He now learned with surprise the nature of Gasca's
powers, and the extent of the royal concessions to the insurgents. He had
embarked with Gonzalo Pizarro on a desperate venture, and he found
that it had proved successful. The colony had nothing more, in reason,
to demand; and, though devoted in heart to his leader, he did not feel
bound by any principle of honor to take part with him, solely to gratify
his ambition, in a wild contest with the Crown that must end in inevitable
ruin. He consequently abandoned his mission to Castile, probably never
very palatable to him, and announced his purpose to accept the pardon
proffered by government, and support the president in settling the affairs
of Peru. He subsequently wrote, it should be added, to his former
commander in Lima, stating the course he had taken, and earnestly
recommending the latter to follow his example.
The influence of this precedent in so important a person as Aldana,
aided, doubtless, by the conviction that no change was now to be
expected in Pizarro, while delay would be fatal to himself, at length
prevailed over Hinojosa's scruples, and he intimated to Gasca his
willingness to place the fleet under his command. The act was
performed with great pomp and ceremony. Some of Pizarro's stanchest
partisans were previously removed from the vessels; and on the
nineteenth of November, 1546, Hinojosa and his captains resigned their
commissions into the hands of the president.
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