94 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



a fabrication ; but accidentally, in retreating from Gua- 

 timala, he found himself in the very house where the 

 attempt was said to have been made ; and the man of 

 the house told him that Carrera, having offered outrage 

 to a member of his family, he himself had stabbed him, 

 as was supposed mortally; and in order to account for 

 his wounds, and turn away inquiries from the cause, it 

 was fastened upon Morazan, and so flew all through the 

 country. One of his officers accompanied the story 

 with details of the outrage ; and I felt very sure that, 

 if Carrera ever fell into his hands, he would shoot him 

 on the spot. 



With the opinion that he entertained of Carrera and 

 his soldiers, he of course considered it unsafe for us to 

 go on to Guatimala. But I was exceedingly anxious 

 to set out ; and the flush of excitement over, as the cap- 

 tain's trunks had gone on, he was equally so. Carrera 

 might arrive at any moment, in which case we might 

 again change owners, or, at all events, be the witnesses 

 of a sanguinary battle, for Morazan would defend the 

 frontier town of his own state to the death. 



I told General Morazan my wish and purpose, and 

 the difficulty of procuring a guide. He said that an 

 escort of soldiers would expose us to certain danger ; 

 even a single soldier, without his musket and cartridge- 

 box (these being the only distinguishing marks of a sol- 

 dier), might be recognised ; but he would send for the 

 alcalde, and procure us some trusty person from the 

 town. I bade him farewell with an interest greater 

 than I had felt for any man in the country. Little 

 did we then know the calamities that were still in 

 store for him ; that very night most of his soldiers de- 

 serted, having been kept together only by the danger 

 to which they were exposed while in an enemy's coun- 



