s interval I observed that Manco had
so far got ahead of his pursuers, that their shot began to fall short.
They halted; for just then they perceived us on the hills, probably
supposing us enemies; and at the same moment a party of Indians, who lay
concealed in some brushwood below us, sprang upon them. Had the Indians
waited till the soldiers had advanced a little further, every man of the
latter might have been killed or captured. As it was, they had time to
turn their horses, and gallop off the way they had come, followed by a
shower of arrows, which killed one and wounded another of them.

Manco, without stopping, made his horse breast the hill. He had got up
some way, when we saw the noble animal stagger and fall, and both horse
and rider lay motionless on the ground. Ned and I galloped down the
hill towards him; for Don Gomez had, in the moment before, thrown
himself from his horse, and was standing grasping Pedro's hand, and
looking earnestly in his face. We reached Manco. We found that his
horse was dead, and that he had received a severe wound in his side.
While we were stooping over him, the Indians came up, and, not knowing
who we were, were on the point of knocking us on the head with their
clubs, when he recovered his senses, and exclaimed that we were friends.
We were once more aroused to action by Pedro's voice; and lifting Manco
on my horse, which was fresh and strong, I rode up the hill, accompanied
by Ned, and followed by the Indians.

"Fly, fly!" exclaimed Pedro. "I came to warn you of the danger you are
in. Look there, look there!"

We looked in the direction he pointed; and I now perceived that while we
had been watching the flight and capture of the Inca, and Manco's
subsequent escape, which had occupied a considerable time, a strong body
of troops had crossed the ford higher up the river, and were advancing
rapidly along the path which led to the village where the wives of the
chiefs had been left. In a few hurried words, Pedro told me that on
hearing the firing, he had come out to see what was taking place, and
that, like ourselves, he had been watching the battle from another
height. To my deep regret, I found that, from the character of the
ground, the troops were already much nearer the village than we were,
and already occupied the only approach to it, so that the Indian women
must inevitably fall into their power. I endeavoured to conceal this
information from Manco; for, heart-