flee from the Pizarros, they were glad enough to find a welcome
in Uiticos. To while away the time they played games and taught
the Inca checkers and chess, as well as bowling-on-the-green and
quoits. Montesinos says they also taught him to ride horseback
and shoot an arquebus. They took their games very seriously and
occasionally violent disputes arose, one of which, as we shall see,
was to have fatal consequences. They were kept informed by Manco of
what was going on in the viceroyalty. Although "encompassed within
craggy and lofty mountains," the Inca was thoroughly cognizant of
all those "revolutions" which might be of benefit to him.

Perhaps the most exciting news that reached Uiticos in 1544 was in
regard to the arrival of the first Spanish viceroy. He brought the
New Laws, a result of the efforts of the good Bishop Las Casas to
alleviate the sufferings of the Indians. The New Laws provided, among
other things, that all the officers of the crown were to renounce
their repartimientos or holdings of Indian serfs, and that compulsory
personal service was to be entirely abolished. Repartimientos given
to the conquerors were not to pass to their heirs, but were to revert
to the king. In other words, the New Laws gave evidence that the
Spanish crown wished to be kind to the Indians and did not approve
of the Pizarros. This was good news for Manco and highly pleasing
to the refugees. They persuaded the Inca to write a letter to the
new viceroy, asking permission to appear before him and offer his
services to the king. The Spanish refugees told the Inca that by
this means he might some day recover his empire, "or at least the
best part of it." Their object in persuading the Inca to send such
a message to the viceroy becomes apparent when we learn that they
"also wrote as from themselves desiring a pardon for what was past"
and permission to return to Spanish dominions.

Gomez Perez, who seems to have been the active leader of the little
group, was selected to be the bearer of the letters from the Inca and
the refugees. Attended by a dozen Indians whom the Inca instructed
to act as his servants and bodyguard, he left Uilcapampa, presented
his letters to the viceroy, and gave him "a large relation of the
State and Condition of the Inca, and of his true and real designs
to doe him service." "The Vice-king joyfully received the news,
and granted a full and ample pardon of all crimes, as desired. And
as to the Inca, he mad