On the strength of this Walker demanded of the United States
Government indemnity for his losses, and that it should furnish
him and his followers transportation even to the very camp from
which its representatives had torn him. This demand, as Walker
foresaw, was not considered seriously, and with a force of about
one hundred men, among whom were many of his veterans, he
again set sail from New Orleans. Owing to the fact that, to prevent
his return, there now were on each side of the Isthmus both
American and British men-of-war, Walker, with the idea of
reaching Nicaragua by land, stopped off at Honduras. In his war
with the allies the Honduranians had been as savage in their
attacks upon his men as even the Costa Ricans, and finding his old
enemies now engaged in a local revolution, on landing, Walker
declared for the weaker side and captured the important seaport of
Trujillo. He no sooner had taken it than the British warship
_Icarus_ anchored in the harbor, and her commanding officer,
Captain Salmon, notified Walker that the British Government held
a mortgage on the revenues of the port, and that to protect the
interests of his Government he intended to take the town. Walker
answered that he had made Trujillo a free port, and that Great
Britain's claims no longer existed.
The British officer replied that if Walker surrendered himself and
his men he would carry them as prisoners to the United States, and
that if he did not, he would bombard the town.
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