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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #60541 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60541)
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of El Ombú, by William Henry Hudson
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-
-Title: El Ombú
-
-Author: William Henry Hudson
-
-Release Date: October 21, 2019 [EBook #60541]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EL OMBÚ ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Tim Lindell, Martin Pettit and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
-file was produced from images generously made available
-by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-+-------------------------------------------------+
-|Transcriber's note:                              |
-|                                                 |
-|Obvious typographic errors have been corrected.  |
-|                                                 |
-+-------------------------------------------------+
-
-
-EL OMBÚ
-
-
-
-
-Uniform with this volume THE READERS' LIBRARY. 50 volumes
-published. Full list of titles can be had from the Publishers
-DUCKWORTH & CO. COVENT GARDEN, LONDON
-
-
-
-
-El Ombú by W. H. Hudson
-
-Author of "Green Mansions," "The Purple Land," "A
-Crystal Age," "A Little Boy Lost"
-
-     _Cada comarca en la tierra
-     Tiene su rasgo prominente,
-     Brazil tiene su sol ardiente,
-     Minas de plata el Perú:
-     Buenos Ayres--patria hermosa--
-     Tiene su Pampa grandiosa;
-     La Pampa tiene el Ombú._
-
-
-LONDON
-DUCKWORTH & CO.
-3 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN
-
-
-
-
-_First Published 1902._
-
-_Reissued under the title of "South American Sketches" 1909_
-
-_Published in the Readers Library 1920_
-
-_All rights reserved_
-
-
-_Printed in Great Britain by R. Folkard & Son, London_
-
-
-
-
-TO MY FRIEND
-
-R. B. CUNNINGHAME GRAHAM
-
-("_Singularisimo escritor ingles_")
-
-
-Who has lived with and knows (even to the marrow as they would
-themselves say) the horsemen of the Pampas, and who alone of European
-writers has rendered something of the vanishing colour of that remote
-life.
-
-
-
-
-NOTE.
-
-
-The two short stories included in this volume are reprints:--the
-"Story of a Piebald Horse" from a book of travel and adventure in
-South America, long out of print; the other, "Niño Diablo," is taken,
-by permission, from _Macmillan's Magazine_. The two long stories now
-appear for the first time, excepting only the incidents of the English
-invasion told in "El Ombú," and the Appendix to the same story, which
-formed part of an article describing the game of El Pato in the
-_Badminton Magazine_.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-                                PAGE
-1.  El Ombú                        1
-
-2.  Story of a Piebald Horse      69
-
-3.  Niño Diablo                   89
-
-4.  Marta Riquelme               125
-
-5.  Appendix to El Ombú          174
-
-
-
-
-EL OMBÚ.
-
-_This history of a house that had been was told in the shade, one
-summer's day, by Nicandro, that old man to whom we all loved to listen,
-since he could remember and properly narrate the life of every person
-he had known in his native place, near to the lake of Chascomus, on the
-southern pampas of Buenos Ayres._
-
-
-In all this district, though you should go twenty leagues to this
-way and that, you will not find a tree as big as this ombú, standing
-solitary, where there is no house; therefore it is known to all as "the
-ombú," as if but one existed; and the name of all this estate, which is
-now ownerless and ruined, is El Ombú. From one of the higher branches,
-if you can climb, you will see the lake of Chascomus, two thirds of a
-league away, from shore to shore, and the village on its banks. Even
-smaller things will you see on a clear day; perhaps a red line moving
-across the water--a flock of flamingos flying in their usual way. A
-great tree standing alone, with no house near it; only the old brick
-foundations of a house, so overgrown with grass and weeds that you have
-to look closely to find them. When I am out with my flock in the summer
-time, I often come here to sit in the shade. It is near the main road;
-travellers, droves of cattle, the diligence, and bullock-carts pass in
-sight. Sometimes, at noon, I find a traveller resting in the shade, and
-if he is not sleeping we talk and he tells me the news of that great
-world my eyes have never seen. They say that sorrow and at last ruin
-comes upon the house on whose roof the shadow of the ombú tree falls;
-and on that house which now is not, the shadow of this tree came every
-summer day when the sun was low. They say, too, that those who sit much
-in the ombú shade become crazed. Perhaps, sir, the bone of my skull is
-thicker than in most men, since I have been accustomed to sit here all
-my life, and though now an old man I have not yet lost my reason. It
-is true that evil fortune came to the old house in the end; but into
-every door sorrow must enter--sorrow and death that comes to all men;
-and every house must fall at last.
