Part 2 (1/2)

”Had I known this I would have offered you a horse before,” he returned, and then he sent one of his sons to drive the horses of the _estancia_ into the corral

Selecting a good-looking animal from the herd, he presented it to h to buy a fresh horse whenever I wanted one, I accepted the gift very gladly The saddle was quickly transferred to ood people and bidding adieu, I resu to the youngest, and also, to hters of the house, instead of s me a prosperous journey, like the others, she was silent, and darted a look at me, which seemed to say, ”Go, sir; you have treatedyour hand; if I take it, it is not because I feel disposed to forgive you, but only to save appearances”

At the salance on ence passed over the faces of the other people in the room All this revealed to me that I had just missed a very pretty little idyllic flirtation, conducted in very novel circumstances

Love co woether Yet it was hard to iine how I could have started a flirtation and carried it on to its culreat public roo about reat vacant eyes; and that intolerable paroquet perpetually reciting ”How the waters caurdy, parrot language Tender glances, soft whispered words, hand-touchings, and a thousand little personal attentions, shohich way the emotions tend, would scarcely have been practicable in such a place and in such conditions, and new signs and sys of the heart And doubtless these Orientals, living all together in one great room, with their children and pets, like our very ancient ancestors, the pastoral Aryans, do possess such a language And this pretty language I should have learnt fro of teachers, if those venomous _vinchucas_ had not dulled my brain with their persecutions and made me blind to a matter which had not escaped the observation of even unconcerned lookers-on

Riding away fro finally escaped froo about” was not one of un h the Durazno district, I forded the pretty River Yi and entered the Tacuareht away to the Brazilian frontier I rode over its narrowest part, however, where it is only about twenty-fivetwo very curiously named rivers, Rios Salsipuedes Chico and Salsipuedes Grande, which th reached the termination of my journey in the province or departen de los Desaood-sized, square brick house built on very high ground, which overlooked an i country

There was no plantation about the house, not even a shade tree or cultivated plant of any description, but only soe _corrales_, or enclosures, for the cattle, of which there were six or seven thousand head on the land The absence of shade and greenery gave the place a desolate, uninviting aspect, but if I was ever to have any authority here this would soon be changed The Mayordoer, Don Policarpo Santierra de Penalosa, which, roughly done into English,in Slippery Rocks, proved to be a very pleasant, affable person He welcomed me with that quiet Oriental politeness which is never cold and never effusive, and then perused the letter fro, my friend, to supply you with all the conveniences procurable at this elevation; and, for the rest, you know, doubtless, what I can say to you A ready understanding requires feords Nevertheless, there is here no lack of good beef, and, to be short, you will doit contains your ohile you honour us by re himself of these kindly sentiments, which left me rather in a mist as to my prospects, he mounted his horse and rode off, probably on some very important affair, for I saw no more of him for several days

I at once proceeded to establish myself in the kitchen No person inthe house appeared ever to pay even a casual visit to any other roo at least, and proportionately wide; the roof was of reeds, and the hearth, placed in the centre of the floor, was a clay platform, fenced round with cows'

shank-bones, half buried and standing upright Some trivets and iron kettles were scattered about, and fro the roof, a chain and hook were suspended to which a vast iron pot was fastened Oneutensils There were no chairs, tables, knives, or forks; everyone carried his own knife, and at reat tin dish, whilst the roast was eaten fro his slice The seats were logs of wood and horse-skulls

The household was corey-headed negress, about seventy years old, and eighteen or nineteen es and sizes, and of all colours from parchment-white to very old oak There was a _capatas,_ or overseer, and seven or eight paid _peones,_ the others being all _agregados_--that is, supernuabonds who attach thes to establishments of this kind, lured by the abundance of flesh, and who occasionally assist the regular _peones_ at their work, and also do a little gae At break of day everyone was up sitting by the hearth sipping bitter _arettes; before sunrise all were ather up the herds; at ain to breakfast The consuhtful Frequently, after breakfast, as much as twenty or thirty pounds of boiled and roast meat would be thrown into a wheelbarrow and carried out to the dust-heap, where it served to feed scores of hawks, gulls, and vultures, besides the dogs

