41 



ed with her husband for their lives, and having ob- 

 tained her request, unbound them with her own 

 hands, tenderly dressed their wounds, and treated 

 them like brothers. When they were fully reco- 

 vered, she desired them to teach her son the art 

 of riding, as several of the horses had been taken 

 alive in the defeat. The two Spaniards readily con- 

 sented to her request, hoping to avail themselves of 

 this opportunity to recover their liberty. But the 

 means they took to effect this were marked with 

 an act of ingratitude to their benefactress, of so 

 much the deeper dye, as, from their not being 

 strictly guarded, such an expedient was unne- 

 cessary. 



As the young prince was one day riding between 

 them, escorted by his archers, and preceded by an 

 officer armed with a lance, Monroy suddenly at- 

 tacked him with a poniard, which he carried about 

 him, and brought him to the ground, with two or 

 three mortal wounds ; Miranda at the same time 

 wresting the lance from the officer, they forced their 

 way through the guards who were thrown into con- 

 fusion by such an unexpected event. As they were 

 well mounted they easily escaped pursuit, and taking 

 their way through the desarts of Peru, arrived at 

 Cuzco, the residence at that time of Vasca de Cas- 

 tro, who had succeeded to the government upon the 

 death of Pizarro, cruelly assassinated by the parti- 

 zans of Almagro. 



On being informed of the critical situation of 

 Chili, Castro immediately dispatched a considerable 

 number of recruits by land under the command of 



Vol. II. F 



