At length from the terraced heights above Caxamalca, through the openings of the foliage, the white tents of the Peruvian host are seen stretching for miles along the fertile valley. It is a sight at which the heart of the stoutest cavalier might beat despondingly, and that without prejudice. But these audacious Spaniards halt only to don their brightest armor, and unfurling their banner they march down the mountain. Next day, the 15th of November, Pizarro divides his force into three companies and enters the town about the hour of vespers. Some two thousand houses surround a triangular plaza of extraordinary size, walled in by solid masonry and low adobe barracks, and entered from the streets through gates. From a large stone fortress broad steps descend to the plaza on one side, while on the other a secret staircase leads to the street. Without the now deserted town stands the temple of the sun, and on an eminence near by is another and more formidable fortress of hewn stone. A spiral wall, which thrice encloses the citadel, renders the place impregnable to native soldiery, while ascent from the plain is made by a winding staircase. Between the village and the Peruvian encampment, a league distant, a causeway runs, forming a fine road over the soft fertile lands intervening. As with heavy tread the Spaniards march through the silent streets in which no living thing is visible save a few knots of ancient, witch-like crones who predict in low mournful regrets the destruction of the strangers, the adventure at this point assumes ghostly shape, like the confused manœuvrings of a dream and Caxamalca a phantom city. Quartering his troops in the plaza, Pizarro sends Hernando de Soto with fifteen horsemen,[I‑6] and the interpreter Felipillo, to ask the inca the time and place of the approaching interview; and lest accident should befall the embassy Hernando Pizarro is ordered to follow and assist as occasion requires. Over the causeway toward the imperial camp rushes first one cavalcade and then the other, past manly men and modest women who gaze in mute astonishment as the apparitions emerge from the murky twilight and sweep by and disappear midst clatter of hoofs and clang of arms never before heard in this quarter of the earth. Presently is encountered the Inca's army drawn up in distinct battalions, archers, slingers, clubmen, and spearmen, standing expectantly.[I‑7] The royal pavilion occupies an open space near the centre of the encampment. Within a short distance are the bath-houses, and a rustic dwelling, with plastered walls colored in various tints and surrounded by corridors. On one side is a stone fountain, and a reservoir into which flows water, both hot and cold, from rivulets and springs through aqueducts which intersect the valley in every direction. On the other side are the royal gardens and pleasure-grounds. [Sidenote: MEETING WITH ATAHUALPA.]