Gasca now answered the resolution signed by the seventy cavaliers, inditing his letter to Gonzalo, and expressing his wonder that such an insignificant clérigo as he should be refused admittance into Peru. He begged them to rid their minds of all apprehension as to any hostile intent on his part. Then binding his officers by oath[XV‑49] not to reveal his purpose, he impressed into his service every available man on the Isthmus, obtained loans of money, wrote to the governors of all the Spanish provinces for assistance, despatched powerful squadrons to secure the port of Lima and capture Gonzalo's vessels on the coast of Peru, and on the 13th of June 1547 landed at Tumbez in command of more than one thousand troops.[XV‑50] "Surely the devil must be in their midst!" exclaimed old Carbajal,[XV‑51] as Valdivia receiving this compliment to his generalship put his army in array at Xaquixaguana, and Gasca withdrew to the rear with his train of ecclesiastics. The rout of the rebel forces could hardly have been more complete had his satanic majesty been present in person, and almost within sight of the capital of the incas the last of the Pizarros was handed over to the executioner, upbraiding with his last breath those who, grown rich by his brother's bounty and his own, had deserted to his enemies, and were now gathered around his scaffold,[XV‑52] while he himself was left without the means of purchasing a mass for the welfare of his abandoned soul.[XV‑53] CHAPTER XVI. REVOLT OF THE CONTRERAS BROTHERS. 1550. CAUSE OF THE REVOLT—PREPARATIONS OF THE CONSPIRATORS—ASSASSINATION OF BISHOP VALDIVIESO—THE REBELS DEFEAT THE MEN OF GRANADA—THEIR PLAN OF OPERATIONS—THE EXPEDITION SAILS FOR NATÁ—GASCA ARRIVES AT THE ISTHMUS WITH THE KING'S TREASURE—CAPTURE OF PANAMÁ—BLUNDERS OF THE REBEL LEADERS—HERNANDO DE CONTRERAS MARCHES TO CAPIRA—HE IS FOLLOWED BY HIS LIEUTENANT BERMEJO—GASCA'S ARRIVAL AT NOMBRE DE DIOS—UPRISING OF THE INHABITANTS OF PANAMÁ—BERMEJO'S ATTACK ON THE CITY—HIS REPULSE—HIS FORCES ANNIHILATED—FATE OF HERNANDO AND HIS FOLLOWERS. [Sidenote: REBELLION IN NICARAGUA.]