ldiers: But the army was convinced he would not have
abandoned so much valuable property, unless he had been satisfied that
the affairs of Gonzalo were in a very bad condition, both in regard to
power of resisting the president, and in respect of the right and
justice of his pretensions. So great was the defection in the camp, that
the greater part of the troops had resolved to disperse; and next
morning, when the army had begun its march, two cavaliers, named Lopez
and Villadente, quitting the ranks and causing their horses to vault in
sight of the whole army, they cried, out aloud, "Long live the king, and
let the tyrant die!" These men trusted, to the speed of their horses;
and Gonzalo was so exceedingly suspicious of every one, that he
expressly forbid these men to be pursued, being afraid that many might
use that pretence for joining them. He continued his march accordingly,
in all haste by the road of the plain country, leading towards Arequipa;
in which march several of his musqueteers and others deserted, although
he hanged ten or twelve persons of consideration in the course of three
or four days. At length his force was reduced to two hundred men, and he
was in continual dread that in some false alarm all his remaining men
might disperse. Continuing his march, he at length came to the province
of Nasca, about fifty leagues from Lima.

After Gonzalo had gone to a considerable distance from Lima, Don Antonio
de Ribeira, Martin Pizarro, Antonio de Leon, and some other inhabitants
of Lima, who as old and infirm had been allowed by Gonzalo to remain
behind the army on giving up all their horses and arms, erected the
standard of the city, and, assembling the small number of inhabitants
that remained in the great square, they publickly declared for his
majesty in their own names and in the names of all the loyal citizens of
the city. After proclaiming the new regulations and orders of the
president, the general amnesty granted by the king, and the abrogation
of the obnoxious regulations, they sent notice of all the recent events
to Aldana, who still remained on the coast to receive and protect all
who were inclined to quit the party of the insurgents. At the same time,
and for the same purpose, Juan Alfonso Palamino had landed with fifty
men, yet keeping his boats always in readiness to reimbark, in case of
the return of Gonzalo. Aldana likewise placed an advanced picket of
twelve horsemen, of those who had deserted f