Of course, I was only an _agregado_, having no salary or regular occupation yet Thinking, however, that this would only be for a tis, and very soon beca heartily in all their aot very tired of living exclusively on flesh, for not even a biscuit was ”procurable at this elevation”; and as for a potato, oneIt occurred to ht be possible to procure soe into our diet In the evening I broached the subject, proposing that on the following day we should capture a cow and ta that they had never thought of it the the only representative of the fair sex present, was always listened to with all the deference due to her position, threw herself with immense zeal into the opposition She affirmed that no cow had been milked at that establish wife twelve years before A e quantity of estion in her that they were obliged to give her powdered ostrich storeat trouble, in an ox-cart to Paysandu, and thence by water to Montevideo The owner ordered the cow to be released, and never, to her certain knowledge, had cow been en de los Desas produced no effect on me, and the next day I returned to the subject I did not possess a lasso, and so could not undertake to capture a half-wild coithout assistance One of th volunteered to helpthat he had not tasted milk for several years, and was inclined to renew his acquaintance with that singular beverage This new-found friend in needformally introduced to the reader His name was Epifanio Claro He was tall and thin, and had an idiotic expression on his long, sallow face His cheeks were innocent of whiskers, and his lank, black hair, parted in thehis narrow face between a pair of raven's wings He had very large, light-coloured, sheepish-looking eyes, and his eyebrows bent up like a couple of Gothic arches, leaving a narrow strip above they for a forehead This facial peculiarity had won for him the nickname of Cejas (Eyebrows), by which he was known to his inti on a wretched old cracked guitar, and singing a falsetto, which reull I had h poor Epifanio had an absorbing passion for music, Nature had unkindly withheld fro to others I ave a preference to ballads or cohtful, not to saythe words of one literally, and here they are:

Yesterdayin h all my days My life has been just what it is

Therefore when I rose I said, To-day shall be as yesterday, Since Reason tells

This is very little to judge fro; but it is a fair specimen, and the rest is no clearer Of course it is not to be supposed that Epifanio Claro, an illiterate person, took in the whole philosophy of these lines; still, it is probable that a subtle ray or two of their deeptouched his intellect, to make hie individual, and with the grave permission of the _capatas_, who declined, however, in words of many syllables, all _responsabilidad_ in the rounds in quest of a pro

She was followed by a small calf, not enerous supply of milk; but unfortunately she was fierce-tempered, and had horns as sharp as needles

”We will cut them by and by,” shouted Eyebrows

He then lassoed the cow, and I captured the calf, and lifting it into the saddle before me, started homewards The cow followed allop Possibly he was a little too confident, and carelessly let his captive pull the line that held her; anyhow, she turned suddenly on hi fury, and sent one of her horrid horns deep into the belly of his horse

He was, however, equal to the occasion, first dealing her a smart blow on the nose, which made her recoil for a moment; he then severed the lasso with his knife, and, shouting to me to drop the calf, made his escape We pulled up as soon as we had reached a safe distance, Claro drily re that the lasso had been borrowed, and that the horse belonged to the _estancia_, so that we had lost nothing He alighted, and stitched up the great gash in the poor brute's belly, using for a thread a few hairs plucked from its tail It was a difficult task, or would have been so to me, as he had to bore holes in the animal's hide with his knife-point, but it see portion of the severed lasso, he drew it round the hind and one of the fore feet of his horse, and threw hi hi up the wound in about two minutes

”Will he live?” I asked

”How can I tell?” he answered indifferently ”I only know that noill be able to carry me home; if he dies afterwards, ill it matter?”

We then mounted and rode quietly home Of course, ere chaffed without ress, who had foreseen all along, she told us, just hoould be One would have iined, to hear this old black creature talk, that she looked on reatest uilty of, and that in this case Providence hadour depraved appetites

Eyebrows took it all very coolly