In the meanwhile, letters were daily passing between Castellon and Walker in reference to the expedition to the Meridional Department. The Director seeing that the commander of the Falange was bent on this enterprise, no longer opposed it directly but strove to delay it promising assistance after the departure of Muñoz from Leon. At length Muñoz marched with six hundred men, the best organized and best equipped in the Provisional service; but he left few materials either of men or of arms to be disposed of by the Director. The movement of Muñoz was made with the view of acting against Guardiola, who having left Granada with a small force but with a good supply of arms and ammunition was proceeding toward Condega, thereby joining hands with his friends in Tegucigalpa and being thus enabled to act against either Comayagua or Leon as circumstances might require. Guardiola was recruiting industriously in the villages of Matagalpa and Segovia; and his activity together with the terror of his name inspired the people of the Occidental Department with a dread they seemed unable to shake off. The Director himself thought Guardiola intended to strike at Leon; and he therefore desired to have the Falange within easy distance of his capital. The people of Chinandega, too, were anxious to keep the Americans in their town, in order that their property might not fall a prey to the reputed rapacity of Guardiola and his soldiers. Under these circumstances it was easy for Walker to see that there was small hope of his securing assistance from the Provisional Government for any enterprise outside of the Occidental Department. He went on, however, purchasing all the rifles he could find about Leon and Chinandega, in order to have arms for any recruits on the Isthmus, and continued to replenish his stores of fixed ammunition, almost entirely exhausted by the Rivas expedition. Powder and caps were obtained from La Union; but it was impossible to get lead thence, and the quantity of that metal in northern Nicaragua was extremely small. The cartridges used by the natives in their muskets contained an iron missile, made by cutting into slugs, about an inch long, the gratings of the windows. Leon and Chinandega were searched in order to procure one or two hundred pounds of lead for the American rifles; and the only supply to be had was from a few pounds of bird-shot and a few pieces of lead sheeting belonging to an Englishman at Chinandega. An officer was sent to buy the metal from him, but he refused to sell. A small guard was then sent with orders to take the lead, paying therefor a reasonable price. Thereupon the Englishman declared to the officer that if the guard entered his house he would run up the British flag and put his house under the protection of the British Government. The officer, uncertain how to act, returned to Walker for orders; and being told that no foreign resident, except a representative