Huascar

“ Huascar was much alarmed, and from that time he feared that the end of the trouble might be fatal. His councillors decided that Cuzco should not be abandoned, but that a fresh army with new captains should take the field. But there were great lamentations for the dead, and sacrifices were offered up in the temples and to the oracles, according to custom. Huascar summoned many native chiefs of the Collao, of the Canchis, Canas, Charcas, Cavangas, those of Condesuyo, and many of those of Chincha-suyo. ”

“ Nay, Ullomaya, I am not dead yet, my friend, and your words have sunk deep into my heart. I have seen the light that shines over the threshold which I must soon pass, and it has shown me the way of right and justice. The ancient laws shall not be broken. It shall be as you say. Huascar shall reign after me, supreme lord of all the land, and Atahuallpa shall be Prince of Quito under him. ”

“ King or not, all the Quichua and Aimara chiefs are his slaves. Huascar, your former servant, is his right hand.... If you ask me, a man who has dreamed the regeneration of his race! That's what he is.... When I was preparing this revolt at Arequipa, Huascar came and offered me Oviedo Runtu's aid, and I accepted the alliance because I could not do otherwise. ”

“ The mob was howling now, and knives were being drawn on all sides, when a giant Indian pushed his way toward the Spaniards. Maria-Teresa, Don Christobal and Dick recognized Huascar, before whom his countrymen made way with evident respect and dread.
“Back!” he shouted, taking the young girl’s mule by the bridle. “Who touches the Virgin of the Sun is a dead man!”
At these words, the crowd parted. Silence succeeded the tumult of a moment before.
“Let the strangers pass,” ordered Huascar, and himself escorted them to the ancient palace gates. ”

“ Huascar, however, was nearer the throne by virtue of his mother's status, which was that of a royal princess, whereas the mother of Atauhuallpa was not officially recognised. Huascar by his excesses and his outrages on religion and public decency aroused the people to revolt against his power, and Atauhuallpa, discerning his opportunity in this émeute, made a determined attack on the royal forces, and succeeded in driving them slowly back, until at last Tumipampa was razed to the ground, and shortly afterwards the important southerly fortress of Caxamarca fell into the hands of the rebels. ”

“ But I cannot believe Huascar has anything to do with the kidnaping. He wouldn’t tell his secret to all the Indians of Peru, when he knows that nearly every one of them can be bought for a few centavo!”
“Wait before you make up your mind. We can at all events find the motor. I am sure Huascar knows where Maria-Teresa is. We must not lose sight of him.”
“We shall not have to wait long,” replied Natividad, stiffening at a fresh noise from the other end of the calle. “Here are those Indians coming back with horses.... What does it mean?... Madré de Dios!... Is it possible?... The Interaymi!... ”

“ With the first light of dawn a force must be dispatched to his place of captivity to bring him hither in safety. Tell the Inca that we must know where Huascar is, and that we must have his orders for his instant surrender to us. We cannot have one who may be so precious to us murdered like a rat in a hole. ”

“ As he said these words, the clerk seemed to have grown to a giant His sweeping gesture took in the whole huge mass of the Andes, making of it a pedestal for the Indian above them, sitting motionless on his horse, and watching their caravan.
"Huascar!" exclaimed Maria-Teresa.
All recognized Huascar. From that moment, until they had left the first chain of the Andes behind them, that silhouette of horse and man dominated and haunted them—sometimes behind, sometimes before, but always above them:—a promise of protection, or a menace. ”

“ Huascar was on the point of marrying her to one of his captains. She cut her hair, put on the dress of one of her servants, painted her face according to the usage of those who go to war, and mixed herself amongst the camp followers of the army of Huascar. The Ynca’s general, named{lviii} Huanca Auqui, had retreated to the valley of Xauxa, where he met the reinforcements from Cuzco, and was superseded by Mayta Yupanqui. The army of Atahualpa, under the command of Quizquiz, advanced to Tarma, and the hostile forces met between Tarma and Xauxa. ”

