_How the captain Alonso de Alvarado, on getting the news of Pero
Alvarez Holguin, sent another messenger to Vaca de Castro urging
him to come to where the camp was with all possible speed._
It was very fortunate for Vaca de Castro that he should have found so
much loyalty in the Realm; and that now that Don Diego had usurped the
government of the provinces, his Majesty the King our Lord should have
had vassals of a kind who would not countenance so weighty an offence,
nor allow any one to occupy the Realm against his royal pleasure.
Although his Majesty has pronounced the battle that was fought at
Chupas to have been just, I will not, in my book, term Don Diego
and his followers traitors, for two reasons; as to which, if they
are not evident, I submit to correction by those wise and learned
men who understand these things better than I do. I say then, that
the principal reason is that Vaca de Castro brought no mandate or
commission to fight a battle. The second is that Don Diego and his
followers would have supported Vaca de Castro if the latter had not
joined with Pero Alvarez; and further, because the object of the
Chile party, at first, was to avenge the death of the Adelantado by
murdering the Marquis,[97] and if the King should not think fit
to pardon them, to retire into the most remote interior. It may be
true that they committed a great mistake in that, at the time that
they murdered the Marquis, they took the wands of Office from the
_Alcaldes_ of Lima, and gave them to men of their own choice: an
ill-judged action.
But to return to our subject. Alonso de Alvarado had collected all the
men within his reach, and had sent his messengers to Vaca de Castro;
but when he knew that Pero Alvarez Holguin, with the people of Cuzco
and Plata were approaching him, he decided not to go to Quito, where
he supposed that he would find Vaca de Castro, but went on with his
troops towards the province of Guaylas instead, first sending another
messenger to Vaca de Castro. This message was to urge him to join
in with the men he had collected, without letting more time elapse.
For, praise be to God, things had made such a good beginning, that
he and Pero Alvarez had now got together as many as 500 men, to help
secure obedience to the will of his Majesty. He asked Vaca de Castro
not to delay much in coming, lest Don Diego, who had retired towards
Cuzco, should there increase his resources. He wrote other things
in his letter too. As soon as Alonso de Alvarado had despatched the
messenger, he ordered those who were with him to get ready to march to
Guaylas. So they started at once and proceeded until they arrived at
a habitation called _Yungay_, one day's journey from the camp of Pero
Alvarez. Thence they wrote very gracious letters, and some of the one
camp visited those of the other. Here they stayed, waiting for news of
the Governor Vaca de Castro: where we will leave them for the present,
and tell of what Don Diego de Almagro did.
FOOTNOTE:
[97] This was the treason--the murder of the King's Governor. The
object of the battle of Chupas was to capture and punish the traitors.