40 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



he intended to march directly against Guatimala. By 

 forced marches I might overtake him, and go up under 

 the escort of his army, trusting to chance to avoid being 

 on the spot in case of a battle, or from my acquaintance 

 with Carrera get passed across the lines. Fortunately, 

 the captain of the condemned ship wished to go to San 

 Salvador, and agreed to accompany me the next day. 



There were two strangers in the place, Captain 

 R. of Honduras, and Don Pedro, a mulatto, both of 

 whom were particularly civil to me. In the evening 

 my proposed travelling companion and I called upon 

 them, and very soon a game of cards was proposed. 

 The doors were closed, wine placed on the table, and 

 monte begun with doubloons. Captain R. and Don 

 Pedro tried hard to make me join them; and when I 

 rose to leave, Captain R., as if he thought there could 

 be but one reason for my resisting, took me aside, and 

 said that if I wanted money he was my friend, while 

 Don Pedro declared that he was not rich, but that he 

 had a big heart ; that he was happy of my acquaint- 

 ance ; he had had the honour to know a consul once 

 before at Panama, and I might count upon him for any- 

 thing I wanted. Gambling is one of the great vices of 

 the country, and that into which strangers are most apt 

 to fall. The captain had fallen in with a set at San 

 Miguel, and these two had come down to the port ex- 

 pressly to fleece him. During the night he detected 

 them cheating ; and telling them that he had learned in 

 Chili to use a knife as well as they could, laid his cane 

 over the shoulders of him who had had the honour to 

 know a consul once before, and broke up the party. 

 There is an oldfashioned feeling of respect for a man 

 who wears a sword, but that feeling wears off in Central 

 America. 



