Nor did the worthy vicar of
Panama, as the history will show hereafter, go without his reward.
Having completed these preliminary arrangements, the three associates
lost no time in making preparations for the voyage. Two vessels were
purchased, larger and every way better than those employed on the
former occasion. Stores were laid in, as experience dictated, on a larger
scale than before, and proclamation was made of "an expedition to
Peru." But the call was not readily answered by the skeptical citizens of
Panama. Of nearly two hundred men who had embarked on the former
cruise, not more than three fourths now remained.11 This dismal
mortality, and the emaciated, poverty-stricken aspect of the survivors,
spoke more eloquently than the braggart promises and magnificent
prospects held out by the adventurers. Still there were men in the
community of such desperate circumstances, that any change seemed like
a chance of bettering their condition. Most of the former company also,
strange to say, felt more pleased to follow up the adventure to the end
than to abandon it, as they saw the light of a better day dawning upon
them. From these sources the two captains succeeded in mustering about
one hundred and sixty men, making altogether a very inadequate force
for the conquest of an empire.
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