d dog which I have mentioned heretofore. He fell, shot
through the head, whilst advancing with the others toward the barricade.
He was lamented by the whole army,--by many superstitiously, even,--who
said he had gone through all Walker's hard stresses so far untouched,
and his end was prophetic of downfall.

And it is even true, that from this battle General Walker's prospects
clouded rapidly. A proclamation, issued by the Costa-Rican government,
promising fugitive filibusters free passage to the United States, found
its way into Rivas, and immediately worked immense mischief, and was,
indeed, the instrument of his overthrow. The men had no sooner seen it
than they began to leave as fast as they found opportunities to escape.
Guards were placed around the town, and spies in every company; but it
was of no avail; and every morning it was rumored through the camp that
this or that number had got off for Costa Rica during the night. General
Walker, in a speech which he made a few days after to infuse new spirit,
said that these were the cowards,--whose absence was beneficial, and
from whom it was well that the army should be purged. However, this was
exaggerated. It is true, doubtless, that there were many leaving merely
from fear, who would have chosen to stay with him, rather than trust
to the promises of a people believed to be treacherous and
promise-breaking, and whose hatred they had incurred,--had the battles
of San Jorge and Obraja been successful. And, indeed, the filibuster
ranks were not wanting in cowards. Cowards might be induced to come on
a desperate enterprise like this, through misrepresentation by Walker's
own agents; through mere thoughtlessness, or mistake,--not knowing what
soldier's metal was in them; or, with the bayonet of Hunger against
their backs at home, they might be unmindful of any other bayonet on the
distant shore of Nicaragua. (It should be musket-shot, however; for the
greasers never found heart to use the bayonet.) And then again, many,
who, when they first reached Nicaragua, were no cowards, after a few
months' stay, became changed,--by the depressing effects of fever, by
loss of confidence in their drunken officers, and by the absence of all
incentive to fight stoutly for a leader so unpopular as Walker. It was a
common saying, that in this army an old rule was reversed,--the veterans
were worse fighters than the recruits. The soldier was at his best
when he first landed upon the Isthmu