During the last days of March and the first ten days of April, the enemy, having brought up another twenty-four-pound gun and placed it on the south side of the town, kept up an irregular fire with their large pieces, and from time to time they would fire volleys of musketry at random, the balls dropping on the houses and in the streets of the place. Few men were hurt by this irregular fire. Two officers, Capt. Mann and Lieut. Moore, were killed by twenty-four pound balls, and the officer of the day, on the 29th of March, Lieut. Graves, had his arm broken by a Minié ball, while he was visiting on horseback the several points on the edge of the town. The aides of the general-in-chief, Hooff and Brady, who were constantly, day and night, passing through different exposed quarters of the place—Brady, too, on a fine spirited white horse, which necessarily attracted the attention of the enemy—escaped untouched. Every now and then, small parties of Americans were sent beyond the lines, and getting close to the enemy’s pickets would drive them in, nearly always killing or wounding some of the sentries of the Allies. So, too, the enemy would sometimes meet the Americans when they ventured outside to gather plantains, and skirmishes, with more or less loss to each side, would ensue. But it was not the scanty rations or the fire of the Allies which did most injury to the American force; it was the shameful desertion which most affected the spirits and the strength of the defenders of Rivas. As long as the desertion was confined principally to those of European birth, it did not so seriously sap the confidence men had in each other; but when the fatal infection spread among the Americans, it wrung bitter tears of agony from every true-hearted man who witnessed the shame and dishonor of his countrymen. Sometimes the deserters left in bodies of ten or twelve, and the sentries and pickets would leave with the countersign for the night. Let us pass the names of these with sorrow for the weakness of human nature, nor taint the air with the narration of their crimes and degradation. There is shame and infamy enough in the world without seeking for them on fields where glory should be won and honor achieved. A day or two before the 10th of April the Allies received a body of fresh troops from Guatemala, and the quiet of the enemy on the 10th led to the surmise that they might select the anniversary of the action at Rivas, in April, 1856, for another general attack on the American lines. They supposed that the force in Rivas, weakened by its unusual food and disheartened by desertions might yield readily to a vigorous assault made on all sides at the same moment. But they underrated the spirit of their adversaries. The Nicaraguans really hoped that the Allies would find courage to attack them, and they were vigilant and well prepared during the night of the 10th and on the morning of the 11th.