And now when the night was far spent and the falling snow had scattered many of its flakes over the face of the country, and the weather seemed clear enough to go forth, the Governor Vaca de Castro ordered a reconnaissance to be made. Presently a very laughable thing happened, which was that Don Pedro Puertocarrero, and one Juan de Mora, straying apart from the rest of the scouts, came to where there were some crags and great rocks. In the twilight Don Pedro thought they were the enemy's patrols and that he could dash through them to give notice to his captain, so he put his lance to the rest and charged the rocks in such fashion that the lance was shivered to pieces, and his horse and himself nearly broke their necks. Those who went out to reconnoitre that morning did get sight of the enemy scouts, and reported it to Vaca de Castro. Little time elapsed before the factor Mercado and Lope Idiáquez arrived where the Governor was, and reported what had occurred, and how the men of Chile had been minded to kill them; and finally that war was certain, and peace quite out of reach, for the enemy would brook none but what they might win at the point of their lances. They said that there were five hundred Spaniards at Vilcas, well armed and mounted, and some experienced fighting men amongst them, all firmly resolved to conquer or die. On hearing this the Governor ordered his secretary Pero López to enter it in the records together with the letters from Almagro and his captains. He then called a meeting of all his captains and combatant officers, and said to them: "You are aware of the correspondence I have had with Don Diego and his followers who are accomplices with him in the tyranny they have set up. To avoid bloodshed and for the service his father rendered to his Majesty I was anxious that this boy should not be lost, but he has refused to repent and enjoy the clemency and the pardon his Majesty would have granted him. On the contrary, he was on the point of murdering the ambassadors, and, not to mention the crafty and insincere letters he has written to me, now comes against us to give us battle with tyrannical fury, and an insatiable greed to usurp and rule over the Realm: a thing to which we cannot consent, nor allow such a great calamity to befall. That our men may take heart, and that punishment proportionate to so great a crime may be dealt, my decision is that he and his defenders are traitors, and that whatever may be found in his camp is lawful plunder."