The weak character of Almagro explains the liberation of Hernando Pizarro, urged upon him by the moderate party among his captains. It was certainly unwise if Almagro intended to persevere in his treasonable practices; and Orgóñez was most strongly opposed to it. Hernando Pizarro had been kept in close and illegal confinement for months, and he knew that the most influential of Almagro's captains was constantly urging that he should be beheaded. It was enough to try any one's nerves. But Hernando Pizarro's nerves were of iron. The moment he was released negotiations ceased. The Marquis, owing to advancing age and infirmities, returned to Lima, while his brother Hernando took command of the army in the field. He was by far the ablest soldier then in Peru. Almagro, suffering from a dreadful disease, retreated with his forces to Cuzco, intending to hold that city in defiance of all decisions against him. Such was the resolve come to by his captains. Hernando Pizarro was certainly in the right when he marched to Cuzco to resume the position of deputy for his brother in that city, from which he had been unlawfully and treacherously ejected. He entirely defeated the Almagro faction in the battle of Las Salinas, and returned to his post at Cuzco, making Almagro his prisoner, and keeping the old man's captains under a loose arrest. Hernando Pizarro was a stern, resolute man, inexorable when once his mind was made up, but not cruel. He always disapproved of the ill treatment of the natives, and took measures to prevent it. At first he had no other intention with regard to old Almagro than to leave his case to be decided by his brother on his arrival at Cuzco. But there was a conspiracy among the officers who had served in the expedition of Pedro de Candía, and the troops under their command, to kill Hernando Pizarro and liberate Almagro. They were outside Cuzco and needed help from within. If they had written to one of the more turbulent Almagrist captains, the plot would probably have succeeded. But they chose Diego de Alvarado, a strictly conscientious person who told everything to Hernando Pizarro. That vigilant deputy at once went to the camp of Pedro de Candía and nipped the plot in the bud.