the court-yards, the cactus-hedges gapped, and the crops swept away by
the foragers. Perhaps, had these men been let alone, jealousy toward
foreigners would not, of itself, have made them enemies; but General
Walker was obliged to provide arms and provisions for his soldiers,
and, having no other resource, he must come down heavily on the
Nicaraguans, so far as he could reach them. That this was a ground of
great disgust and odium toward us, throughout the country, our company
of rangers, which did some foraging and mule-gathering, had good reason
to know. I remember, on one occasion, a small party of us, armed only
with revolvers, were retreating out of a large _hacienda_, heavily
incumbered with horse-provender, when we saw the landlord and his
peons, with _machetes_ in their hands, coming to meet us. As we trotted
up toward them, the angry man stood at the roadside, lariat in hand,
frowning, and in the attitude to arrest our foremost horseman;--but the
filibuster drew his revolver, concealed hitherto by his burden, and
cocked it,--and the poor man, seeing that he was unequal, was fain to
vent his wrath in boiling words. This man, who doubtless became an
enemy, might have been soothed, had General Walker taken the pains to
furnish foraging-papers to the rangers. He professed himself a true
friend of Walker's, holding all he possessed at his service; but it was
out of his power, he said, to contain himself, whilst a troop of
_Americanos_ were leaping his fences and ravaging his fields, without
token of authority, or word of apology on any part. However, after all,
General Walker may have acted for the wisest in this matter. The writer
of this narrative was an unenlightened private in the filibuster army,
and, of course, though open-eyed to some extent, saw all things of
policy through a glass dimly. It may be that General Walker, who had
opportunities for thorough acquaintance with Spanish-American
character, held it weakness to place any trust or value upon their
friendship, and therefore took no care to conciliate it. This has a