The third son of Manco, Tupac Amaru, brought up as a playfellow of the Virgins of the Sun in the Temple near Uiticos, and now happily married, was selected to rule the little kingdom.  His brows were decked with the Scarlet Fringe of Sovereignty, but, thanks to the jealous fear of his powerful illegitimate brother, his training had not been that of a soldier.  He was destined to have a brief, unhappy existence.  When the young Inca’s counselors heard that a messenger was coming from the viceroy, seven warriors were sent to meet him on the road.  Tilano was preparing to spend the night at the Chuquichaca bridge when he was attacked and killed.

The viceroy heard of the murder of his ambassador at the same time that he learned of the martyrdom of Friar Diego.  A blow had been struck at the very heart of Spanish domination; if the representatives of the Vice-Regent of Heaven and the messengers of the viceroy of Philip II were not inviolable, then who was safe?  On Palm Sunday the energetic Toledo, surrounded by his council, determined to make war on the unfortunate young Tupac Amaru and give a reward to the soldier who would effect his capture.  The council was of the opinion that “many Insurrections might be raised in that Empire by this young Heir.”  “Moreover it was alledged,” says Garcilasso ....  “That by the Imprisonment of the Inca, all that Treasure might be discovered, which appertained to former kings, together with that Chain of Gold, which Huayna Capac commanded to be made for himself to wear on the great and solemn days of their Festival”!  Furthermore, the “Chain of Gold with the remaining Treasure belong’d to his Catholic Majesty by right of Conquest”!  Excuses were not wanting.  The Incas must be exterminated.

The expedition was divided into two parts.  One company was sent by way of Limatambo to Curahuasi, to head off the Inca in case he should cross the Apurimac and try to escape by one of the routes which had formerly been used by his father, Manco, in his marauding expeditions.  The other company, under General Martin Hurtado and Captain Garcia, marched from Cuzco by way of Yucay and Ollantaytambo.  They were more fortunate than Captain Villadiego whose force, thirty-five years before, had been met and destroyed at the pass of Panticalla.  That was in the days of the active Inca Manco.  Now there was no force defending this important pass.  They descended the Lucumayo to its junction with the Urubamba and came to the bridge of Chuquichaca.

The narrow suspension bridge, built of native fibers, sagged deeply in the middle and swayed so threateningly over the gorge of the Urubamba that only one man could pass it at a time.  The rapid river was too deep to be forded.  There were no canoes.  It would have been a difficult matter to have constructed rafts, for most of the trees that grow here are of hard wood and do not float.  On the other side of the Urubamba was young Tupac Amaru, surrounded by his councilors,