The Mistery of Belicena Villca who was mounted and followed by three Indians bought in Coro , valuable for being polyglots and guides ; Further back , the other five Men of Stone ; and to the rear , marched the infantry troop composed of the seven Catalan soldiers , whose loyalty to their Spanish masters drove them to follow them to death ; the Spanish bullmastiffs , of proverbial fierceness , presided over the step of the entire column exploring the path fifty meters ahead .
America in times of Carlos V
Seven days they traveled through that escarpment , which now descended in frank decline into a small valley situated , however , between high mountains . Without knowing , they were approaching a northern fortress of the Inca empire , that served as a border Mark with the Muisca empire : a garrison of two thousand indians , from one empire or another , were relieved every six months to occupy that stronghold . Rounding a bend , the Lords of Tharsis saw the ramparts and the stone hamlet , as they approached there through a series of stepped terraces , cleverly arranged for this purpose . A sepulchral silence reigned in the place and no movement was seen ; the door lacked guard and strengthened the impression of being in front of an uninhabited and abandoned citadel . However , as soon as they had crossed the wall , the silence sank under a deafening concert of atrocious screams and
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