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24 felt elated at finding himself at last independent of the Pizarros and forthwith intimated that he acknowledged now no other superior than his king. In this, Almagro was upheld by his partisans and the claim was urged that Cuzco fell within his grant. Pizarijo, not as yet made acquainted with the fact that his own territory had been extended by the royal grant a distance of two hundred miles farther south, sought to anticipate Almagro's claims, which he knew his rival would set up as soon as the royal commission, which had been delayed, had arrived. He, therefore, sent his brothers, Juan and Gonzalo, to Cuzco to reassume there the command which they had yielded to Almagro by their brother's previous orders. But Almagro had received tidings from his secret agent, as we have seen, and the feud was already ripe. Pizarro, however, did not court a resort to arms with his old partner, at this time, so the difference was temporarily arranged by a compact, in which the Almighty was called upon to visit death and loss of property upon him who should not strictly adhere to its terms. These compacts were often resorted to by Pizarro, and as often broken as made, which was the case in this instance.

Almagro now undertook the project of subjugating Chile. He sent forward Paullu Topu, a brother of the Inca Manco, the Incarial successor of Atahualpa, accompanied by Villac Umu, the Cuzco high priest, and three Spaniards, to prepare the way by negotiation with the natives. Paullu and the venerated Villac were to use their influence to pave the way for the Spaniards with the Inca's subjects south of the Atacama desert, who had been brought under the Cuzco domination by the renowned Inca Yupanqui, grandfather of Atahualpa and Huascar, about a century