Dominic Sandbrook

This didn't really happen.

But even if it didn't happen, there is a genuine issue that it points to, which is the Spanish have become, as time has gone on, more and more anxious about their position in Cajamarca.

They've got all this gold now, which they're sitting on, but they're very conscious that they're outnumbered.

And they are very worried about an attack from the north.

So this guy, Rumunyawi, who's in Ecuador, who is the commander of the army there, they become very worried that he's basically the Jimmy Carter of this story.

And he's going to launch a Delta Force-style Operation Eagle Claw rescue to spring Atahualpa from his prison in Cajamarca.

Now, if they were students of history and they'd listen to our series on the Iranian Revolution.

No, nothing to worry there.

They would know there was nothing to worry about.

Actually, I have to say, as we'll discover next time, two more different people than Ruminyawi and Jimmy Carter could not be imagined.

I mean, Ruminyawi would never appear on TV in a cardigan to tell you to turn the thermostat down.

He would turn you into a drum.

That's what he would do.

There's a little preview for the next episode.

So, rumours start to flood into Kayamaka that Ruminyawi is on his way south.

So, one local chief says to Pizarro,

Men are coming under a great commander called Ruminyawi, 200,000 people from Quito, and 30,000 Caribs who eat human flesh.

Yeah.

And the Spanish, of course, take this seriously.

Why wouldn't they?