defended himself with admirable courage and presence of mind, and not only repelled the Spaniards with very little loss on his own side, but cut in pieces a great number of his assailants, and pursued the rest to the gates of Imperial, to which he immediately laid close siege.  In the mean time, Reynoso and Millalauco, after several severe yet inconclusive encounters, agreed to fight a single combat, a practice not unfrequent during the Araucanian war.  They fought accordingly a long while without either being able to obtain the advantage; and at length, fatigued by their combat, they separated by mutual consent, and resumed their former mode of warfare.

Caupolican prosecuted the siege of Imperial with much vigour, but possessed no means of making any impression on its fortifications.  After several violent but unsuccessful assaults, he made an attempt to gain over the Promaucian auxiliaries of the Spaniards by means similar to what had been unsuccessfully employed by his father on a former occasion.  Two of his officers, named Tulcamaru and Torquin, were employed on this hazardous service and detected by the Spaniards, by whom they were both impaled in sight of the Araucanian army, whom they exhorted in their last moments to die valiantly in defending the liberties of their country.  At the same time, an hundred and twenty of the Promaucians, who had been seduced to favour the Araucanians, were hung on the ramparts, all of whom exhorted their countrymen to aid the Araucanians.  Caupolican was anxious to siglize himself by the capture of a place which his heroic father had twice attempted in vain, and made a violent effort to carry the place by assault.  He several times scaled the walls of the town in person, exposing his life to the most imminent danger, and even one night effected an entrance into the city, followed by Tucapel and a number of brave companions, but was repulsed by Don Garcia, whose vigilance was incessant.  On this occasion, Caupolican withdrew, constantly fighting and covered by the blood of his enemies, to a bastion of the fortress, whence he escaped by an adventurous leap and rejoined his troops, who were in much apprehension for the safety of their brave and beloved commander.  Wearied out by the length of the siege, which he saw no reasonable prospect of bringing to a favourable conclusion, and impatient of the inactivity of a blockade, Caupolican abandoned this ineffectual attempt upon Imperial, and turned his arms against Reynoso in hope of being able to take revenge upon him for the death of his father.  But Don Garcia, by going to the assistance of that officer, rendered all his efforts ineffectual.