replied that he would come to see him on the following morning, that he
would lodge in three great chambers in the court-yard, and that the
centre one should be set apart for himself.
That night a good lookout was kept. In the morning he sent messengers to
put off his visit until the afternoon; and these messengers, in
conversing with some Indian girls in the service of the Christians, who
were their relations, told them to run away because Atahualpa was coming
that afternoon to attack the Christians and kill them. Among the
messengers there came that captain who had already met the Governor on
the road. He told the Governor that his lord Atahualpa said that, as the
Christians had come armed to his camp, he also would come armed. The
Governor replied that he might come as he liked. Atahualpa set out from
his camp at noon, and when he came to a place which was about half a
quarter of a league from Cajamarca he stopped until late in the
afternoon. There he pitched his tents, and formed his men in three
divisions. The whole road was full of men, and they had not yet left off
marching out of the camp.
The Governor had ordered his troops to be distributed in the three
halls which were in the open court-yard, in form of a triangle; and he
ordered them to be mounted and armed until the intentions of Atahualpa
were known. Having pitched his tents, Atahualpa sent a messenger to the
Governor to say that as it was now late he wished to sleep where he was,
and that he would come in the morning. The Governor sent back to beg him
to come at once, because he was waiting for supper, and that he should
not sup until Atahualpa should come. The messengers came back to ask the
Governor to send a Christian to Atahualpa, that he intended to come at
once, and that he would come unarmed. The Governor sent a Christian, and
presently Atahualpa moved, leaving the armed men behind him. He took
with him about five or six thousand Indians without arms, except that,
under their shirts, they had small darts and slings with stones.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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