Part 2 (2/2)
”Do not notice them,” he said to me ”The lasso was not ours, the horse was not ours, what does it matter what they say?”
The owner of the lasso, who had good-naturedly lent it to us, roused hi y black beard I had taken hiiant kind before, but I now changed an to rise Blas, or Barbudo, as we called the giant, was seated on a log sipping _mate_
”Perhaps you take me for a sheep, sirs, because you see me wrapped in skins,” he observed; ”but let me tell you this, the lasso I lent you must be returned to me”
”These words are not for us,” re me, ”but for the cow that carried away his lasso on her horns--curse the so sharp!”
”No, sir,” returned Barbudo, ”do not deceive yourself; they are not for the cow, but for the fool that lassoed the cow And I promise you, Epifanio, that if it is not restored to h to shelter us both”
”I am pleased to hear it,” said the other, ”for we are short of seats; and when you leave us, the one you now encumber with your carcass will be occupied by some more meritorious person”
”You can say what you like, for no one has yet put a padlock on your lips,” said Barbudo, raising his voice to a shout; ”but you are not going to plunder me; and if my lasso is not restored to me, then I swear I will make myself a new one out of a human hide”
”Then,” said Eyebrows, ”the sooner you provide yourself with a hide for the purpose, the better, for I will never return the lasso to you; for who aainst Providence, that took it out of my hands?”
To this Barbudo replied furiously:
”Then I will have it froner, who comes here to learn to eat meat and put himself on an equality with men
Evidently he eaned too soon; but if the starveling hungers for infant's food, let him in future milk the cats that warht without a lasso, even by a French up froe knife into make an assault on the roasted ribs of a cow, and ive him a bloith my fist Had I attempted it I should most probably have paid dearly for my rashness
The instant I rose Barbudo was on me, knife in hand He aimed a furious blohich luckily missed me, and at the saash on his face It was all done in a second of time, and before the others could interpose; in anotherthe barbarian's wound During the operation, which I daresay was very painful, for the old negress insisted on having the wound bathed with ru that he would cut out my heart and eat it steith onions and seasoned with cummin seed and various other condiht of that sublime culinary conception of Blas the barbarian There enius in his bovine brains
When the exhaustion caused by rage, pain, and loss of blood had at length reduced hi that he had been rightly punished, for had he not, in spite of her tis, lent his lasso to enable these two heretics (for that is what she called us) to capture a cow? Well, his lasso was lost; then his friends, with the gratitude only to be expected froh killed hiot me alone, and with excessive friendliness of manner, and an abundance of circumlocutory phrases, advised me to leave the _estancia_, as it would not be safe forstruck the man in self-defence; also, that I had been sent to the _estancia_ by a friend of the Mayordoive hied his shoulders and lit a cigarette
At length Don Policarpo returned, and when I told hi In the evening I reht froive me some employment on the _estancia_
”You see, my friend,” he replied, ”to employ you noould be useless, however valuable your services ht be, for by this tiht with Blas In the course of a few days you may expect them here to make inquiries into that affair, and it is probable that you and Blas will both be taken into custody”
”What then would you advise me to do?” I asked
His ansas, that when the ostrich asked the deer what he would advise him to do when the hunters appeared, the deer's reply was, ”Run away”
I laughed at his pretty apologue, and answered that I did not think the authorities would trouble the away
Eyebroho had hitherto been rather inclined to patronise me and take me under his protection, now became very warm in his friendshi+p, which was, however, dashed with an air of deference ere alone together, but in co his fae of manner at first, but by and by he took me mysteriously aside and became extremely confidential
”Do not distress yourself about Barbudo,” he said ”He will never again presuainst you; and if you will only condescend to speak kindly to him, he will be your huers on his beard Take no notice of what the Mayordomo says, he also is afraid of you If the authorities take you, it will only be to see what you can give thener, and cannot be made to serve in the army