They must
be ever on their guard, therefore, and be prepared at any hour to be
roused from their slumbers by the call of the trumpet.34--Having then
posted his sentinels, placed a strong guard over the apartment of
Atahuallpa, and taken all the precautions of a careful commander,
Pizarro withdrew to repose; and, if he could really feel, that, in the
bloody scenes of the past day, he had been fighting only the good fight of
the Cross, he doubtless slept sounder than on the night preceding the
seizure of the Inca.
On the following morning, the first commands of the Spanish chief were
to have the city cleansed of its impurities; and the prisoners, of whom
there were many in the camp, were employed to remove the dead, and
give them decent burial. His next care was to despatch a body of about
thirty horse to the quarters lately occupied by Atahuallpa at the baths, to
take possession of the spoil, and disperse the remnant of the Peruvian
forces which still hung about the place.
Before noon, the party which he had detached on this service returned
with a large troop of Indians, men and women, among the latter of whom
were many of the wives and attendants of the Inca. The Spaniards had
met with no resistance; since the Peruvian warriors, though so superior in
number, excellent in appointments, and consisting mostly of ablebodied
young men,--for the greater part of the veteran forces were with the
Inca's generals at the south,--lost all heart from the moment of their
sovereign's captivity.
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