ABSTRACT
The reader will remember how it was related in the previous book, that the Captain Garcilasso de la Vega was sent by order of Alonzo de Alvarado to see if the Parcos was free of Indians so that it might be crossed without molestation. He returned reporting that all was clear, which gave Alvarado great satisfaction. He ordered the captains to march with their companies, saying that they would soon be in the city of Cuzco. So they crossed the river and went on until they arrived in the province of Guamanga, where he was warned that there was a garrison very near, under an Indian captain. Alvarado had strict orders from the Governor to watch the movements 36of rebellious Indians, and if when offered peace they did not accept it, to make war on them and leave them so severely punished, and the country so open, that the messengers despatched could pass without any hindrance. As Alvarado knew that there were warlike Indians here, so as to leave all safe, he ordered Pero Alvarez Holguin to march with the necessary number of horse and foot and endeavour to defeat them, and capture as many of them as possible. Pero Alvarez was very anxious to encounter the garrison that was said to be near, but he could find no one nor any sign that any one had been there, so he returned to where Alvarado had encamped. When that captain heard that no warlike native had been met with, he knew that the captive Indian captain he had with him had invented the news out of treachery, and thus enraged against him, he ordered him to be burnt.
