ith whom they had no
quarrel. Walker inquired of Salmon if he were asking him to surrender to
the British or to the Honduranian forces, and twice Salmon assured him,
"distinctly and specifically," that he was surrendering to the forces of
her Majesty. With this understanding Walker and his men laid down their
arms and were conveyed to the _Icarus_. But on arriving at Trujillo,
in spite of their protests and demands for trial by a British tribunal,
Salmon turned over his prisoners to the Honduranian general. What excuse
for this is now given by his descendants in the Salmon family I do not
know.

Probably it is a subject they avoid, and, in history, Salmon's version
has never been given, which for him, perhaps, is an injustice. But the
fact remains that he turned over his white brothers to the mercies of
half-Indian, half-negro, savages, who were not allies of Great Britain,
and in whose quarrels she had no interest. And Salmon did this, knowing
there could be but one end. If he did not know it, his stupidity
equalled what now appears to be heartless indifference. So far as to
secure pardon for all except the leader and one faithful follower,
Colonel Rudler of the famous Phalanx, Salmon did use his authority, and
he offered, if Walker would ask as an American citizen, to intercede for
him. But Walker, with a distinct sense of loyalty to the country he had
conquered, and whose people had honored him with their votes, refused to
accept life from the country of his birth, the country that had injured
and repudiated him.

Even in his extremity, abandoned and alone on a strip of glaring coral
and noisome swamp land, surrounded only by his enemies, he remained true
to his ideal.

At thirty-seven life is very sweet, many things still seem possible, and
before him, could his life be spared, Walker beheld greater conquests,
more power, a new South controlling a Nicaragua canal, a network of
busy railroads, great squadrons of merchant vessels, himself emperor of
Central America. On the gunboat the gold-braided youth had but to raise
his hand, and Walker again would be a free man. But the gold-braided one
would render this service only on the condition that Walker would appeal
to him as an American; it was not enough that Walker was a human being.
The condition Walker could not grant.

"The President of Nicaragua," he said, "is a citizen of Nicaragua."

They led him out at sunrise to a level piece of sand along the beach,
and