Part 3 (2/2)
Next day, however, when he sat down refreshed by a night's sleep to breakfast, I found hireeable fellow He had no house of his own yet, not having received his money from home, he confidentially infor in a second, and sleeping in a third ”Never mind,” he would say, ”by and by it will be my turn; then I will receive you all every day for six weeks to make it all square”
None of the colonists did any work, but all spent their ti toand tea and ru, visiting their native neighbours, partridge-shooting, horse-racing, etc; but the partridges were too tame for them, they could never catch the ostriches, the natives didn't understand theiven up all these so-called amusements In each house a peon was kept to take care of the flock and to cook, and as the sheep appeared to take care of the a piece of meat on a spit, there was very little for the hired s for yourselves?” I innocently asked
”I fancy it wouldn't quite be the right thing, don't you know,” said Mr
Winchcoravely, ”we haven't quite coreatly surprised to hear the it in other places, but the lofty pride of these ten ruentle spent a so, I was invited to accoley, one of the Glorious Four Mr Bingley was really a very nice young fellow, living in a house far more worthy of the nahbour Winchcotwo servants Always on his reception-day he provided his guests with hot bread and fresh butter, as well as with the indispensable rum-bottle and teapot It therefore happened that, when his turn came round to keep open house, not one of the other nine colonists was absent froley's the others began to appear, each one on entering taking a seat at the hospitable board, and adding another cloud to the dense volureat deal of hilarious conversation; songs were sung, and a vast amount of tea, rum, bread and butter, and tobacco consumed; but it was a wearisome entertainment, and by the time it was over I felt heartily sick of this kind of life
Before separating, after ”John Peel” had been sung with great enthusiaset up a fox-hunt in real English style Everyone agreed, glad of anything, I suppose, to break the monotony of such an existence, and next day we rode out, followed by about twenty dogs, of various breeds and sizes, brought together fro about in the th started a fox froht away for a range of hills about three miles distant, and over a beautifully s him doo of the hunters had provided themselves with horns, which they blew incessantly, while the others all shouted at the top of their lungs, so that our chase was a very noisy one The fox appeared to understand his danger and to know that his only chance of escape lay in keeping up his strength till the refuge of the hills was reached
Suddenly, however, he changed his course, this giving us a great advantage, for bya short cut ere all soon close at his heels, with only the wide level plain before us But reynard had his reasons for what he did; he had spied a herd of cattle, and in a very few moments had overtaken and mixed with the, instantly scattered and flew in all directions, so that ere able still to keep our quarry in sight
Far in advance of us the panic in the cattle ran on froht, and we could see thes and thundering tread cas ran no faster than our horses, but still they laboured on, cheered by incessant shouts, and at last ran into the first fox ever properly hunted in the Banda Oriental
The chase, which had led us far froe _estancia_ house, and while we stood watching the dogs worrying their victim to death, the _capatas_ of the establishment, accompanied by three
He was a s a very picturesque costume, and addressed us with extree animal you have captured?” he asked
”A fox,” shouted Mr Bingley, triu the brush, which he had just cut off, over his head ”In our country--in England--we hunt the fox with dogs, and we have been hunting after the manner of our country”
The _capatas_ smiled, and replied that, if ere disposed to join hireat pleasure to show us a hunt after the ladly, and, allop after the _capatas_ and his men We soon came to a small herd of cattle; the _capatas_ dashed after the the noose dexterously over the horns of a fat heifer he had singled out, then started hoed forward by the men, who rode close behind, and pricked it with their knives, rushed on, belloith rage and pain, trying to overtake the _capatas_, who kept just out of reach of its horns; and in this e quickly reached the house One of the ; pulled in two opposite directions, it quickly ca, first ha knife into its throat
Without re the hide, the carcass was ireat fire of wood, which one of theIn an hour's time we all sat down to a feast of _carne con cuero_, or meat roasted in the hide, juicy, tender, and exquisitely flavoured I lish reader who is accustoame which has been kept till it is tender, that before the tender stage is reached it has been perame included, is never so tender or deliciously flavoured as when cooked and eaten immediately after it is killed Coe, it is like a new-laid egg or a sal or a sal
We enjoyed the repast ih Captain Cloud bitterly lamented that we had neither rum nor tea to wash it down When we had thanked our entertainer and were about to turn our horses' heads homewards, the polite _capatas_ once more stepped out and addressed us
”Gentlemen,” he said, ”whenever you feel disposed to hunt, come to me and ill lasso and roast a heifer in the hide It is the best dish the republic has to offer the stranger, and it will giveyou will hunt noto this _estancia,_ for you have caused so great a coe of, that it will taketheave the desired prolish fashi+on is not a sport adapted to the Oriental country Then we rode back, and spent the re, of the Glorious Four, drinking ru over our hunting experience
CHAPTER VI
I spent several days at the colony; and I suppose the life I led there had a de effect on me, for, unpleasant as it was, every day I felt less inclined to break loose fro down there myself This crazy idea, however, would usually coence in rum and tea, a mixture that would very soon drive any s, it was resolved to pay a visit to the little town of Tolosa, about eighteen miles to the east of the colony Next day we set out, everyat his waist, and provided with a heavy _poncho_ for covering; for it was the custoht at Tolosa when they visited it We put up at a large public-house in the centre of the miserable little tohere there was acco rather better than the first I very soon discovered that the chief object of our visit was to vary the entertain rued till bedtime, when the only sober reater part of the afternoon walking about talking to the townspeople, in the hope of picking up some information useful to me in ave ement They seemed to be a rather listless set in Tolosa, and when I asked the to _ My fellow-countrymen and their visit to the toas the principal topic of conversation They regarded their English neighbours as strange and dangerous creatures, who took no solid food, but subsisted on a unpowder (which was the truth), and ere arines called revolvers, invented specially for them by their father the devil The day's experience convinced lish colony had soave the good people of Tolosa a little wholesonant intervals between the revolutions
At night we all turned into a large roole article of furniture Our saddles, rugs, and _ponchos_ had all been thrown together in a corner, and anyone wishi+ng to sleep had to ery as best he could The experience was nothing new to me, so I soonoffbetter and is friendly with fleas My friends, however, were evidently bent on ht of it, and had taken care to provide themselves with three or four bottles of ru on for soworth--rose to his feet and de into theout his ared toto reeted this announcement, while one of the hearers, carried aith enthusias to his friend's eloquence, discharged his revolver at the roof, scattering confusion aed spiders that occupied the dusty cobwebs above our heads
I was afraid the whole toould be up in ars on, but they assured me that they all fired off their revolvers in that room and that nobody came near them, as they were so well known in the town
”Gentleth restored, ”I've been thinking, that's what I've been doing Now let's review the situation Here we stand, a colony of English gentlemen: here we are, don't you know, far fro What says the poet? I daresay soe But what for, I ask! What, gentleoing to tell you, don't you know We are here, gentley, and all that sort of thing, into this dilapidated old tin-pot of a nation”
Here the orator was encouraged by a burst of applause