place a plot was formed by the soldiers for killing Vela Nunnez and
deserting to the army of Gonzalo, which was revealed by the following
incident. Certain scouts who preceded the detachment about four leagues
beyond Guadachili in the district of Pariacaca, met the friar Thomas de
San Martino, provincial of the Dominicans, who had been sent by the
viceroy to Cuzco to try if it were possible to come to some agreement
with Gonzalo; on this occasion one of the soldiers secretly informed the
provincial of the particulars of the conspiracy, begging him to take
immediate means of prevention, as it was to be executed on the following
night. The provincial accordingly hastened his journey to Guadachili,
taking all the scouts he could meet with along with him, as he told them
their present expedition was entirely useless, as Puelles and his troops
had passed through Jauja two days before, and it was now impossible to
intercept them. On his arrival in Guadachili, the provincial immediately
informed Vela Nunnez of the danger to which he was exposed, who
accordingly consulted with some of his friends and relations on the
means of escape. In the evening, they ordered out their horses, as if
for the purpose of sending them to water, and mounting them immediately,
they saved themselves by flight under the cloud of night, being guided
on their way by the provincial.

[Footnote 1: The place mentioned in the text is probably what is now
named Guarochiri, which is in the direction of the march, and nearly at
the distance indicated.--E.]

When the flight of Vela Nunnez and his friends was known, Juan de la
Torre, Pedro Hita, Jorge Griego, and the other soldiers who had formed
the conspiracy, went immediately to the main guard, where they compelled
all the other soldiers, under threats of instant death, to promise going
off along with them to join Gonzalo. Almost the whole of the detachment