People want to say that at this time the men of Chile, seeing themselves so overlooked, and that no judge before whom they could state their grievances had come, were conspiring among themselves to murder the Marquis, and that this very St. John's Day was the time selected. It is further said that the good cavalier Cristóbal de Sotelo prevented it, saying that it was not desirable to do such an act then. It is also said that the Marquis had resolved to banish Don Diego[50] and Juan de Herrada,[51] and to execute justice on those who were seen to go about fomenting strife. Well! neither the one story nor the other is true. It is well known to those who lived at that time that the Marquis often went to a mill which he had ordered to be built on the banks of the river that flows by the city, accompanied only by an unarmed page. Being thus unguarded, it would have been easy for assassins to kill him if they had wanted to do so. Although some men talked of avenging the death of Almagro, it had not then been determined to murder the Marquis. Neither can we believe, nor would it be fair to affirm, that the Marquis intended to banish them, or to put anyone to death; for we know that many of his friends advised him to adopt such measures, and that he told them such a thing would never be done by him, because it would at once be said that he did so that there might be no one to plead in the _residencia_.[52] In the city there was some commotion, accompanied by profound silence on the part of the Indians, who said that the Marquis's last day was at hand, when he would be murdered by the men of Chile. The same was common talk in the marketplaces, and some Indian women repeated it to Spaniards who were their house-masters. It is also said that the favourite, Garcí Díaz, heard it from an Indian girl and warned the Marquis about it. But Pizarro laughed, and said that no attention should be paid to such Indian gossip. After some further discussion respecting these rumours, the Marquis ordered the Bishop to have Juan de Herrada fetched, and to bring him before him on the same St. John's Day, in the afternoon. Four or five days before this, Juan de Herrada heard that the Marquis was collecting arms, and intended to seize the men of Chile or banish them, or kill certain of them, but he concealed what he had heard. He consulted with Cristóbal de Sotelo, Francisco de Chaves, and others of their party, and they determined to purchase arms, and if the Marquis wanted to kill or take them, to unite together and kill him first, if they could. Presently Juan de Herrada bought a coat of mail, in which he always went about. The party also got some lances, and other weapons which they kept concealed about them. Don Diego went out better attended than the Marquis himself. Juan de Herrada also, when he walked abroad, was followed by twenty or thirty men ready for anything that might happen. The Marquis was told that the men of Chile