They knew from the Indians and from the Inca himself that Vaca de Castro was in the province of Jauja, and had augmented the force which had been collected by the captains who were at Guaraz. And further, that the whole Realm was turning against them and was paying no heed to anything but their destruction. They felt, too, that it would be a great piece of temerity if they presumed to tempt God, or trust to their luck, so far as to believe that they could overcome the forces marshalled against them, who were all Spaniards, when they themselves were so few. Considering what were best to be done in this business to prevent their enemies, Pero Alvarez Holguin and Gómez de Tordoya, from triumphing over them, it was concluded that it would be a profitable thing to advance as far as the Apurimac bridge, so that information of their going should reach the enemy who, thinking that of a surety they had gone in search of him, would stay where he was: whilst they, after crossing the bridge, could make good their retreat by a track that winds away towards the right into the country of the Quichuas and thence past the Charcas by a devious route, and thus evade their many enemies until time should make clear to them how they must act. But, though these were the plans discussed at this council, and though they intended to put them into practice, yet it did not please God that they should carry them through. For there were persons among them who had committed many murders, and had been the authors of numerous evil deeds, and they could not be allowed to escape punishment. So they marched by stages until they arrived at the bridge over the Apurimac, where they spent some days in repairing it, as it had been much knocked about and was in a ruinous state. When the captains and soldiers had passed over to the other side of the river, with the intention already explained, there put up at the rest-house of Curahuasi, where Almagro and his captains were already installed, a priest named Márquez, who, coming from Lima over the uninhabited wilds, chanced to reach this spot and was freely welcomed by Don Diego and his people. He told Almagro and his captains privately that they need not be afraid of giving battle to Vaca de Castro, because the men who had joined him were not so numerous as had been stated, nor were they so well provided with arms and other things needful in war. They took heart from the conversations and remarks of this priest, and Martín de Bilbao and other captains said that they should march against Vaca de Castro and give him battle, because he had joined their enemies and adopted them as his defenders. Don Diego, too, agreed with him.