Part 1 (2/2)
Paquita did not like the idea at first, but when I assured her that ere getting to the end of our ht be able to putemployment, she consented, like the dutiful little wife she was
Next day I discovered her relation without very e city We found Dona Isidora--for that was the lady's na house at the eastern extremity of the town, farthest away from the water There was an air of poverty about the place, for the good dah well provided with old Nevertheless, she received us very kindly e introduced ourselves and related our mournful and romantic story; a room was prepared for our iue promises of assistance On a more intimate acquaintance with our hostess we found that I had not been very far out in guessing her character For several days she could talk of nothing except her immemorial quarrel with her sister and her sister's husband, and ere bound to listen attentively and to sympathise with her, for that was the only return we could make for her hospitality Paquita had more than her share of it, but was ; for, though Dona Isidora had evidently been nursing her wrath all those years to keep it warm, she could not, for the life of her, reinated
After breakfast eachI would kiss her and hand her over to the tender o forth on my fruitless peraent foreigner, going about staring at the public buildings, and collecting curios--strangelyshed by the garments they once made brave; rusty, misshapen bullets, e which had won for Montevideo the mournful appellation of modern Troy When I had fully examined from the outside the scene of my future triumphs--for I had now resolved to settle down and an seriously to look out for ee mercantile establishht thereto do It was necessary to , and I would not have turned up , however s poor, idle, and dependent Nothing could I find In one house I was told that the city had not yet recovered from the effects of the late revolution, and that business was, in consequence, in a complete state of paralysis; in another that the city was on the eve of a revolution, and that business was, in consequence, in a complete state of paralysis And everywhere it was the same story--the political state of the country made it i very much dispirited, and with the soles nearly worn off my boots, I sat down on a bench beside the sea, or river--for so, some the other, and the muddied hue and freshness of the water, and the uncertain words of geographers, leave one in doubt as to whether Montevideo is situated on the shores of the Atlantic, or only near the Atlantic and on the shores of a river one hundred and fifty miles wide at its s that concerned me more nearly to think of I had a quarrel with this Oriental nation, and that was reenness or the saltness of the vast estuary that washes the dirty feet of its queen--for this modern Troy, this city of battle, murder, and sudden death, also calls itself Queen of the Plata That it was a very just quarrel on my part I felt well assured Now, to be even with every hu who despitefully uses me has ever been a principle of action with me Nor let it be said that it is an unchristian principle; for when I have been sht or left cheek (the pain is just the same in either case), before I a a tihts are over I strike in such a case ood than formy motive a principle of action, not an impulse It is a very valuable one too, infinitely more effective than the fantastical code of the duellist, which favours the person who inflicts the injury, affording hi the person injured It is a weapon invented for us by Nature before Colonel Colt ever lived, and it has this advantage, that one is per cost miners and backwoodsmen If inoffensive people were ever to cast it aside, then wickedtheir oay and make life intolerable Fortunately the evil-doers always have the fear of this intangible six-shooter before the, which restrains them more than reasonableness or the law courts, and to which e it that the meek are permitted to inherit the earth But now this quarrel ith a whole nation, though certainly not with a very great one, since the population of the Banda Oriental numbers only about a quarter of a million Yet in this sparsely settled country, with its bountiful soil and genial climate, there was apparently no place forman, who only asked to be allowed to work to live! But hoas I to make them saveevery individual co the nation I was powerless, utterly powerless, to punish the that re around me, my eyes rested on the fao up to its su down on the Banda Oriental, pronounce my imprecation in the most solemn and impressive manner
The expedition to the _cerro_, as it is called, proved agreeable enough
Notwithstanding the excessive heats ere just then having,on its slopes, which arden
When I reached the old ruined fort which crowns the suot upon a wall and rested for half an hour, fanned by a fresh breeze fro the prospect before ht the serious object ofspot, and only wished that the malediction I was about to utter could be rolled down in the shape of a stupendous rock, loosed fro down the h the iniquitous city beyond, filling it with ruin and amazement
”Whichever way I turn,” I said, ”I see before reat plains s; ancient woods; swift, beautiful rivers; ranges of blue hills stretching away to the diues of pleasant wilderness are sleeping in the sunshi+ne, where the wild floaste their sweetness and no plough turns the fruitful soil, where deer and ostrich roam fearless of the hunter, while over all bends a blue sky without a cloud to stain its exquisite beauty? And the people dwelling in yon city--the key to a continent--they are the possessors of it all It is theirs, since the world, out of which the old spirit is fast dying, has suffered thee? What are they doing even now? They are sitting dejected in their houses, or standing in their doorith folded ar: they are on the eve of a te simoom will sweep over their fields, nor will any volcanic eruption darken their crystal heavens The earthquakes that shake the Andean cities to their foundations they have never known and can never know
The expected change and teers sharpened, the contingent of assassins hired, the throne of huhastly facetiousness a Presidential Chair, is about to be assaulted It is long, weeks or even months, perhaps, since the last wave, crested with bloody froth, rolled its desolating flood over the country; it is high time, therefore, for allwave And we consider it right to root up thorns and thistles, to drain malarious marshes, to extirpate rats and vipers; but it would be immoral, I suppose, to stauised in human shape; this people that in crimes have surpassed all others, ancient or modern, until because of therown to be a byword of scorn and reproach throughout the earth, and to stink in the nostrils of all men!
