Huascar Added, That If Atahualpa Refused Submission To These Conditions, He Would March In Person Against Him As A Declared Enemy.

On receiving this message, Atahualpa consulted two of his fathers principal officers, Quiz-quiz and Cilicuchima, brave and experienced

Warriors, who advised him not to wait the invasion of his brother, but to take the field without delay and march against him; as the army which was under his orders was sufficient to enable him to acquire the whole provinces of the empire, and would increase on the march by means of the provinces which intervened between Quito and Cusco. Atahualpa followed this advice and gradually made himself master of the country through which he marched. Huascar, on hearing of the hostile proceedings of his brother, sent some light-armed troops against him. The commander of these troops advanced to the province of Tumibamba about a hundred leagues from Quito; and learning that Atahualpa had taken the field, he sent a courier to Cuzco with notice of the state of the affairs, and to request that he might be furnished with two thousand officers of experience; by means of whom he could arm thirty thousand men of the warlike province called _Cagnares_ which remained in allegiance to Huascar. These two thousand experienced warriors were immediately sent, by whose means, and with assistance of the curacas of Tumibamba, Chaparras, Paltas, and Cagnares[34], in that neighbourhood, Huascars general was enabled to collect a formidable army. Atahualpa marched against this army, with whom he fought a battle which lasted three days, in which he was at last defeated and made prisoner, in attempting to escape by the bridge of Tumibamba.

While the army of Huascar was celebrating their victory with great feasts and rejoicings, Atahualpa contrived to escape from the _tambos_ or palace of Tumibamba in which he was confined, by digging through a very thick wall with a bar of copper, which he procured from a woman. He returned immediately to Quito, where he collected the remains of his defeated army, to whom he represented that his father had changed him into a serpent, by which means he had been enabled to escape from his prison through a small hole; and that his father had assured him of certain victory, if they would return along with him against the enemy. His troops were so much encouraged by this stratagem, that they followed him with great courage, believing themselves invincible under the protection of Huana Capac. He again attacked the army of Huascar, which in this second battle was entirely defeated. Such numbers were slain on both sides in these two battles, that even to this day large quantities of human bones remain in the places where they were fought. In pursuit of his victory, Atahualpa marched into the provinces which adhered to his brother, which he destroyed with fire and sword. He entirely destroyed the great city of Tumibamba, which stood on a plain watered by three great rivers. In his pursuing his conquests, he gave no quarter wherever he met with resistance but granted mercy and peace to all such districts as submitted quietly to his authority, obliging all the warriors to join his army, which by these means, increased continually as he advanced.

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