eance for the
death of his brother."

When the victory was completely decided, Gonzalo Pizarro ordered a
retreat to be sounded to recal his troops who were engaged in pursuit of
the enemy. In this battle, the royalists lost about two hundred men,
while only seven were slain on the side of the victors. Pizarro ordered
the slain to be buried on the field of battle, and caused the bodies of
the viceroy and Sancho de Avilla to be carried to Quito, where they were
buried with much solemn pomp, attending himself at the funeral and in
mourning[20]. He soon afterwards ordered ten or twelve of the principal
royalists to be hanged, who had taken shelter in the churches of Quito,
or had concealed themselves in other places. The oydor Alvarez,
Benalcazar governor of Popayan, and Don Alfonzo de Montemayor, were
wounded and made prisoners in the battle. Gonzalo intended to have
ordered Don Alfonzo to be beheaded; but as he had many friends among the
insurgents who interceded for his life, and who assured Gonzalo that he
could not possibly recover from his wounds, he was spared. Some time
afterwards, Gomez de Alvarado sent notice to Benalcazar that it was
intended to administer poison to these three prisoners in the dressings
applied to their wounds or in their food; and accordingly he and Don
Alfonzo took great precautions to avoid this treachery. As the oydor
Alvarez was lodged in the same house with his brother judge Cepeda, he
had not in his power to use similar precautions, and died soon after;
and every one believed that he was poisoned in some almond soup.

[Footnote 20: This authentic circumstance by no means agrees with the
assertion in the History of America, II. 376, that the head of the
viceroy was affixed on the public gibbet in Quito. From the text of
Zarate, this battle appears to have been fought on the 16th January
1546. In the History of America, it is dated on the 18th; but the
difference is quite immaterial.--E.]

Finding that he could not get secretly rid of Don Alfonzo as he wished,
and having no hope of gaining him over to his party, Pizarro resolved to
banish him into Chili, above a thousand leagues from Quito, and to send
to the same place Rodrigo de Bonilla the treasurer of Quito, and seven
or eight other persons of importance, who had always faithfully
accompanied the viceroy under every change of fortune. Gonzalo did not
put these men to death, as several of his own partizans interceded for
their lives;