Two or three [of Pizarro's men] were dying of disease every week; others were on the edge of mutiny. Some had already smuggled a message out with Ruiz' boat which had left them there — a message pleading for rescue. Pizarro, they claimed, was a lunatic, a "butcher" who insisted on them hanging on in this hellish place.

The message reached Panama and, at the end of August 1527, the governor ordered the rescue of any men who wished to get out. When the boat arrived, Pizarro took his sword and drew a line in the sand: "Comrades and friends, on that side lies the part which represents death, hardship, hunger, nakedness and abandonment. This side, here, represents comfort. Here you return to Panama — to be poor! There you may go on to Peru — to be rich. You choose, which best becomes you as brave Spaniards'.

Only 13 — the famous "Glorious Thirteen," all of whose names are known — crossed the line.