Juan de Vadillo, who led this expedition, was a member of the audiencia of Santo Domingo. He had been sent to San Sebastian to inquire into the conduct of Governor Heredia, and after the dismissal of that officer, he departed for the interior. This campaign, like many others of that time, was attended by serious obstacles: by the lack of food, by the loss of men by disease, and by the unrelenting hostility of the Indians. In view of the hardships they encountered the men were disposed to revolt, and asked to be led back to San Sebastian, but the determination of the leader to advance finally persuaded the soldiers to follow; but on arriving at Cali they refused to proceed further, and Vadillo went on to Popayán without them. From that point he went to Panama, where he was arrested and taken to Spain by way of Cartagena. [Sidenote: Cieza de León at Cartago] The soldiers of Vadillo, who had been a year in the wilderness, now established themselves in the Cauca valley, where Robledo, under Benalcázar, had founded settlements. For about six years, ordinarily supposed to be critical years of a youth’s education, Cieza de León had been in America, sharing the hardships, the dangers, and the demoralizing influences of expatriated soldiers and settlers in an inhospitable climate and in the presence of unfriendly Indians. He settled at Cartago, and remained in the valley five or six years. Here he gathered and set down important information concerning the Indians; he also described the progress of Vadillo’s expedition across the “forest-covered plains,” over the mountains, and along the Cauca river. In the dedication of one of his works to the king he thus made reference to his zeal: “Oftentimes when the other soldiers were reposing, I was tiring myself by writing. Neither fatigue nor the ruggedness of the country, nor the mountains and rivers, nor intolerable hunger and suffering, have ever been sufficient to obstruct my two duties, namely, writing and following my flag and my captain without fault.” [Sidenote: Cieza de León joins Gasca’s troops] President Gasca’s call for loyal troops to assist in suppressing the rebellion led by Gonzalo Pizarro, offered to Cieza de León an opportunity for new adventures. The boy had grown to be a mature man of thirty, whose physical and intellectual faculties had been developed under the tuition of sixteen years of rough life. With other loyal soldiers he responded to the call, and marched from Popayán by way of Pasto, Quito, and Riobamba to the sea, and along the shore to Lima. From Lima he crossed the first ridge of the Andes to Jauja, thence proceeded southward through Guamanga to the valley of Andahuaylas, near the Apurimac, where the troop of which he was a member was taken into Gasca’s army. [Sidenote: Cieza de León at Cuzco]