152 GENERAL MUNOZ. Book I. 
were allowed to pass. " Who was the man in undress ? " 
I asked the waiter. "El general del ejercito ! " answered 
the boy, with importance. It was Don Fruto Chamorro 
himself, who, since I had had a dispute with him at 
Rivas, had become general of the Granadinos, and soon 
afterwards became President of Nicaragua. Undoubtedly 
he recognized me, and knew that what I answered to his 
questions was untrue. But he behaved with perfect 
politeness. 
The country between Managua and Leon, at that time, 
was in a very unsettled state, and the roads were infested 
by deserters and stragglers from both parties. While 
passing through the forest between Managua and Mateares 
I had advanced ahead of my companion for a quarter of a 
mile, and was just trying to lead my horse over a narrow 
and slippery path between the trees on one side and a deep 
mud-hole on the other, when two men, each of them with 
a pistol in one hand and one of the long and heavy knives 
called machete in the other, stepped forward from the 
thicket. To turn my horse was impossible. I drew and 
cocked a pistol, and thus, without a word being spoken on 
either side, I passed on. When I had cleared the mud- 
hole, I turned to wait for my companion, after which the 
two fellows disappeared in the bush. General Munoz, to 
v/hom I narrated the fact, asked me why I had not shot 
them down. " What business had the ruffians to stand at 
the road-side in the forest with arms in hand ? " he said, 
when I objected that they had made no attack upon me. 
It was one of the merits of the general that under his 
influence the country had enjoyed a degree of security un- 
known before as well as after his time. 
The next day, while resting a few hours at Pueblo 
Nuevo, one of those violent thunderstorms broke out 