“ Huascar, the rival of Atahuallpa for the chieftainship of the Incas, lost the support of the warrior class because he was reported to have said that all the dead ought to be buried and their property taken from them. ”

“ At this time an Orejon named Hancu and another named Atoc came to Tumipampa to offer sacrifices before the image of Huayna Ccapac, by order of Huascar. They took the wives of Huayna Ccapac and the insignia of Inca without communication with Atahualpa. For this Atahualpa seized them and, being put to the torture, they confessed what orders Huascar had given them, and that an army was being sent against Atahualpa. They were ordered to be killed, and drums to be made of their skins. Then Atahualpa sent scouts along the road to Cuzco, to see what forces were being sent against him by his brother. ”

“ The life of the captive monarch is usually short; and Atahuallpa might have learned the truth of this, when he thought of Huascar. Bitterly did he now lament the absence of Hernando Pizarro, for, strange as it may seem, the haughty spirit of this cavalier had been touched by the condition of the royal prisoner, and he had treated him with a deference which won for him the peculiar regard and confidence of the Indian. Yet the latter lost no time in endeavoring to efface the general's suspicions, and to establish his own innocence. "Am I not," said he to Pizarro, "a poor captive in your hands? ”

“ Huascar was the son of the legitimate wife of Huayna Capac, a woman of the Inca blood; and although a wise and generous king, he was inferior to Atahualpa in aggressive energy. Causes were not long wanting for war. Huascar was vanquished, and when Pizarro landed at Tumbez, was prisoner in the fortress of Xauxa. Thus much, briefly, Pizarro learned concerning the country he was invading, and that Atahualpa with his victorious army lay at the interior town of Caxamalca, some three hundred miles to the southward. ”

“ Huascar’s voice reached her, slow, cadenced, and monotonous.
“Coya, thou belongest to Huayna Capac, the great King who will take thee to the House of the Sons of the Sun. We leave thee alone with him. He will lead thee through the Corridors of Night, which no living man must know, and in the temple will seat thee among the Hundred Wives. Thou must obey him, thou must rise only if he rises! Thou must obey. And remember that the serpent watches in the House of the Serpent.” ”

“ It was here that Pizarro received some envoys from Huascar, who informed him of the revolt of Atahualpa, the brother of Huascar, and asked his aid.
At the period when the Spaniards landed to conquer Peru, it extended along the shore of the Pacific Ocean for 1500 miles, and stretched into the interior as far as the imposing chain of the Andes. Originally the population was divided into savage and barbarous tribes, having no idea of civilization, and living in a perpetual state of warfare with one another. ”

“ Atahualpa was at Caxamarca, and his brother Huascar prisoner at Andamarca, about forty leagues from Pachacamac. Atahualpa immediately sent his brother Titu Atanchi as his ambassador to Pizarro, with [Pg 145] most magnificent presents, including two golden bracelets worn only by the Incas, to welcome the arrival of the Viracochas, to solicit their protection, and to invite them to visit him at Caxamarca. Huascar at the same time, although a prisoner, found means to send his ambassadors to Pizarro, informing him of the situation in which he was placed by Atahualpa, and craving his protection. ”

“ Huascar and Atahuallpa, two sons of the great Huayna Capac (who for a child of the Sun was somewhat disposed to free-thinking) [126] , reigned in succession before the invasion of the Spaniards. Neither of these two princes left any acknowledged male heirs. In the plains of Quipaypan, Huascar was made prisoner by Atahuallpa, by whose order he was shortly after secretly put to death. Atahuallpa had two other brothers. One was the insignificant youth Toparca, who in the autumn of 1533 Pizarro caused to be crowned as Inca ”

“ They descended, their white robes smeared with blood, while Huascar, from another vase, took heavy ear-rings, with which he adorned them. Nothing in the young faces betrayed their suffering. Then all raised their hands and took the oath of bravery and of fealty to the Inca.
“That is well,” said the King. “Let them now put on their sandals.”
This part of the ceremony was performed by the quipucamyas, the most venerable among them strapping on the young men’s feet the sandals of the Order of the Incas. ”

