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"
The fierce, big-whiskered officer said nothing, but looked cowed; and,
indeed, not without excuse; for though there was a nasal whine in the
tone of the little General, and no great fire in his unmeaning eye,
there was yet a quiet self-reliance about him extremely imposing, and
which, as I thought, reached back of any temporary sufflation as tyrant
of Rivas, and was based upon perennial character. Nor is it contrary,
so far as I know, to the laws of psychology, for a man to be endued
with all the self-reliance of Bonaparte, with, at the same time, an
unusually short gift of the great man's marvellous insight, military or
other.
Such an all-pervading demoralized spirit amongst the men as this I have
slightly marked was sure to be contagious; and I am persuaded that
there were few of us who came down there with enthusiasm or admiration
for General Walker, but lost most of it during our first days' mixture
in Rivas.
At the end of some six or eight days, our company came up from the
Transit road, without the California passengers having as yet made
their appearance.


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