2ft INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



me an object of suspicion ; for in their disgraceful fights 

 they thought that the eyes of the whole world were upon 

 them, and that England, France, and the United States 

 were secretly contending for the possession of their in- 

 teresting country. I intended to pay a visit to the chief 

 of the state ; but, afraid of being insulted or getting into 

 some difficulty that might detain me, I returned to the 

 house. 



By means of the servants Nicolas had found two men 

 who were willing to accompany me, but I did not like 

 their looks, or even to let them know when I intended to 

 set out. I had hardly disposed of them before my guide 

 came to advise me not to set out the next day, as five 

 hundred soldiers, who had been making preparations 

 for several days, were to march the next morning 

 against San Salvador. This was most unpleasant in- 

 telligence. I did not wish to travel with them, or to 

 fall in with them on the road ; and calculating that their 

 march would be slower than mine, told the guide to as- 

 certain their time for starting, and we would set out 

 two hours before them. Nicolas went out with him to 

 take the mules to water ; but they returned in great haste, 

 with intelligence that piquets were scouring the city for 

 men and mules, and had entered the yard of a padre 

 near by and taken three of his animals. The lady of 

 the house ordered all the doors to be locked and the 

 keys brought to her, and an hour before dark we were 

 all shut in, and my poor mules went without water. 



At about eight o'clock we heard the tramp of cavalry 

 in the streets, and gathering inside the doorway, saw 

 about six hundred men taking up their line of march. 

 There was no music, no shouting, no waving of hand- 

 kerchiefs, to cheer them as defenders of their country 

 or as adventurers in the road to glory ; but in the dark, 



