Two Indians, who were not so drunk as the rest, followed them to the outside of the court, and told them that several foreigners had been taken by the Chilians in the battle near Chilian, and were now safe.  The interpreter hinted to them that this was probably invented by these cunning people, on hearing their questions in the court; but he advised them, as a matter of policy, to give them each a piece of money, and to get away as far as they could.

Captain Hall returned to Conception on the 23d of October, reached Valparaiso on the 26th, and in two weeks thereafter, the men of whom he was in search, made their appearance.

The bloody career of Benavides now drew near to a close.  The defeat on the Chilian side of the Biobio, and the burning of Arauca with the loss of his vessels, he never recovered.  At length, in the end of December 1821, discovering the miserable state to which he was reduced, he entreated the Intendant of Conception, that he might be received on giving himself up along with his partisans.  This generous chief accepted his offer, and informed the supreme government; but in the meantime Benavides embarked in a launch, at the mouth of the river Lebo, and fled, with the intention of joining a division of the enemy’s army, which he supposed to be at some one of the ports on the south coast of Peru.  It was indeed absurd to expect any good faith from such an intriguer; for in his letters at this time, he offered his services to Chili and promised fidelity, while his real intention was still to follow the enemy.  He finally left the unhappy province of Conception, the theatre of so many miserable scenes, overwhelmed with the misery which he had caused, without ever recollecting that it was in that province that he had first drawn his breath.

His despair in the boat made his conduct insupportable to those who accompanied him, and they rejoiced when they were obliged to put into the harbor of Topocalma in search of water of which they had run short.  He was now arrested by some patriotic individuals.  From the notorious nature of his crimes, alone, even the most impartial stranger would have condemned him to the last punishment; but the supreme government wished to hear what he had to say for himself, and ordered him to be tried according to the laws.  It appearing on his trial that he had placed himself beyond the laws of society, such punishment was awarded him as any one of his crimes deserved.  As a pirate, he merited death, and as a destroyer of whole towns, it became necessary to put him to death in such a manner as might satisfy outraged humanity, and terrify others who should dare to imitate him.  In pursuance of the sentence passed upon him, he was dragged from the prison in a pannier tied to the tail of a mule, and was hanged in the great square; his head and hands were afterwards cut off, in order to their being placed upon high poles, to point out the places of his horrid crimes, Santa Juona, Tarpellanca and Arauca.