distant hills, and gave way to despair. Suddenly Quilacu rushed out of the maize-field,[1] and in a moment the lovers were locked in each other's arms. They were joined by Cahua Ticlla, to whom Quilacu related all that had taken place at Calca and Cuzco. He asked the princess for the hand of her niece, but she replied that they must wait for more peaceful times. She, however, promised that Curi Coyllur, who was only sixteen, should wait for him for three years. With this he was obliged to be contented, and setting out on his way to Quito, he reported the results of his mission to Atahualpa.
Quilacu was quickly followed by a large army commanded by a general named Atoc, and the forces of the two brothers encountered each other at Ambato, near Quito. Huascar's forces were entirely defeated, the general being captured and put to death. Huascar then sent another army to Tumipampa, under the command of Huanca Auqui, one of the Inca's numerous half-brothers. This unfortunate general seems to have done his best, but he was defeated at Tumipampa, then near Caxamarca, then at Bombon, and was finally driven back into the valley of Jauja. Here he received large reinforcements under another leader, named Mayta Yupanqui, who upbraided the unlucky Huanca Auqui for his defeats. Meanwhile the Inca Huascar celebrated an expiatory fast called Itu.
- ↑ The maize of Cuzco grows to a greater height than the tallest man, and Quilacu would have been entirely concealed by it.
