The Real Audiencia was duly installed, and everything went well in the beginning under the newly established authority, the council having decided to suspend the ordinance against _encomiendas_ until word should arrive from Spain in answer to the petition for its repeal; except that immediate enforcement was made in the case of public functionaries. But, unfortunately, the viceroy and the Real Audiencia did not long agree on the policy of government, and their quarrels weakened the prestige of the colonial authority at a time when all its strength was needed to cope with the disaffected soldiers of the Conquest, who bitterly resented the way in which they were thrust aside, now that their services were no longer of prime necessity to the Crown. Gonzalo Pizarro saw that he was to have no share in the dignities and honors of the colonial government, and he took advantage of the quarrel between the viceroy and the Real Audiencia to raise a large army and march on Lima, the _oidores_ treacherously aiding him; the viceroy escaped to Tumbes and marched to Quito, whither Pizarro followed, engaging the royal army in a fierce battle near that city, during which the sovereign’s representative was defeated and slain. The victor was then lord of Peru, and more independent of the royal authority than his illustrious brother, the Conqueror himself, had ever been; he could raise a powerful army, could control a large squadron, had at his disposal a million dollars annually, and his friends guarded the national ports of entry. He was acclaimed the liberator of Peru and made a grand triumphal march into the capital, amid the vivas of the multitude, the chime of church bells, and the strains of martial music. His companions would have crowned him king; but whether Pizarro vacillated because he knew too well the fickle character of his enthusiastic supporters, or whether the moment did not seem opportune for such a step, he never assumed the purple robes of royalty, though his authority was as absolute as that of a king. [Illustration: DOORWAY OF A COLONIAL PALACE IN CUZCO. PERIOD FOLLOWING THE CONQUEST.]