Those of Chile were thus able to enter with a rush, and Martín de Bilbao, with others, delivered blows on that Captain who had never tired of discovering kingdoms and conquering provinces, and who had grown old in the Royal service. They would never have triumphed over the Marquis, nor over his brother, if Francisco Martín had made good his efforts in proportion to the valour he displayed. At length, after having received many wounds, without a sign of weakness or abatement of his brave spirit, the Marquis fell dead upon the ground.[65] He expired, calling upon Christ our Lord. The body of this generous leader, honoured by having been that of so famous a Spaniard as he was, remained lifeless on the floor. His death took place at eleven in the forenoon on the 26th of June in the year of our redemption 1541. He governed, himself or by his lieutenants, from the town of Plata to the city of Cartago, which is 900 leagues and more. The Marquis was not married. He had, by ladies of this Realm, three sons and one daughter.[66] His age was sixty-three years and two months. A sign was beheld in heaven before he died. This was that the moon, being full and bright, presently seemed on fire, and changed colour, one half of it becoming blood-red, and the other half black. Then there was seen to dart from it certain shimmerings also the colour of blood. Many saw this just as I have related it. Beside the Marquis there were killed his half-brother Francisco Martín de Alcántara, his two pages Vargas and Cardona; while Gómez de Luna, Gonzalo Hernández de la Torre, Francisco de Vergara, and Hurtado were badly wounded.[67] FOOTNOTES: [61] Come to pay their respects after mass. It was Sunday. [62] Five good men and true. [63] Fifteen cowards. [64] These gallant boys deserve more than a passing notice. Young Vargas, son of Gómez de Tordoza, and cousin of Garcilaso de la Vega, was of the noblest blood of Castille. One ancestor rode by the side of St. Ferdinand at the taking of Seville, another sacrificed his life to save his king at Aljubarrota, another defeated the gigantic Moor in the famous duel on the Vega of Granada. The heroic page of Pizarro was worthy of such ancestry. Cardona sprung from equally heroic stems. He was connected with the Córdovas, Dukes of Sesa, the family of the _Gran Capitán_. [65] Herrera and others tell a story that Juan Rodríguez Barragán hit the Marquis a blow with a silver jug full of water when he was on the ground, which killed him. Prescott repeats this in a footnote, calling Barragán "a soldier named Borregan." Helps writes: "Some base fellow dashed a jug upon his prostrate face."