_How Vaca de Castro, notwithstanding that he had entered into
these negotiations, sent Alonso Çamarilla as a spy to the camp
of Don Diego, with letters to many who were there, and how he
was captured by Juan Diente when scouts were sent out from
Vilcas, and on confessing what he went for, was put to death._
Having issued the despatches to the messengers who were to carry them,
the Governor Vaca de Castro resorted to a precaution, by which he
sought, privily and without the messengers who were engaged in the
negotiations knowing it, to send a spy. This spy was a certain Alonso
García Çamarilla, a great walker whom we mentioned in an earlier book,
when he was sent by Hernando Pizarro, during the siege of Cuzco, to
Yucay with Manco Inca. They then wanted to kill him, but he escaped
from thence by his swiftness of foot, because his place of sepulture
was destined to be at Vilcas. In all the land there was not a man
ready and fitted to act the spy, unless it were this one, and Juan
Diente who captured him, as we shall relate. Having removed his beard
and casting off his Spanish clothes, he put on the garb of an Indian,
rubbed his lips and back teeth with that precious herb which grows
on the skirts of the Andes, and leaving the sword of which he was
unworthy, he took a staff in his hand, and in a pouch or small wallet
he put the letters which Vaca de Castro gave him for the camp of Don
Diego. Having acquainted himself with the features of that camp and
the method that was observed in it he was to return with all diligence
and make his report. In such wise was Alonso García despatched, that
anyone who saw him set forth from the camp would, of a certainty, have
believed he was some Indian. Lope de Idiáquez and the factor Mercado
also took their leave of the Governor.
At this time the Chile faction, after they had despatched those who
were to treat for peace, were very watchful in their camp. They sent
scouts out in all directions, that their enemies might not take
them unprepared; and one day it fell to the lot of Juan Diente, an
excellent soldier and great walker, to go out scouting. He struck away
to the right of the position of Vilcas, near some snowy mountains, and
went up to the crest of a ridge to see if by chance any Spaniard might
be coming in the direction of Guamanga. Alonso García was then coming
along, and had a mind to pass that way; he was seen, however, by Juan
Diente who thought he was an Indian, as the man's dress led him to
assume. Nevertheless Diente went briskly down towards the place where
he had seen him. Alonso García, who travelled by no means unwarily,
raised his eyes to the high crests and snowy tracts above and noticed
the Spaniard coming down. Seeing that he was one of the enemy he
turned back into another path which led to some great rocks and deep
caves. Diente, who excelled him in agility, got down with no little
difficulty; and following the other's trail, his great experience
told him that the man in front was not an Indian. He went forward and
presently he overtook him already hiding in one of the caves. Though
Alonso García was a tremendous walker and a unique spy, he came at
last to be captured by Juan Diente, who was a better, though no other
man in the country was his equal. Having secured him, Diente took him,
as a prisoner, to the camp at Vilcas; where, in obedience to military
exigency, and notwithstanding that he had been a soldier of the old
Adelantado's, they tortured him until he confessed that he came as
a spy, and with letters from Vaca de Castro, and other things. In
payment for his activities, and the mischief those activities would
have brought upon the men of Chile if Juan Diente had not outwitted
and captured him, Don Diego ordered that Çamarilla should be hanged.
When they were about to fix the rope round his neck he said these
words: "By the pass in which I am, I tell you that there are a
thousand and one hundred fighting men against you, very well equipped,
and thoroughly bent on your destruction. This I say because, although
you are taking my life, it irks me that you should be undone." Then
the rope was tightened, and he yielded up his soul.
The words that Juan Diente[120] spoke to those indomitable captains
and soldiers with such earnestness caused no fear in the minds of
those who were no more than five hundred and fifty, while their
enemies numbered one thousand one hundred. With great uproar, grasping
their beards in their hands, they declared that they would not be
a party to any terms for peace, but rather would they give battle
undaunted by any power that might come against them. I know not what
cause may have inspired the few to feel so little fear against the
many, for they had all been born in that country which is comparable
to a bullock's hide.[121] And in truth, it was ordained that many or
all of them for their sins were never again to see the land of their
birth. Cruel fortune was about to make an end of the warriors from
Maule, and overthrow the Chilean faction at a single blow. Fired with
enthusiasm they one and all vehemently sought for battle, though I
cannot tell whether they sought it through the stimulus of valour or
overmastering anger. Some there are whom fear of expected disaster
drives to risk every danger; and these waited very anxiously to
see what result the negotiation, that Lope de Idiáquez had gone to
conduct, might have. One Francisco Gallego went over to the enemy
whilst out scouting, and before that, Juan García, Pero López de
Ayala, Diego López Becerra, and others who had been friends of García
de Alvarado had done the same. But although these had escaped, and
it was clearly known that some others had the same desire, this was
not enough to daunt the Almagrists, or put fear into their adamantine
hearts, for they already held the latter cause fixed in their breasts.
FOOTNOTES:
[120] Should be Çamarilla.
[121] Spain in geographical outline.