Those in the vicinity of Rivas feigned sympathy with us, but were
probably inimical at heart. Indeed, intelligence of some act of
disaffection was continually coming to General Walker; and thereupon he
would oust the offender, confiscate his estate to the government, and,
perhaps, grant it to some one of his officers, or pawn it to foreign
sympathizers for military stores. The neighborhood of Rivas was dotted
with ranch-houses, distenanted by these means,--rank grass growing in
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.
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