”I swear that I, too, will beco on this soil Oh, for a thousand young men of Devon and Somerset here with hts like lorious deed would be done for hulory of the old England that is passing away! Blood would flow in yon streets as it never flowed before, or, I should say, as it only flowed in them once, and that hen they were swept clean by British bayonets And afterwards there would be peace, and the grass would be greener and the flowers brighter for that criall to think that over these doer than half a century ago, fluttered the holy cross of St George! For never was there a holier crusade undertaken, never a nobler conquest planned, than that which had for its object the wresting this fair country frohty English kingdoht, winterless land, and this city coreatest river in the world? And to think that it on for England, not treacherously, or bought with gold, but in the old Saxon fashi+on with hard blows, and cli over heaps of slain defenders; and after it was thus won, to think that it was lost--will it be believed?--not fighting, but yielded up without a stroke by craven wretches unworthy of the na alone on this lorious opportunity lost for ever! 'We offer you your laws, your religion, and property under the protection of the British Government,' loftily proclaimed the invaders--Generals Beresford, Achmuty, Whitelocke, and their co one reverse, they (or one of theed the country they had drenched in blood, and had conquered, for a couple of thousand British soldiersinto their shi+ps once more, they sailed away from the Plata for ever! This transaction, whichancestors rattle with indignation in their graves, was forgotten later on e seized the rich Falklands A splendid conquest and a glorious corasp, and the regeneration, possibly even the ultireen world before us, our hearts failed us and the prize dropped fro hands We left the sunny uins; and now let all those who in this quarter of the globe aspire to live under that 'British Protection' of which Achates of yon capital, transport themselves to those lonely antarctic islands to listen to the thunder of the waves on the grey shores and shi+ver in the bleak winds that blow fro this coreatly relieved, and went home in a cheerful fra of , boiled with pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and ry man
CHAPTER II
Several days passed, and my second pair of boots had been twice resoled before Dona Isidora's schean to take for to think us a burden on her so that avehalf a dozen lines of commendation addressed to the Mayordo hi her _nephew_--as she called me--employment of some kind on the _estancia_ Probably she knew that this letter would really lead to nothing, and gave it et me away into the interior of the country, so as to keep Paquita for an indefinite time to herself, for she had become extremely attached to her beautiful niece The _estancia_ was on the borders of the Paysandu department, and not less than two hundredjourney, and I was advised not to attempt it without a _tropilla_, or troop of horses But when a native tells you that you cannot travel two hundred miles without a dozen horses, he only means that you cannot do the distance in two days; for it is hard for him to believe that one may be satisfied with less than one hundred miles a day I travelled on one horse, and it therefore took me several days to accomplish my journey Before I reached in de los Desaan to feel asbeen with the _Argentinos_
Fortunately, after I left the town, a ind continued blowing all day, bringing with it ate the sun, so that I was able to cover a good nu I took the road northwards through Camelones department, and ell on into the Florida departht at the solitary mud _rancho_ of an old herdsman, who lived with his wife and children in a very prie dogs rushed out to attackthe poor beast about this way and that, so that he staggered and could scarcely keep his legs; another caught the bridle-reins in his s in the heel of rizzled old herds at his waist, advanced to the rescue He shouted at the dogs, and finding that they would not obey, sprang forward and with a few dexterous blows, dealt with his heavy whip-handle, sent thereat courtesy, and very soon, when my horse had been unsaddled and turned loose to feed, ere sitting together enjoying the cool evening air and i _mate_ his wife served to us While we conversed I noticed nu about; I had never seen them so numerous before, and they ht little fellow of seven or eight, ca insects in his hand, and cried:
”Look, _tatita_, I have caught a _linterna_ See how bright it is!”
”The Saints forgive you, my child,” said the father ”Go, little son, and put it back on the grass, for if you should hurt it, the spirits would be angry with you, for they go about by night, and love the _linterna_ that keeps theht; and what a mild, merciful heart this old Oriental herdsman must possess to show so ratulatedfallen in with such a person in this lonely place
The dogs, after their rude behaviour to me and the sharp punishment they had suffered in consequence, had returned, and were now gathered around us, lying on the ground Here I noticed, not for the first ti to these lonely places are not nearly so fond of being noticed and caressed as are those ofto stroke one of these surly brutes on the head, he displayed his teeth and growled savagely atfor no kindness from his master, is just as faithful to man as his better-mannered brother in the entle herdsman
”What you say is true,” he replied ”I ree of Montevideo, when I ith a small detachment sent to watch the movements of General Rivera's army, we one day overtook ahi his throat, we left his body lying on the open ground at a distance of about two hundred and fifty yards fro ith him, and e rode off we called it to follow us, but it would not stir from its dead master's side
”Three days later we returned to the sa just where we had left it The foxes and birds had not touched it, for the dog was still there to defend it Many vultures were near, waiting for a chance to begin their feast We alighted to refresh ourselves at the strea He seemed to be half-famished with thirst, and caot half-way to it the vultures, by twos and threes, began to advance, when back he flew and chased the a few ain towards the streaain flew back at the at the mouth
Thisrepeated many times, and at last, e left, we tried onceto follow us, but he would not Two days after that we had occasion to pass by that spot again, and therethe dog lying dead beside his dead master”
”Good God,” I exclais you and your coht!”
”No, senor, not at all,” replied the old man ”Why, senor, I myself put the knife into that row accustomed to shed blood in this world, his life would be a burden to hiht Then I asked hi blood