“ Presently the troops of Atahualpa, fully armed, surrounded all those who had come from Cuzco. They took Huanca Auqui, Ahua Panti, and Paucar Usna, who had led the army against them in the battle at Tumipampa. Then they took Apu Chalco Yupanqui and Rupaca, Priests of the Sun, because these had given the fringe to Huascar. These being prisoners Quiz-quiz rose and said—"Now you know of the battles you have fought with me on the road, and the trouble you have caused me. You always raised Huascar to be Inca, who was not the heir. ”

“ The first is the recent engagement off Peru between the Peruvian ironclad turret-ship Huascar and the British unarmoured men-of-war Shah and Amethyst. With the political aspect of the affair we have nothing, of course, to do, in our present work. It was really a question between the guns quite as much as between the vessels. The Huascar is only a moderately-strong armoured vessel, her plates being the same thickness as those of the earliest English ironclad, the Warrior, and her armament is two 300-pounders in her turret, and three shell-guns. ”

“ When Atahualpa put his half-brother Huascar, the last reigning Inca, to death, there remained three surviving sons of their father the great Inca Huayna Ccapac, named Manco, Paullu, and Titu Atauchi, and several daughters. After his occupation of Cuzco, Pizarro acknowledged Manco Inca as the legitimate successor of his brother Huascar, and he was publicly crowned, receiving all the insignia on March 24th, 1534. He escaped from the Spaniards and besieged them in Cuzco at the head of a large army. ”

“ Huascar, having finally learned of this event, sent messengers to Pizarro to entreat his aid against his usurping brother. The wily Spaniard at once saw the advantage he might derive from the intestine divisions of the empire, and hastened forward without waiting for the reinforcements he was expecting from Panama. He began his march from his new colony, called St. Michael, where he left a garrison, with only sixty-two horsemen and one hundred and two foot soldiers, of whom twenty were armed with cross-bows, and three with muskets. ”

“ The Esmeralda, on the contrary, hit the Huascar repeatedly, but her smaller projectiles were harmless against the iron armour, and inflicted no damage to the hull, but the careful firing of the Chilians rendered it very difficult for the Huascar’s crew to expose themselves in any degree on deck for working the other guns. The Huascar again rammed the Esmeralda, this time on the starboard bow, and the Chilians with extraordinary bravery attempted to carry the ironclad by boarding it, but in the confusion the order to board was not understood, and the attempt consequently failed. ”

“ Daily they sailed to some barren, desolate island, hoping for a chance to blow one of the Chilean's vessels out of the water. The Huascar stood up and down the coast at times, almost within range of the Peruvian guns. As she was one of the vessels Paul wanted to get, he determined to lay in her track and risk an attempt to destroy her. With such intention, he ran the sloop out as far as he could, one night, and went overboard in his dress, with a screw torpedo, that would have blown the Huascar as high as the topmost peaks of San Lorenzo. ”

“ He marched to oppose them, and fought with a strong squadron of the troops under Chalco Chima. He advanced resolutely to the encounter, and slew many of the enemy, including one of their captains named Tomay Rima. This gave Huascar great satisfaction and he said laughingly to the orejones—"The Collas have won this victory. Behold the obligation we have to imitate our ancestors." Presently the captains-general of his army, who were Titu Atauchi, Tupac Atao his brother, Nano, Urco Huaranca and others, marshalled the army to fight those of Atahualpa with their whole force. ”

“ Both the place and the manner of Huascar's death are reported with much discrepancy by the historians. All agree in the one important fact, that he died a violent death at the instigation of his brother. Conf. Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 3, cap. 2. - Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p. 204. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Naharro, Relacion Sumaria, Ms. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 2, cap. 6. ”

“ His brother Huascar succeeded Huayna Capac in 1527; for, as Atahuallpa was not descended on both sides from the line of Incas, Peruvian law considered him illegitimate. He obtained, however, the kingdom of Quito. A jealous feeling soon sprang up between him and Huascar, who insisted that Quito should be held as a dependent province of his empire. ”