rocks, sent orders to liberate the Inca.  On the arrival of Ferdinand Pizarro at Cuzco, he treated Manco Capac with much respect, yet kept a constant guard over him, and it is believed that Ferdinand shewed great friendship for the Inca, in the hope of procuring gold from him, to send to the king of Spain or for his own use.  Two months after the return of Ferdinand to Cuzco, Manco Capac solicited permission from Ferdinand to go into the district of Jucaya[5] on purpose to celebrate a solemn festival, promising on his return to present him with a statue of the late Huana Capac of solid gold as large as life.  Ferdinand allowed him to attend this festival, which turned out merely the unravelment of the plot which had been formed at the time when Almagro began his march for Chili.  Manco Capac gave immediate orders to put to death some Spaniards who superintended the working of the mines, and others who were travelling through the country on various affairs.  He sent likewise one of his captains with a considerable body of troops against Cuzco, who by a sudden and unexpected attack got possession of the castle of that city.  The Spaniards indeed retook it after six or seven days, yet not without hard fighting, in which they lost Juan Pizarro; who was killed by a stone which struck him on the head, at a time when he was unable to wear his helmet in consequence of a former wound.  His death was much regretted by the Spaniards, being a brave man and much experienced in the manner of carrying on war with the Indians, and besides because his manners had made him beloved by every one.

Notwithstanding the recapture of the castle of Cuzco by the Spaniards, the Inca brought a large army against the city, which he besieged for more than eight months, making frequent assaults on various parts of the works, chiefly during moon-light nights when the moon was full.  Ferdinand Pizarro and his brothers, assisted by Gabriel de Roias, Hernand Ponce de Leon, Don Alfonso Enriquez, the treasurer Requelme, and other brave officers, made a resolute defence, and were almost perpetually under arms day and night, as the number of the garrison was exceedingly inadequate to the extent of the place and the multitude of assailants.  As the Spaniards in Cuzco were aware that the insurrection was general over all Peru, they hardly doubted but the governor and all their other countrymen were cut off, so that they defended themselves as men who had no earthly hope of succour, depending only on the mercy of God and their own courage.  Their small number was daily diminished, as hardly a day passed in which the Indians did not kill or wound some of their people.  One time during the siege, Gonzalo Pizarro made a sally with twenty horsemen, and proceeded to the lake or marsh of Chinchero which is five leagues from Cuzco, where he was surrounded by so vast a force of Indians that he must inevitably have been made prisoner, had not Ferdinand Pizarro and Alfonso de Toro come up to his rescue with a body of horse.  Gonzalo was much blamed on this occasion for having advanced so far among the enemy with so few men.