At Lima all was confusion as the news of the actual advance of the Chileans towards the capital reached that city. “The City of the Kings,” as Pizarro had named it, the wealthy and prosperous capital of modern Peru, was now threatened with all the horrors of war. The population of the city at that time has been estimated at one hundred thousand souls, of whom at least fifteen thousand were foreigners. The inhabitants were pleasure-loving, and there was a very large irresponsible element, composed in part of negroes and Indians, that meant trouble in those dark days. The flower of the Peruvian army had been destroyed. Thousands rested on the deserts of Tarapacá, and the sand hills of Tacna and Arica. Those seasoned troops that were in the city had become more or less disorganized. A decree was issued ordering every male resident in Lima between the ages of sixteen and sixty, of whatever trade, profession and calling, to join the army. Gay and thoughtless youths, students, idlers and the vicious were all brought together in the ranks under this order. It is easy to make such decrees, but a decree does not make an army. It takes months to create an efficient fighting force. However brave these Peruvians might be, they were not trained in military service, and they lacked the qualities of the seasoned soldiers of the Chilean army. From three to six in the afternoon all business was suspended by Presidential decree, and these drafted troops were drilled. The call to arms was made by the tolling of the bell in the great cathedral. The artillery was inferior, and it could not compete with the Krupp and Armstrong guns with which the invaders were provided. Nicolas de Pierola, who was at the head of the army, with the title of Supreme Chief, realized the danger, and strove in the best way possible to prepare for it. At a meeting of all the generals and naval officers, plans were evolved to protect the city. As soon as it became known that the invading army had landed to the south of Lima the preparations were devoted to protecting the city from that direction. As the time was short it was not possible to prepare extensive fortifications. A chain of sandhills, which ran through Chorrillos, about ten miles from the city to the south, was chosen as the first line of defense. These hills formed a sort of natural barrier, and breastworks were thrown up at various places along them, and these newly-recruited and hastily-drilled troops were stationed along this first line of defense, which was at least six miles long. A second line of defense just outside Miraflores, and four miles nearer the capital, was established, and thousands of these troops were stationed there. The time was too short to create very formidable fortifications.