The Last Days of the Incas (44 page)

After stints in Panama and Honduras, Orgóñez eventually arrived in Peru with Diego de Almagro in April 1533, missing out in the division of gold
and silver at Cajamarca, but participating in the expedition down the Andes and ultimately in the capture of Cuzco and in the division of its spoils. Finding himself suddenly wealthy and one of Cuzco’s first
encomenderos
, Orgóñez’s ambition, however, had only been whetted by his recent success. An old Spanish proverb says, “He who has more, wants more”
(“El que más tiene, más quiere”).
Orgóñez not only wanted more, but he now craved the top prize that any conquistador could aspire to: his own governorship. Orgóñez realized, however, that his chances of receiving a governorship and prestigious titles from the king would be greatly improved if he were able to legitimize his paternal last name. From Cuzco, therefore, Orgóñez soon sent the nobleman whose name he had borrowed a rich gift of gold and silver, along with letters that contained an unusual mixture of both braggadocio and pleading:

Orgóñez’s high hopes of finding a governorship
somewhere in the south ultimately foundered, however, amidst the frozen passes, dead bodies, and desert wastelands of Chile, as well as under the withering attacks of the southern kingdom’s uncooperative inhabitants. Now back in Cuzco, he was determined to seize what he could from the rich Kingdom of New Castile, as Pizarro’s governorship was called, and to take back the
encomienda
that he had abandoned two years earlier. Eventually, the man who had once personally captured a French king and who had recently captured and imprisoned two of Francisco Pizarro’s brothers now found himself leading an army of men with orders from Almagro to prevent Cuzco from being retaken. Of one thing Orgóñez was certain: he would do whatever was necessary to hold on to the city that he and Almagro had just won by force of arms.

A brilliant military strategist, Orgóñez planned a night attack on Alvarado’s forces, hoping that he might thus catch them by surprise. In a nearly bloodless battle that was fought alongside some ten thousand native auxiliaries led by Manco’s brother Paullu, Orgóñez soon not only routed his opponent but also succeeded in winning over the majority of Alvarado’s troops.

The victorious Orgóñez now returned to Cuzco, urging Almagro to immediately execute the two Pizarro brothers. Orgóñez knew that Hernando Pizarro, especially, was a spiteful man and, if given the chance, would certainly find a way to avenge his present humiliation. Orgóñez also urged Almagro to allow him to attack Lima; there he could seize Francisco Pizarro and, with the remaining Pizarro brothers either captured or killed, the Kingdom of Peru would be theirs. Almagro, however—realizing that if he committed his forces to Lima, Manco Inca might once again attack Cuzco—decided that Orgóñez should first capture or kill the Inca leader, thus removing the threat of an attack. Once Manco had been eliminated, Orgóñez could then lead his army against Pizarro. In the meantime, Almagro said, he wanted to keep Hernando and Gonzalo Pizarro alive—perhaps to use later as bargaining chips.

In mid-July 1573, Rodrigo Orgóñez rode out from Cuzco with three hundred Spanish cavalry and foot soldiers. This time he rode in pursuit of Manco Inca, who, according to native spies, was said to have taken refuge in the land of the Antis. Orgóñez was in fact enthusiastic about the expedition. At the very least, he and his men stood a good chance of seizing plunder, as Manco was said to have a large quantity of gold and silver in
his possession. Orgóñez had also received word that Rui Díaz and a number of other Spaniards Manco held in captivity were still alive. If Orgóñez could capture or kill Manco Inca, could discover a hoard of treasure, and could find the Spanish prisoners and bring them back alive, then he was convinced that both Almagro and the king would reward him handsomely for his efforts.

Orgóñez and his troops now rode down into the Yucay Valley, fording the river and passing by the vacant fortress of Ollantaytambo. Only a year earlier, Manco Inca had repelled repeated attacks here by Hernando Pizarro, had flooded the nearby fields in a brilliant defensive maneuver, and had continued to invest Cuzco with his nearly year-long siege. Now Manco had been forced to abandon the high Andes and was living like a fugitive in the remote Antisuyu. Leading a force nearly twice the size of the one that had captured Manco’s brother Atahualpa, Orgóñez turned away from the valley and headed north up toward the Panticalla Pass. Soon, however, the Spaniards found obstructions in their path—large boulders and fallen trees that had clearly been placed there to block their passage. Forced to find alternative routes, the Spaniards relied upon their native auxiliaries from Cuzco, who had been sent by Manco’s brother Paullu.

Diego de Almagro, meanwhile—wishing to fracture Inca loyalties and thus to further weaken the native elite—had decided to crown Paullu in Cuzco as the new Inca emperor. Although originally a firm supporter of his brother, Paullu had just spent the previous two years with Almagro in Chile. Without Paullu’s constant assistance, in fact, it is unlikely that Almagro and his men ever would have survived the long journey or returned to Peru.

Roughly the same age, Paullu and Manco shared the same father, Huayna Capac, but had different mothers. Paullu’s mother, Añas Collque, was the daughter of a non-Inca chief from the province of Huaylas in what is now north-central Peru. By definition, then, Paullu was not of pure royal blood. Manco’s mother, by contrast, was Mama-Runtu, a full sister of Huayna Capac; Manco thus held the edge in terms of royal legitimacy. Although Paullu had departed for Chile at Manco’s request, he had returned to a burned-out capital city where fewer than two hundred Spaniards and their native auxiliaries had survived an onslaught of some 200,000 of Manco’s warriors. Paullu, it seems, didn’t need much time to absorb the lesson. When his brother sent him a number of messages from the rebel town of Vitcos for Paullu to join him there, Paullu rebuffed the invitation. According
to the chronicler Cieza de León:

Paullu was clearly an opportunist, obviously preferring the life of an emperor in the capital city to the life of a subordinate and fugitive in the Antisuyu. Not surprisingly, his brother was furious; Manco in fact never forgave Paullu for the betrayal. Now, for the second time in a decade, two sons of Huayna Capac simultaneously wore the royal
mascapaicha
, the sacred fringe of the Inca emperor. And, like their own brothers Atahualpa and Huascar before them, both Manco and Paullu each had their group of supporters, thus further weakening allegiances among the Inca elite—precisely as Almagro had planned.

