once made for Guamanga. The Governor, Vaca de Castro, having sent the messengers, and with them, as their text, the law of the _Partida_, which, according to the lawyers, declares those who deny obedience to the king to be traitors, he held a consultation with the principal leaders in his camp. Learning from the Indian Chiefs that Don Diego had departed from Vilcas, and suspecting that he might be going by the route of Guaytara to Lima, where he would do even more harm than when he killed the Marquis, Vaca de Castro moved his forces from where they had halted, and marched that day, which was a Friday, until they took up a position on the level ground of _CHUPAS_. This was done on the advice of them all. That night there was a storm so violent that nothing short of torrents of water fell from the clouds and thickness, accompanied by loud peals of thunder, insomuch that the very elements appeared to be enemies. They passed a very troublous night, for many soldiers had no protection from the rain for the arms they would have to fight with on the following day; and if the armies should meet it seemed likely that the artillery and arquebuses could do little harm. If this battle were being joined in Spain, or if one host encountered another in Italy, there would be no cause for wonder, and nothing need be stated beyond the fact that two thousand men met to kill each other. But it is a striking and remarkable thing that, after making such protracted voyages as those by way of the Southern Ocean, and arriving in driblets a few at a time, so many of our people should join together, and that, though in the aggregate their numbers are not large, they should cause all the nations and regions from the Strait to the uttermost parts of the land to tremble, without the barbarians daring to oppose them. I know well that two thousand Spaniards outside my country, wherever they may be, are feared, and that they can carry on civil war with terrible savagery, as will presently be shown by the case of a soldier who filled the post of Sergeant-major in the force of Vaca de Castro.[123] Never was a Marius, or Sylla, a Dionisius, or Falaris, his equal in cruelty; for in every phase of cruelty he showed himself a past master of the class I have mentioned and the trees[124] from Quito to the hill-crest of Potosí bear witness to it.