Part 24 (2/2)

But it was a busy time in May even at the Scotchcaot up early then, if he did not do so all the year round again The hurdles were all taken to the river-side, or banks of the strealen Here the sheep ashed and penned, and anon turned into the enclosures where the shearers were Lads and lasses all took part in the work in one capacity or another The sun would be brightly shi+ning, the 'jouking burnie' sparkling clear in its rays; the glens and hills all green and bonnie; the laughing and joking and lilting and singing, and the constant bleating of sheep and laether a curious medley; but every now and then Donald the piper would tune his pipes andall other sounds in martialwas on a grander scale

There was the saing, and piping; the sa busy-ness and activity; but everything was multiplied by twenty

McGruer at hoe sack, which was held up by two stalwart Highlanders Into this not only were the fleeces put, but also a boy, to jump on them and pack them down At the _estancia_ we had the very newest for

Day by day, as our shearing went on, Moncrieff grew gayer and gayer, and on the finalhe was as full of life and fun as a Harrow schoolboy out on the range The wool harvest had turned out well

It had not been so every year with Moncrieff and his partner They had had h--sickness had at one tih they do not as a rule drive away sheep, had played sad havoc a pampas, and the pampero[8] had several tirown up to afford protection and shelter

I have said before that Moncrieff was fond of doing things in his own fashi+on He illing enough to adopt all the custoht, but raft ith those of Mendoza

Moncrieff delighted in dancing--that is, in giving a good hearty rout, and he sihtest excuse The cereal harvest ended thus, the grape harvest also, andof the wine and preserves, and so of course did the shearing

The dinner at the reat success; the supper in the reater Moncrieff himself opened the fun with Aunt Cecilia as a partner, Donald and a char the quartette necessary for a real Highland reel

The piper played, of course (guitars were not good enough for this sort of thing), and I think we must have kept that first 'hoolichin' up for nearly twenty minutes Then Moncrieff and aunt were fain to retire 'for-fochten'[9]

Well Moncrieff ht have been 'for-fochten,' but neither Donald nor his Spanish lassie were half tired Nor was the piper

'Coet a partner, lad Hooch!'

'Hooch!' shouted Dugald in response, and lo and behold! he gaily led forth--whohter there was as, keeping ti strathspey, the litle lady cracked her thuhter, and genuine hearty applause as well

Moncrieff was delighted with his lorious, he said, and so true to time; surely everybody would believe hihtDonald and I had done duty as clerks; and very busy we had been kept As for Dugald, it would have been a pity to have parted hined to hi the lion

For a youth of hardly sixteen Dugald was a splendid shot, and during the shearing he really kept up his credit well Moncrieff objected to have birds killed when breeding; but in this country, as indeed in any other where game is numerous, there are hosts of birds that do not, for various reasons, breed or ly and solitary, as if they had sorief on their minds that they desired to nurse in solitude, or in sald knew such birds well, and it was from the ranks of these he always filled the larder

To the supply thus brought daily by Dugald were added fowls, ducks, and turkeys fro of joints of beef, ly inexhaustible creels and bags were laden with, but eggs of the swan[10]

and the wild-duck and goose, with--to serve as tit-bits for those who cared for such desert delicacies--cavies, biscachas, and now and then an armadillo If these were not properly appreciated by the new settlers, the eyes of the old, and especially the Gauchos, sparkled with anticipation of gustatory delight on beholding the was over coreat _estancia_ But nevertheless preparations were being ons to Villa Mercedes The h to suit Moncrieff, nor were the prices so good as could be obtained in the east Indeed, Moncrieff had purchasing agents froraons were loaded up--wool, wine, and preserves, as well as raisins

To describe the vineyards at our _estancia_ would take up far too ination; but I hardly think I arapes in the world row in the province of Mendoza The usual difficulty is not in theof wine, but in the supply of barrels and bottles Moncrieff found a way out of this; and in some hotels in Buenos Ayres, and even Monte Video, the Chateau Moncrieff had already gained some celebrity

The manufacture of many different kinds of preserves was quite an industry at the _estancia_, and one that paid fairly well There were orangeries as well as vineries; and although theof maro in for it on quite a large scale

This branch was to be superintended by old Jenny herself, and great was her delight to find out that she was of some use on the estate, for 'really 'oets tired of the stockin'--shank, shank, shank a' day is hard upon the hands, though a body ons were laden and off at last With them went Moncrieff's Welsh partner as commander, to see to the sale, and prevent the Gauchos and drivers generally fro the casks by the way The force of ive an excellent account of any nu Indians ere likely to put in an appearance

And now sulory of vegetable life, such profusion of foliage, such wealth of colouring, such splendour of flowers! Such glory of animal life, beast and bird and insect! The flowers theeous than soued with the hopping and blood-sucking genera Nuh they were at tiht; but so to a close, the first wing of our Coila Villa was finished and dry, the furniture was put in, and as soon as the smell of paint left we took possession