For the moment, however, Manco had other things to worry about: a native runner had just reached him with news that a large Spanish force was making its way down along the Lucumayo River on its way to the Amaibamba Valley, where Manco was visiting. If Manco didn’t immediately flee, the messenger said, then the Spaniards would surely capture or kill him. Manco therefore climbed onto his royal litter and was borne across the river over the hanging bridge at Chuquichaca, leaving instructions behind for the town’s defense. Not long afterward, Orgóñez and his men arrived and found a legion of native warriors defending the town. According to Cieza de Léon:

The Spaniards rode after the fleeing Indians with twelve-foot lances, spearing as many as they could. As Manco’s warriors and Orgóñez’s men fought in the town’s streets, a group of bedraggled Spaniards suddenly emerged from one of the buildings and began calling out to their compatriots: it was Rui Díaz and the Spanish prisoners who had been captured nearly a year earlier; the latter were practically the only survivors of the various relief forces that General Quizo had exterminated in the Andes.

The next morning, at dawn, Orgóñez and his troops crossed the bridge over the Urubamba River at Chuquichaca, then rode up into the Vilcabamba Valley until they arrived before Vitcos, Manco’s new capital. The town sat on a hilltop from which its inhabitants could look over the deep valleys to the east and west and view a series of sacred, eighteen-thousand-to-twenty-thousand-foot peaks to the south. As the Spaniards charged up the hill, pandemonium broke out as native men, women, and children tried to flee. Instead of slaughtering the inhabitants, however, many of the Spaniards dismounted and, with swords drawn, ran into the thatched stone palaces with their trapezoidal doorways; they soon emerged clutching golden vessels, plates, and idols, piles of richly woven
cumpi
cloth—so fine that it felt like silk—along with jewels and other treasures.

As horses whirled about, Spaniards shouted, and terrified native women screamed, Manco Inca was meanwhile fleeing further up the valley and into the mountains. The Inca emperor had escaped with only his principal wife, Cura Ocllo (the same
coya
that Gonzalo Pizarro had stolen but who had somehow managed to escape and rejoin Manco during his rebellion); the two had been in such a hurry, in fact, that they had left their royal litters behind. Instead, twenty of the fastest runners from the Lucana
tribe had carried Manco and his wife in relays in their arms, never stopping. Orgóñez, discovering that Manco had fled, quickly sent four of his fastest horsemen after him, then followed a bit later with twenty more cavalry. Despite riding throughout the night, however, Orgóñez found no trace of the renegade emperor. Manco Inca—the rebel ruler of the Incas—had disappeared.

The illusion of security that Vitcos had once seemed to have offered Manco, however, had cost the young emperor dearly. During the looting of the city, Orgóñez had discovered a five-year-old boy, dressed in fine clothing. The boy turned out to be Manco’s son, Titu Cusi, and Orgóñez had him seized. In addition to a fortune in gold, silver, fine cloth, and jewels, the Spaniards soon discovered a treasure almost equally as valuable: a large stash of bloodied Spanish clothing and armor. Inca warriors had apparently stripped the clothing from the bodies of the more than 140 dead Spaniards that had been killed in various parts of Peru during the previous year. Imported from distant Spain, the armor and clothes were literally worth a fortune to the isolated Spaniards in Peru. Almagro later distributed the dead men’s possessions among his followers, many of whom had worn the same, ragged clothing for years.

As Orgóñez and his troops began marching triumphantly back to Cuzco, they took with them their spoils of gold and silver, Manco’s son, a vast herd of llamas, a large number of the province’s inhabitants, and even the recovered mummies of Manco’s ancestors—whom the Incas continued to revere as gods. Remembered Titu Cusi:

Except for the failure to capture Manco Inca, Orgóñez’s expedition had been an unqualified success. All the Spaniards in Cuzco, including Almagro and the new puppet king, Paullu Inca, were delighted with
its results. The back of the Incas’ insurrection had surely been broken, for now Manco—no matter where he had escaped to—barely had any subjects left to rule, let alone to renew his war with. Cuzco, now the unofficial capital of Almagro’s Kingdom of New Toledo, was at last secure.

Or was it? Although Almagro was in physical control of the city, with more than eight hundred Spaniards now at his disposal, the Inca capital still suffered from an undefined legal status. The uncertainty was due to the fact that no one had been able to determine whether Cuzco lay within the kingdom granted to Pizarro or the kingdom granted to Almagro. Pizarro, mean-while—still in Lima yet aware now that Almagro had seized Cuzco and had imprisoned his two brothers—decided that the best course of action would be to try to negotiate with his former partner. Given Almagro’s obvious military strength, he had little choice. Pizarro therefore dispatched an old acquaintance—an elderly lawyer by the name of Gaspar de Espinoza—who now traveled to Cuzco with instructions to negotiate with Almagro in order to try to win the release of Pizarro’s two brothers.