Just before reaching camp a herdsman, hunting cattle for the Costa Ricans, had been made prisoner, and the soldiers had scarcely reached the several points in the camp assigned to them, before a man, found skulking near the river, was brought to the general-in-chief. At first he denied all knowledge of the enemy at Rivas, but a rope thrown around his neck and cast over a limb of the nearest tree brought him the use of his memory, and he gave an accurate and detailed account of the several points at which the Costa Ricans were posted. He stated the houses in which Mora and the principal officers quartered, the place where the ammunition was stored together the quantity of it, not forgetting two pretty little pieces of artillery commanding some of the streets. Unfortunately for himself, he let out the fact that he had been sent to gather news of the Americans, and hence was punished as a spy. But his information was so full, and, after severe cross-examination there was so little contradiction in his story, that Walker formed his plan of attack on the facts thus obtained. The result showed that the statements of the spy were entirely accurate. The fear of death had so discomposed his mind that he could not invent a lie. Before retiring for the night, Walker sent for the principal officers, and explaining the plan of attack for the next day, assigned to each his separate duty. Lieut.-Col. Sanders, with four companies of Rifles, was to enter by the streets running along the north side of the Plaza, and was to keep his men in full charge, if possible, until they reached the house where Mora was quartered, about eighty yards from the main square. Major Brewster, with three companies of Rifles, was to enter by the street on the south side of the Plaza and was, also, to attempt to reach the headquarters of the enemy. As Walker expected to surprise Mora, he hoped to get possession of his person before he could escape; and at any rate as his headquarters were opposite the magazine, the occupation of the former would command the latter. Hence the object in ordering the Rifles to strike for the house Mora was known to occupy. Col. Natzmer, with Major O’Neal and the Second Rifles—as his command was called—although then armed with muskets, was to pass to the extreme left of the town thus threatening the right of the enemy and yet being within easy distance of Brewster. Machado with the natives was to pass by a road which enters the Plaza from the north, and would thus find himself on Sanders’ right. Col. Fry was to hold his companies of light infantry as a reserve.