Spanish Basque adventurer Lope de Aguirre, who…

Spanish Basque adventurer Lope de Aguirre, who is about fofty-four in 1554, has pursued the retired judge Francisco de Esquivel, who had in 1551 sentenced him to a public flogging in Potosí, by foot to Lima, Quito and then on to Cuzco.

In three years, he has run six thousand kilometers by foot, unshod, on the trail of Esquivel, who has changed his residence constantly, rightly fearing the vengeance of the monomaniacal Aguirre.

The soldiers have followed this obstinate pursuit with interest.

Aguirre finally finds him him in Cuzco, in the mansion of the magistrate; while Esquivel is taking a nap in the library, wearing the coat of mail he always wears for fear of Aguirre, Aguirre cuts his temples. (Supposedly Aguirre later returned to search for a sombrero he had left behind.)

Protected by friends who had hidden him, he flees from Cuzco, taking refuge with a relative in Guamanga.