ground would permit; but before they had gone more than half a mile the rain came down in torrents. Then Espinosa and his nephew lost the trail; the old man complained of colic, and the young one seemed to be afraid to venture further. A halt was ordered; several were sent out to search for the trail; and in the meanwhile the main body got what shelter it could under the heavy foliage of the large dark-looking forest trees. In a few minutes, however, the rain ceased, the trail was found, and the command resumed its march. At dawn the little force had somewhat recovered its spirits, and had got over the drenching of the night previous; and marching briskly through the thick forests, they avoided all habitations, designing if possible to surprise the enemy at Rivas the night of the 28th. About nine o’clock they came to an old deserted adobe house, and halted several hours for breakfast and rest. The encampment that morning was quite gipsy-like. The felt hats of the _Falange_ showed, in their drooping brims, the effects of the night’s rain; and thick, heavy beards gave to most of the body a wild and dangerous air. As soon as the sentries were posted, the Americans began to dispose of their crackers and cold meat, washed down in some instances by a draught from a liquor canteen; while the native soldiers opened their supplies of cheese and tortillas, winding up with a little tiste—a mixture of chocolate, sugar, and corn meal, diluted in water—from the fantastically carved jicaras they carried tied with a string run through the button-holes of their jackets or trowsers. After breakfast and several hours’ sleep, the force was well prepared to renew its march, and the disagreeable impressions of the night were completely forgotten in the balmy effects of the soft, mild air, which seemed a fluid altogether different from the atmosphere of northern climates. You felt as if a thin, and vapory exhalation of opium, soothing and exhilarating by turns, was being mixed at intervals with the common elements of the atmosphere. By night, however, the clouds began again to gather; and soon after dark a steady rain set in. The weather interfered so much with the march that Walker saw he could not reach Rivas, as he had expected, before morning; and as the natives carrying the ammunition began to complain of their burden, it became an object to secure pack-horses for the command. Besides this, many of the Americans, tired and foot-sore, lost some of the alacrity requisite for action.