581 / 1060
BooK
II~
Royal
Commentaries.
years
1)5
5 ,
and
56,
they were repaired by
~y
Lord and Farh.e:
Garr.ilaj[o de
Le
f/ega
being then Mayor
©f
that City ; and m tbat good condmon
I
Iefi: them,
whe~
I
departed thence, and
fo
I
hope they
will
be
conferved, .becaufe that
Wa–
ter is greatly beneficial
to
all that Valley. But to return agam ro what
Carate
f
peaks of the danger in which
Gonfafo Pirarro
was
eng~ged
, .when
h~
was refcued
oy his Brother · it is to
be
noted (as we have menaoned
ill
our H1ll:ory of
Flo–
rida)
that he {vas the moll: dextr<;>us Man with his
~ance
of any of th_ofe who
had pa!Ied into the New World ; m confidence of which, both he and h1s
pe~ple
fought fioutly that day, and adventured fo far, that they had been
ov~rwhel!11ed
by the multitude of
IndianJ,
had they not been fuccoured beyond all expecrat10n ;
and indeed >twas
a
mercy wholly to be attributed
to
Divine Providence; for nei–
ther
did
Gon fa lo
require it, nor
Hernando
Pi~art"o
know that
his
Brother
was
enga..
ged fo far to all extremity.
Another day when the
SpaniardJ
and
IndianJ
engaged
in
the Field of
Sa/;nM,
which
is about a fmall League dill:ant from
Co;;:;,co
to the Southward, many brave
ACtions were performed by both parties ; and though the
Indians
were many, and
made fiout .-efifience, yet they were at length overcome, and put to flight:
How~
foever, fame refolute Captains amongll: them, who chafe rather to dye,
than
cowardly to run away
in
fight of their
Inca,
who from a high Tower beheld
and
obferved the Aaions of the day, continued
in
the Field, and fought with
un–
daunted courage : One of which pofiing himfelf
in
the middle of the road which
,
leads to
Collao,
attended the coming of
a
certain Cavalier (whom
I
knew)
as
he
was
making up to him on Horfe..back with his Lance
in
his hand ; the
Indian
with
a fierce countenance, like an undaunted Souldier, fiood ready with his Bow drawn
to
receive him; and at the fame time that the
Spaniard
made a thrufi at him with
his
Lance, he firook the point of it down to the ground, and catching hold of
it,
forced
ic
from
his
hands. Another Gentleman of my acquaintance ftanding
by,
and obferving a fingle Combat between a
Spaniard
and an
Indian,
did not concern
himfelf, becaufe they were one to one, unilll he
faw
that the
lndi11n
had wrefied
the Lance out of the hand of the
Spaniard
;
and then he thought
it
time to take
pare with hiS companion, and fo made at him with
his
Lance; but the
Indian
bearing off the blow with what he had in
his
hands, wrefied alfo the Spear from
the
Spaniard,
and defended himfelf from both of them at the fame time ; their
Names
I
{hall
conc~al
out of re'Pett
to
their pofierity; one ofwhich was a Schol..
lar
with me at the Grammar School.
Gonyalo
Pi~arro,
who was engaged in ano–
ther place, and had put his Enemies to flight, happened
to
come in at the fame
time,
and be
a
Speet:acor of this ACl:ion ; and feeing how matters paffed, he cried
out
with
a
loud voice,
Out
for jhame, what two to one
!
The
Spaniards
knowing the
voice of
Con~alo
Pi farro,
made a fiop, untill he himfelf came up co make
trial ,
whether he could deal better with him than they had done : The
Indian
feeing
another Horfe-man come upon him, fee his footing on the firfr Lance he had
gai–
ned, and with the other he encoumred the third Cavalier; who before he could
come to wound him, he gave fuch a llroke with his Lance at the head of the
Horfe, as raifed hirriiholt upright, and almofi threw him back upon his hanches..
The
Indian
finding himfelf thus hardly befet, quitted
his
Lance, and catched hold
of that in the hand of
Pifarro,
intending to wrefi it from him, as he had done
the
ot~ers
;.
b~t
Pif':irro
keeping fall: hold tnereof with his left hand, drew
his
Sword
with his nght to
cut
off the hands of the
Indian
;
but he being aware thereof
feeing the
S~ord
over his head, loafed the
La~ce,
and catched up the other, which
~a~
under his feet. And now the two Cavaliers, which were Spettators, thou®t
1t tune
.to
dally no longer, but
to
come
in,
and without other complement to
1{ill
the
Indian :
but
Gonfalo Pifarro
cried out
againfi
it, faying,
That
it wtU
pif:J
fo
brave
"'
~an
fhou./d tjye
~
11nd
that he def
erved
rather
Honour and
Reward, than Death.
The
ln.dian
obfervmg that the two other Cavaliers were rell:rained by the words of
Pifar_ro,
and that he
~ad
faved his
lif~;
he imf!lediately threw away his Lapce ,
and m token of fubJbiffion went to him, and k1ffed his right leg
faying
Hence;
forth
thBu
/halt
he
my
Inca,
and I
will be
tl:ry
s~l"vant
:
And for ever
afterward~
he fer–
ved him with great fidelity; and
Gon;alo Pirarro
loved him as his own Son untill
fuc~
time as he was killed in the ·Baccel of
Canela,
as
we fuall hereafter
und~rfiand
..
This Story I heard from the Mouth of
RodrigHet
de
PillRjHertei
who was prefenri
lri
55
1
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