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270 Vargas, and the family was relieved. They had been living on alms.

Centeno advanced to Lake Titicaca, where the battle of Huarina was fought on October 25, 1547. Gonzalo Pizarro was victorious, and marched triumphantly to Cuzco. Centeno fled, and Juan Vargas was killed, to the great grief of his brother and nephew. Garcilasso de la Vega was forced to accompany the rebels, and was an unwilling spectator of the battle of Huarina, where his brother lost his life on the loyal side. He had to lend his favourite horse 'Salinillas' to Gonzalo Pizarro, and to go with him in his triumphant march northwards.

On the approach of the rebels, the little Inca went out of Cuzco to meet his father, as far as Quispicancha, over ten miles. He went partly on foot and partly on the backs of two Indian servants. The meeting must have been a very joyful one, for the family had suffered much during the father's absence. They gave the little boy a horse for the return journey. Gonzalo Pizarro entered Cuzco triumphantly, with such bells as there were ringing joyful peals. There was an interval of nearly five months and a half between his victory at Huarina and his defeat and death at Sacsahuana. Young Garcilasso says that the great rebel treated him as if he had been his own son. The Inca was much in Gonzalo's house, and, though barely nine years old, he dined twice at the Procurator's table in company with his cousin and schoolfellow Francisco Pizarro,