ptain] 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 reenforcements 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