Even before this event Gonzalo Pizarro had assumed the dictatorship of Peru and resolved to make himself master of Panamá, his dreams of conquest extending even to the provinces north of Tierra Firme.[XV‑15] Enlisting in his service one Hernando Bachicao,[XV‑16] he placed him in command of six hundred men and a fleet of twenty-seven ships.[XV‑17] Arriving at Tumbez, Bachicao landed a hundred troops, whereupon Vasco Nuñez, though in command of two hundred well trained veterans, fled to Añaquito, a portion of his forces deserting him and joining the standard of the revolutionists. Proceeding thence to Puerto Viejo and elsewhere, he seized several vessels and enlisted a hundred and fifty recruits. Calling at the Pearl Islands he was met by two messengers from Panamá, sent to request that he would forbear to land an armed force in Tierra Firme. Bachicao replied that he intended but to land his passengers and revictual his fleet. [Sidenote: DISRUPTION AND DEATH.] The people of Panamá had been repeatedly warned by Vaca de Castro and others that their city was in danger of falling into the hands of Gonzalo Pizarro and had levied a force of seven hundred men, though ill-equipped and without experience or discipline. Thrown off their guard however by Bachicao's answer they allowed him to enter the harbor without opposition. He landed a portion of his forces and almost without resistance seized all the arms and ammunition in the arsenal and delivered up the city to pillage. The ship-masters in port were ordered to join his fleet, and those who refused were hanged at the yard-arm. A captain named Pedro Gallego was also executed for disobeying his order to shorten sail and cry Viva Pizarro![XV‑18] All law and order were for the time at an end. Men were put to death without the formality of a trial, and it is even said that Bachicao beheaded some of his own officers on the merest suspicion of their disaffection or even for pastime.[XV‑19] On receiving news of his lieutenant's misconduct accompanied with letters of remonstrance from the citizens of Panamá, Gonzalo at once deposed him from the command.[XV‑20] He was resolved, however, to gain control of the Isthmus, and despatched for this purpose Pedro de Hinojosa, at the head of two hundred and fifty men, with instructions to seize and hold both Panamá and Nombre de Dios. Hinojosa, who had first landed in Peru in 1534, and had done good service under Francisco and Hernando Pizarro, was a man of no mean abilities. Endowed by nature with a clear intelligence, honest of purpose and faithful to his trusts, with a judgment sharpened by long intercourse with the stirring scenes of the New World, he was eminently fitted for command, and enjoyed in no small degree the confidence of his soldiers.