Having formally extended and authenticated this act, they communicated it in secret to Captain Martin de Robles, whom they desired to hold himself and his soldiers in readiness to defend them in case of need.  De Robles engaged to stand by them; for though one of the captains in the troops, he was not on good terms with the viceroy.  Several other persons of importance in the city, to whom the oydors communicated the resolutions which they had formed, promised likewise to stand by them against the tyranny of the viceroy.  That same evening, all who were in concert with the oydors held themselves in readiness, anxiously waiting the event of an open breach between the viceroy and the judges of the royal audience.  However secret the steps taken by the oydors might have been, they became known to the viceroy, or at least he entertained violent suspicions of their nature and tendency.  At night-fall, Martin de Robles went privately to the house of the oydor Cepeda, to whom he communicated his opinion that the viceroy was already informed of all their proceedings, and that, unless prompt measures were taken for their security, they would all be put to death.  Cepeda sent immediately for Alvarez and Texada, two others of the oydors; and these three came immediately to the determination of openly defending themselves against the viceroy, if he should attempt their arrest.  For this purpose, several of their friends, and some of the soldiers of the company, commanded by De Robles, assembled in arms at their residence.  While this was going on, Urbina the maestre de campo or major-general, when going his rounds met several of these soldiers in the street, and immediately suspected the truth.  He went, therefore, straight to the viceroy, to whom he communicated the suspicious circumstances he had observed, that some prompt measures might be concerted for counteracting the machinations of the oydors.  The viceroy desired him to fear nothing, as they had only civilians to deal with, who had not sufficient courage to concert any enterprize against his authority.  Urbina went away accordingly to continue his round; but as he still continued to meet several armed horsemen in the streets, all of whom were going towards the house of Cepeda, he returned again to the palace, and remonstrated with the viceroy on the absolute necessity of taking instant measures of defence.  The viceroy immediately put on his armour and ordered to sound an alarm, after which he went out into the great square before the palace, accompanied by his nightly guard of a hundred soldiers and all his domestic establishment, meaning to have proceeded to the house of Cepeda, to arrest the oydors, to chastise the mutineers, and to re-establish order in the city.  While in the great square near the gate of the palace, he noticed that it was impossible to prevent the soldiers from going to join the oydors, as the horsemen who filled all the streets constrained them to take that direction.  If, however, the