At this conjuncture of danger and uncertainty, foreign property in the capital was guarded by marines, English, French, and American, from their respective vessels of war on the station: but, for several months previously to these days of general panic and dismay, the capital had been the theatre of daily broils; the banditti and soldiery being engaged in ceaseless though irregular contest for the mastery both within and without the walls. The inhabitants were affected with a sort of nervous infirmity, or morbid susceptibility of impression, proceeding from the unsubdued feeling of impending danger. E l’aspettar del male è mal peggiore Forse, che non parrebbe il mal presente: Pende, ad ogn’aura incerta di romore, Ogni orecchia sospesa ed ogni mente; E un confuso bisbiglio entro e di fuore Trascorre i campi e la città dolente. TASSO. A pillar of dust rising in the distance, or the smoke of burning weeds in the neighbouring farms, were sure to be attributed by the anxious spectator in the city to the less harmless fire of musketry and skirmishers. On the appearance of any such sign, notice was immediately given from the lofty steeple of La Merced, or the arcade of the bridge opposite the palace balconies. If a playful black boy was seen to gallop on his donkey by the trees of the old Alameda, or suburbs of Malambo, then some mercachifle or pregonero[29] would instantly give the alarm, which was conveyed by the vocal brotherhood with the rapidity of lightning—and “Hay viene el negro Escobar y los ladrones!” (Here comes the negro Escobar and the robbers!) was soon ringing through all parts of the city—whereupon in every direction would follow the running tumult of “Cierra puertas!”—shut doors!—and then the creaking and heavy clash of massy doors, and the jarring of chains and bolts, as every street and area entrance were closed and barricaded. During these moments of self-imprisonment, suspense, and anxiety, the streets were entirely abandoned by the unarmed populace; and the noise from the pavement, caused by the gently progressive motion of an ambling hack, was exaggerated in fancy, so as to imitate the clang and tread of a hundred horses. It produced the same startling effect in the over-excited imagination of those within, (who, to see what passed without, hardly ventured to peep through a key-hole, or from the corner of a latticed balcony,) as the unwelcome rattling of a wheeled carriage or the dull Pantheon car, on the morning succeeding a desolating earthquake, never fails to produce on sensitive frames while under the still abiding influence of recent alarm. Under such circumstances of general consternation it was that the timely arrival of irregular troops, “_montonera_,” under the command of a Patriot general, Vidal, delivered Lima out of the hands of a formidable band of freebooters under the celebrated negro Escobar, who had already begun the work of depredation,