On receiving Pizarro's answer to his friendly message, Atahuallpa resolved to await the promised visit, apparently suspecting no evil. The audacious Spaniard had, however, conceived the design of capturing the victorious claimant of the throne of the Incas, well knowing that in its actual distracted condition the country would be left without a centre about which it could rally. Open war, no matter how overwhelming his first victory might be, could hardly be ultimately successful. Atahuallpa once safe at Cuzco or Quito and surrounded by the disciplined soldiers who had overthrown Huascar, a defensive campaign might be undertaken in which Pizarro would find every step toward either capital bitterly disputed. Hundreds of thousands of Peruvians pouring up from the numberless provinces of the empire would be thrown in a never-ceasing succession of armies against his little band of Spaniards, and the latter would infallibly be driven back to the coast by starvation and fatigue if not by defeat in the field. Apparently foolhardy, in fact Pizarro's plan offered the only chance of success. Never dreaming that such a step was in contemplation, Atahuallpa took no precautions. Leaving fifty-five men at the little post of San Miguel in the Paita valley to secure his retreat, Pizarro marched south with one hundred and two foot soldiers, sixty-two horses, and two small cannon two hundred miles along the coast plain to a point opposite Cajamarca, and ascended along an Inca military road, meeting a friendly reception from the wondering natives, and being supplied with provisions by Atahuallpa's orders. On the 15th of November, 1532, Pizarro entered Cajamarca. He found an open square in the middle of the town surrounded by walls and solid stone buildings, which he received permission to occupy as quarters. From his camp outside, Atahuallpa sent word that the following day he would enter the town in state and receive the Spaniards. Marvellous good fortune favoured Pizarro's treacherous designs. The Indians had furnished a trap already made, and now Atahuallpa deliberately walked into it. On the morning of the 16th the Indian army broke camp and marched to Cajamarca, followed by the Emperor, who was borne in a litter and surrounded by his personal attendants, the great chiefs, and the nobles belonging to his own lineage. At sunset he entered the square, accompanied only by these unarmed attendants, and found Pizarro and a few Spaniards awaiting him. The rest were hidden in the houses around the square with their horses saddled, their breast-plates on, and musketry and cannon ready charged.