orward. As soon as we reach the top of the
pass, we can easily put these men to flight."

Suiting his action to his words, and being at the head of his men, he
pushed forward with almost frantic energy, carefully watching and
avoiding the descending missiles. Though several horses and many men
were killed, and others sorely wounded, the majority soon reached the
head of the pass. They then had an unobstructed plain before them,
over which their horses could gallop in any direction at their utmost
speed.

Impetuously they fell upon the band collected there, who wielded only
the impotent weapons of arrows, javelins and war clubs. The Spaniards,
exasperated by the death of their comrades, and by their own wounds,
took desperate vengeance. No quarter was shown. Their sabres dripped
with blood. Few could escape the swift-footed steeds. The dead were
trampled beneath iron hoofs. Night alone ended the carnage.

During the night the Peruvians bravely rallied from their wide
dispersion over the mountains, resolved in their combined force to
make another attempt to resist their foes. They were conscious that
should they fail here, their case was hopeless.

At the commencement of the conflict a courier had been sent back, by
De Soto, to urge Almagro to push forward his infantry as rapidly as
possible. By a forced march they pressed on through the hours of the
night, almost upon the run. The early dawn brought them to the pass.
Soon the heart of De Soto was cheered as he heard their bugle blasts
reverberating among the cliffs of the mountains. Their banners
appeared emerging from the defile, and two hundred well-armed men
joined his ranks.

Though the Peruvians were astonished at this accession to the number
of their foes, they still came bravely forward to the battle. It was
another scene of slaughter for the poor Peruvians. They inflicted but
little harm upon the Spaniards, while hundreds of their slain soon
strewed the ground.

The Spanish infantry, keeping safely beyond the reach of arrow or
javelin, could, with the deadly bullet, bring down a Peruvian as fast
as they could load and fire, while the horsemen could almost with
impunity plunge into the densest ranks of the foe. The Peruvians were
vanquished, dispersed, and cut down, until the Spaniards even were
weary with carnage. This was the most important battle which was
fought in the conquest of Peru.

The field was but twenty-five miles from the capital, to which t