…the nearby island of Puna in preparation for an assault on the Inca city.

Initially, the Spanish occupation of the island proceeds without bloodshed.

The natives of Puna are a warrior people who, reluctantly bowing before the might of the Inca Empire, had intermittently accepted the status of tributary state, though periods of friction and even open warfare had frequently erupted with the Incas out on the mainland.

The path to war is first triggered by Pizarro's native interpreters, who warn him, perhaps falsely, that several Punian chiefs have gathered to plan an insurrection.

Pizarro has the chiefs captured, interrogated, and, apparently satisfied with their guilt, delivered to their traditional enemies at Tumbes where they are duly massacred by the Incas.

According to Spanish sources, the warrior class of Puná, maddened with rage, immediately rush to arms and storm the Spanish camp, charging in the thousands.

It seems that the diminutive Spanish force will surely be overwhelmed and scattered, but what the Spaniards lack in numbers they make up for in armaments and discipline.

As the natives approach, many are met head on with deadly rows of lowered pikes, the use of which the Spanish had long mastered in the great wars of Italy and Flanders.

Other Punians, charging in confused masses, are cut down and slaughtered in vast numbers by the concerted volleys of orderly musketeers.

At length, Hernando Pizarro, sensing the enemy falter, musters his cavaliers to his standard and spurs his horse into a charge.

The Spanish cavalry slices through the native ranks with devastating effect.

Within minutes, the Punians are in full rout.