848 / 1060
Royal C
om1nent
ariet.
BooK
V.
By
.m~am
of the great diligence
which
was
~fed
half che Army was palfed
O\
by
m1dmght:
The
firft
that were
over, putting
themfelves
into the beO:
0
d
they
could,
began
to
climb the Mountain, being defirous
w
poffefs
themfelv~
ef
the
top
before the
Enemies
were
come (
which
was
the greatetl: danger they
~
0
red) for. having feifed that Pafs, they might fecure the
way
and
facilicate
:h–
afcent-0f the "'hole Army. Thofe in the Van having
gone~
half way up rh:
Mouncain,
a
falfe
alarm
was given, no
man
knows how nor -from
whence which
caufed fuch a_general confiernation and confulion, chat many of thofe
~
1;
0
were
not as yet palled over,
bot~
Horfe and Foot ran away as
if
chey
had been purfued .
and
fo
general
was
the affr1ghtrnent and
terrour, that
the Captains
PorceL
and
Par~
daue,
and
Gabriel.RojM
Caprain of the <?rclnance,. and divers other
Souldiers
of
noce, who
~ere
m
the
Rere <;iuards and m
~he m~m
Body, feeing wich what
con–
fufion and d1forder the Sould1ers were puc mro fhghr, faid one to
another, if
chis
alarm
be
tn~e
we iliall all
be.
loll:
and
defe~ted
this
nighr.
But as
good fortune
~ould
have 1r,
th~
alarm. provtng
falfe,
the d1ll:urbance
and
noife was quieted, and
thofe that fled rallied again, and every one made the befi of his way that he
could
T.hofe who were in the Van, and were
the
firfi
co climb the
Mountain
wer~
likewife firuck
with
the
fame
rerrour, and ran away with their Arms.
but
the
afarm appearing
to
be
falfe,
chey proceeded
on
their
way,
and came
to
the Foun–
tain before
break of
day;
which was che place where
{qhn
de
Acofta
was
co have
lain in wait for
them,
had he obferved the Ordeys of
Francifco de Carvajd!,
in perA
formance of which the whole fortune and fuccefs of chat day depended.
Thofe
who came to the Fountain, having quenched their chirll: with thofe pleafant Wa–
ters,
proceeded on
their way, and having got
to
the
top of
the
Moun
rain,
they
Put
rnemfelves
into
a
Body;
bur
chey
were fo
few,
and chofe
without
any
Com–
mander, that
fifry
men might eafily have defeared them: howfoever
ia
a fhorc
time
afcer their numbers increafed, for the General
Pedro de Hinojofa,
and the
Go–
vernour
Pedro de Valdivia,
who had palfed the Bridge, and remained at the
foot
of
che Mountain, animated rhe Men, and encouraged them
co
make
good
their
afcenr: The ocher half
of
the
Anny,
being affrighced with the late alarm, did not
pafS the Bridge with their
Ordmm:e
untill nine a Clock in the morning; which
having done, they marched after their companions
with
a-II diligence imaginable;
and
herewe
will
leave
chem
to fee
what
was become of
{ohn de .Ll&oj!a,
who
was
departed from
Co~co
to hinder
the
Enemy from paffiog the River.
This Captain having received his lnfiructions and
Difpatches
from the Lieute·
Dant-General, departed from the City with cwo hundred Mufquetiers moumed on
Horfe-back, and
thirty
Lances, all choice men ;- and having marched che full four
leagues, he there {laid
and
lodged
all night,
contrary to che orders and
directions
which had been given him ; and
fo
negligent and carelefs he
f
eemed
to·
be,
thac
'woof
his Souldiers cook an opporrunicy co leave him, and give advice
unro
the
Enemy of his coming : The next morning abour feven a Clock he began his
march
again, and
that
day
another of
his
Souldiers ran
away, called
'fohn
Nunne~
ae
Prado
a Native of
Badajo<:-,
'"·ho gave intelligence of the difiance,
the Enemy
was from chem, and of che Orders given by
Carvajal,
which were
fo
exacr and re–
gular chat every thing was meafured by
hours
and leagues; which gave che
Prefi–
dent and his Captains fame thoughts and apprehenfion of matters which
~ere
to fucceed
:
for when they underfiood, char an alarm was ro be given at fuch an
hour in the night, they were exrremely fearfull lell: ic fhould caufe fome great dif–
order; for
if
cbe
late falfe alarm had put them into
the
confufion before
memicr
ned, what could they imagine would be the effeets of a true alarm, caufed by a
furprife in
the night
?
but by the negligence and
unaetive fpirit of
(ohn de Acofta
none
of
thefe
matters
were · put in aetion, but all the
methods
and rules
failed ;
which
was
objecred co
Gonyalo Pifarro
as a failure in
his
conduet, as
A11guftine
Ga–
rate,
Book the feventh Chapter
die
fourth, imimaces, where fpeakiog of the Squa-
dron which the Prefident formed of
Indians
and
N egroes,
he
adds farcher,
,
Thar when
rohn
de Acofta
fent his S
yes
co fo rvey the number of the Enemy s
Camp
and
receiving a report that
che~
were
very
numerous, he durfi not engage
with
them,
but returned again for a greater force; by •which
over- ~gh t
and. de–
fauk
the Prefident gained time to fini(h
his
Bridge, and
cranfport
his
SouJd1ers.
And here it
is
that
Pifarro
was much blamed for his conducr, for had he placed
onely a hundred men at each of rhefe Pa!fes,
it
h~d
been. impo!ftble for the Eniliy
to have made good their way
over the Water:
with
whteh
fa~
mg
Carate
eCnhds
at
apter.