745 / 1060
BooK
IV.
Royal Commentaries.
de
Mendofa,
Alonfo
Pere~
de Efquivel,
Al~nfo
de
Camargo,_
Hernan
Nunne~
1e
Sagurtt,
Lope
de
Mendiera
[ohn Ortiz:.
de
Garate
his Brother, with other perfons m whom
he repofed a confidence; who being affembled. together,
~hey
agreed
cha~
the one–
ly
way was to kill
Francifco de AlmendrtU,
which
~ccor~m~ly ~hey
put m
~xecu
tion one Sunday morning at his own
hour~
,
fiabbm~
him m divers places.
JUfi
as
be was going forth
to
hear Mafs; and being not qmte dead, they drew him out
into the Market-place, and there cut off his Head. Nor was there much fear that
any great tumult would follow
hereup~m
amongfi: the
p~ople, be~aufe
AlmendrM
was generally hated and
ill
fpoken of mall parts:
In
his place
Diego Centeno
~as
named Captain Genera], who alfo gave
~ommdfi?ns
to feveral
othe~
Captains
both ofHorfe and Foot, and with great diligence raifed Men, and provided Arms
and other things neceifary for War ; and to hinder all intelligence from coming
to the Enemy he fee Watches and Guards upon the ways. And moreover he
fenr
Lope
M
Mendofato
Arequera,
to.feize,
if
pollible, upon
Pedro de
Fu"!w,
who re–
~ained
there with Charaeter of Lieutenant Governour to
Gonfalo P1f_arro:
but
this matter was not carried
fo
covertly, but
de Fuentes
received timely Advices
thereof, by means of the
Indians
who were in the
_charcM,
upon
w~ich
he aban–
doned the City , and
LQpe
de
Mendof
a
entred
there1~
and poffeffed h1mfelf of the
People, Arms, Horfes, with what Money he coula find; and fo he returned to
joyn with
Djego Centeno,
who was then at the
Pilla de Pllflta,
and there they made
up a Body of two hundred and
fifty
Men well armed and appointed in all refpeCts.
And being now afiembled together,
Diego Centeno
made them a long Difcourfe of
all matters which had pa«ed from the beginning of the Troubles umill that time;
he condemned the proceedings of
Gonfalo
Pif1trro,
putting them in mind of the
many Slaughters he was guilty, and of the Bloud he fpilt of thofe who preten–
ded co doe fervice to the King : and now by menaces and force of Arms he had
caufed hirnfelf to be fiyled Governour of that Empire, and that he had po!fef–
fed himfelf not onely of his Majefiy's revenue, but of the Eftates of particular
Men, from whom he had taken away their
Indian
plantations, and appropriated
them to hirnfelf; and that
he
had encouraged men to fpeak things in derogation
, of his Majefiy's Authority; to which he added many other things, which he ob–
jelted againfi:
Piptrro :
and in the conclufion he put them in
~nd
of the
duty
which good Subjeets ought
to
bear towards their Prince , and the danger of deny–
, ing their allegiance: the which reafons
Diego Centeno
urged fo home that the peo–
ple unanimou!ly agreed thereunto , and frankly offered ro follow his Commands
in what enterprize foever he iliould employ them.
And to keep this matter the more fecret, care was taken to intercept all corre–
fpondences and intelligence which might pafs by the way
to
Co~co,
untill fuch
time as he had made his full recruit of Men , Horfe, Powder, and other ammu–
nition for War ; and yet notwithfianding all this care and caution, it was impof–
fible to hinder or obUruCt the intelligence which
by
means of the
lndi11n
Meflen–
gers was difpatched
to
Couo;
and a hundred Leagues farther
to
the Northward
toward
Los
Reyes;
though
Alonfo
de Toro
who was an Officer belonging to
Gonf_alo
Pifarro
did all that he was able to intercept Advices; and to that end had fent
a
nundre~
Me1:1 to po[fefs the pafS and
obfir~a:
all intelligence, and the pa!fage
of the Vrce-kmg towards
Couo.
And here it was that
Al<mfa
de Toro
received the
firll: news of the Infurrection of
Diego Centeno
and the death of
Francifco
de
Almen–
dr.u;
together with the number of Men, and Horfe, and .Ammunition; and all
other matters which
u~till
that time had pa{fed ; which the
Indians
in a particu–
lar manner related to h1m.
So foon as
Alonfo de Toro
received thefe informations
he. i!Tlmediately repaired to .
Co~co,
where having levied Men , he perfuaded the
Cmz~ns an~
Governours of. the City to engage themfelve.s in the
Cau[e
of
Pifar–
ro
aga~nll:
Dugo Centeno
;
telling them, that with the help and affifience of tnofe
Sould1ers,
~orfe
and Arms, which were then in the City, he intended to go forth
and fight him : And moreover to jufiifie t11e righteoufuefs of his Caufe he told
them t!1ac this
!Jiex,o Centeno
was a
~ere
Impofior, who had no right, nor'title nor
authorHy on his
~de;
and that bemg moved onely
by
his own interell:
and
pri–
vate advantage with colo';lr and pretence of his Majell:y's fervice, had inveigled
many people to follow
hlS
Colours; whenas in teality
Gonptlo Pi;arro
was the
~mel~
true and lawfull Governour of thofe Kingdoms
5
intending
to
keep chem
m
qmetn~fs,
and peace, and farety, umillfuch time onely as that bis Majefty fliould
declare his fenfe and pleafure m thefe matters: and therefm'e that the
Inf
u~recHon
made