At length Blasco Nuñez entered _Quito_, which place, however, he quickly left, taking the road for _Pastos_, which was within the jurisdiction of Benalcazar, on whose support he mainly relied. Soon after his departure, Pizarro entered _Quito_, where he halted only long enough to refresh his men. His advance guard, tired and powerless, came up with the rear of the Viceroy’s force at _Pastos_; but the latter could not bring his soldiers to reverse the position they had so long been accustomed to, by attacking their pursuers. On the contrary, they profited by the exhaustion of the enemy to hasten their retreat. Pizarro, thus thwarted, did not care to trust himself further within the territories of Benalcazar, and made a counter-march on _Quito_, where his troops found time to rest, and where he received valuable reinforcements. Some of these were, however, soon despatched under Carbajal to suppress an insurrection which had broken out in the south. [Sidenote: 1546.] The Viceroy had now reached _Popayan_, but with only one-fifth of the followers with whom he had begun his march, which had extended over two hundred leagues, and which had been marked by sufferings rarely equalled even in Spanish America. Still, however, when joined by Benalcazar, he could muster four hundred men. Pizarro, anxious to bring the struggle to a conclusion, had recourse to stratagem to effect this end. He himself, with the greater portion of his force, quitted _Quito_, under a pretence of joining his lieutenant in the south, but leaving a garrison in the above-named city. On these tidings reaching the Viceroy’s camp, Blasco Nuñez, quitting _Popayan_, moved rapidly on _Quito_, where, however, he found himself confronted by Pizarro’s entire force, entrenched in a strong position. In his endeavour to surprise Pizarro in his rear by means of a night-march, he put himself at a fatal disadvantage, having been misled by guides as to the distance to be traversed, and his men being exhausted, he entered _Quito_, the inhabitants of which city had declared themselves in favour of Pizarro.