On the next day, they encamped at a town in the houses of which was found much silver in large slabs twenty feet long, one broad, and one or two fingers thick. And the Indians who were there related that those slabs belonged to a great cacique and that one of the lords of Cuzco had won them and had carried them off thus in plates, together with those of which the conquered cacique had built a house.[49] The next day, the Governor set out in order to cross the last bridge, which was almost three leagues from there. Before he arrived at that river, a messenger came with a letter from the captain in which he informed him that he had arrived at the last bridge with great speed in order that the enemy should not have opportunity to burn it; but that, at the time of his arrival there, they had finished burning it, and as it was already late, he did not wish to cross the river that same day, but had gone to camp in a village which was nearby. The next day, he [the captain] had passed through the water, which came to the breasts of the horses, and had proceeded straight along the road to Cuzco which was twelve leagues from there; and as, on the way, he was informed that, on a neighbouring mountain [where] forts had been built, all the enemies were hoping that the next day Quizquiz would come to their aid with reënforcements from the troops which he had in Cuzco, for this reason he [the captain] had spurred ahead with all speed together with fifty horsemen,[50] for ten had been left guarding the baggage and certain gold which had been found in the rout of Bilcas. And one Saturday, at noon, they had begun to go up on horseback a slope which lasted well over a league, and, being wearied by the sharp ascent and by the mid-day heat, which was very great, they stopped awhile and gave to the horses some maize which they had because the natives of a village nearby had brought it to them. Then, proceeding on their journey, the captain, who rode a cross-bow shot ahead, saw the enemy on the summit of the mountain, which they entirely covered, and [he saw] that three or four thousand were coming down in order to pass the point where they [the Spaniards] were. Because of this, although he called to the Spaniards to put themselves in battle-array, he could not hope to join them, because the Indians were already very near and were coming with great rapidity. But with those who were in readiness, he advanced to give battle [to the Indians], and the Spaniards who kept coming up mounted the slope of the mountain, some on one hand, others on the other. They dashed among those of the enemy who were foremost without waiting for the beginning of the fight, save for defending themselves against the stones which were hurled upon them, until they mounted to the summit of the mountain, in which deed they thought they saw a certain victory to be accomplished. The horses were so tired that they could not get breath in order to attack with impetuosity such a multitude of enemies, nor did the latter cease to inconvenience and harass them continually with the lances stones and arrows which they hurled at them, so they fatigued all to such an extent that the riders could hardly keep their horses at the trot or even at the pace. The Indians, perceiving the weariness of the horses, began to charge with greater fury, and five Christians, whose horses could not go up to the summit of the slope, were charged so furiously by so many of the throng that to two of them it was impossible to alight, and they were killed upon their horses. The others fought on foot very valorously, but at length, not being seen by any companions who could bring them aid, they remained prisoners, and only one was killed without being able to lay hand upon his sword or to defend himself, the cause of which was that a good soldier was left dead beside him, the tail of his horse having been seized which prevented his going ahead with the rest. They [the Indians] opened the heads of all by means of their battle-axes and clubs; they wounded eighteen horses and six Christians; but none of the wounds were dangerous save those of one horse which died of them. It pleased God Our Lord that the Spaniards should gain a plain which was near that mountain, and the Indians collected on a hill nearby. The captain commanded half of his men to take the bridles off their horses and let them drink in a rivulet that ran there, and then to do the same for the other half, which was done without being hindered by the enemies. Then, the captain said to all: "Gentlemen, let us withdraw from here step by step down this declivity in such a way that the enemy may think that we are fleeing from them, in order that they may come in search of us below, for, if we can attract them to this plain, we will attack them all of a sudden in such a manner that I hope not one of them will escape from our hands. Our horses are already somewhat tired, and if we put the enemy to flight, we shall end by gaining the summit of the mountain." And thus it was that some of the Indians, thinking that the Spaniards were retreating, came down below, throwing stones at them, with their slings, and shooting arrows.[51] When this was seen by the Christians, [they knew] that now was their time, [and] they turned their horses' heads, and before the Indians could gather together on the mountain where they were before, some twenty of them were killed. When this was seen by the others, and when they perceived that there was little safety in the place where they were, they left that mountain and retired to another one which was higher. The captain, with his men, finished climbing the mountain, and there, because it was already night, he camped with his soldiers. The Indians also camped two cross-bow shots away, in such a manner that in either camp could be heard the voices in the other. The captain caused the wounds to be cared for and posted patrols and sentinels for the night, and he ordered that all the horses were to remain saddled and bridled until the following day, on which he was to fight with the Indians. And he tried to cheer his men up and renew their valor, saying: "that by all means it was necessary to attack the enemy the following morning without delaying an instant, because he had news that the captain Quizquiz was coming with great reënforcements, and by no means should they wait until he joined forces with them." All showed as much spirits and confidence as if they already had the victory in their hands, and again the captain comforted them, saying: "he held the day just passed through to be more perilous than that which awaited them on the morrow, and that God Our Lord who had delivered them from danger in the past would grant them victory in the future, and that they should look to it whether, on the day before, when their horses were so weary, they had attacked their enemies with disadvantage and had routed them and driven them from their fortresses, even though their own number did not exceed fifty, and that of the enemy eight thousand; ought they not, then, to hope for victory when they were fresh and rested?" With these and other spirited conversations, that night was passed, and the Indians were in their own camp, uttering cries and saying: "Wait, Christians, until dawn, when you are all to die, and we shall take away from you just as many horses as you have!"[52] and they added insulting words in their language having determined to enter into combat with the Christians as soon as it should dawn, believing them and their horses to be weary on account of the toil of the day before and because they saw them to be so few in numbers and because they knew that many of the horses were wounded. In this manner the same thought prevailed on the one side and on the other, but the Indians firmly believed that the Christians would not escape from them.[53]