LETTER CARRYING. 



59 



us for an answer, we said nothing. The old man an- 

 swered that he was too old to fight, and the officer told 

 him then to help others to do so, and to contribute his 

 horses or mules. This touched us again ; and taking 

 ours apart, we left exposed and alone an object more 

 miserable as a beast than his owner was as a man. 

 The old man said this was his all. The officer, look- 

 ing as if he would like a pretext for seizing ours, told 

 him to give her up ; and the old man, slowly untying her, 

 without a word led her to the fence, and handed the 

 halter across to one of the lancers. They laughed as 

 they received the old man's all, and pricking the mule 

 with their lances, galloped off in search of more " con- 

 tributions." , 



Unluckily, they continued on our road, and we fear- 

 ed that parties were scouring the whole country to Zon- 

 zonate. This brought to mind a matter that gave us 

 much uneasiness. As the mail-routes were all broken 

 up, and there was no travelling, I was made letter-car- 

 rier all the way from Nicaragua. I had suffered so 

 much anxiety from not receiving any letters myself, that 

 I was glad to serve any one that asked me ; but I had 

 been treated with great frankness by the " party" at 

 San Salvador, and was resolved not to be the means of 

 communicating anything to their enemies ; and with this 

 view, always asked whether the letters contained any 

 political information, never taking them until assured 

 that they did not. But many of them were to Mr. 

 Chatfield and the other Ingleses in Guatimala. There 

 was a most bitter feeling against Mr. Chatfield, and the 

 rudeness of this really respectable-looking man gave us 

 some idea of the exasperation against foreigners gener- 

 ally ; and as they were identified in the revolution, the 

 directions alone might expose us to danger with any 

 band of infuriated partisans who might take it into their 