-
-Do you hear the mangangá, the carpenter bee, in the foliage over
-our heads? Look at him, like a ball of shining gold among the green
-leaves, suspended in one place, humming loudly! Ah, señor, the years
-that are gone, the people that have lived and died, speak to me thus
-audibly when I am sitting here by myself. These are memories; but there
-are other things that come back to us from the past; I mean ghosts.
-Sometimes, at midnight, the whole tree, from its great roots to its
-topmost leaves, is seen from a distance shining like white fire. What
-is that fire, seen of so many, which does not scorch the leaves? And,
-sometimes, when a traveller lies down here to sleep the siesta, he
-hears sounds of footsteps coming and going, and noises of dogs and
-fowls, and of children shouting and laughing, and voices of people
-talking; but when he starts up and listens, the sounds grow faint, and
-seem at last to pass away into the tree with a low murmur as of wind
-among the leaves.
-
-As a small boy, from the time when I was able, at the age of about
-six years, to climb on to a pony and ride, I knew this tree. It was
-then what it is now; five men with their arms stretched to their utmost
-length could hardly encircle it. And the house stood there, where you
-see a bed of nettles--a long, low house, built of bricks, when there
-were few brick houses in this district, with a thatched roof.
-
-The last owner was just touching on old age. Not that he looked aged;
-on the contrary, he looked what he was, a man among men, a head taller
-than most, with the strength of an ox; but the wind had blown a little
-sprinkling of white ashes into his great beard and his hair, which
-grew to his shoulders like the mane of a black horse. That was Don
-Santos Ugarte, known to all men in this district as the White Horse,
-on account of the whiteness of his skin where most men look dark; also
-because of that proud temper and air of authority which he had. And
-for still another reason--the number of children in this neighbourhood
-of which he was said to be the father. In all houses, for many leagues
-around, the children were taught to reverence him, calling him "uncle,"
-and when he appeared they would run and, dropping on their knees
-before him, cry out "_Bendicion mi tio._" He would give them his
-blessing; then, after tweaking a nose and pinching an ear or two, he
-would flourish his whip over their heads to signify that he had done
-with them, and that they must quickly get out of his way.
-
-These were children of the wind, as the saying is, and the desire of
-his heart was for a legitimate son, an Ugarte by name, who would come
-after him at El Ombú, as he had come after his father. But though he
-had married thrice, there was no son born, and no child. Some thought
-it a mystery that one with so many sons should yet be without a son.
-The mystery, friend, was only for those who fail to remember that such
-things are not determined by ourselves. We often say, that He who is
-above us is too great to concern Himself with our small affairs. There
-are so many of us; and how shall He, seated on his throne at so great
-a distance, know all that passes in his dominions! But Santos was no
-ordinary person, and He who was greater than Santos had doubtless had
-his attention drawn to this man; and had considered the matter, and had
-said, "You shall not have your desire; for though you are a devout
-man, one who gives freely of his goods to the church and my poor, I am
-not wholly satisfied with you." And so it came to pass that he had no
-son and heir.
-
-His first two wives had died, so it was said, because of his bitterness
-against them. I only knew the third--Doña Mericie, a silent, sad woman,
-who was of less account than any servant, or any slave in the house.
-And I, a simple boy, what could I know of the secrets of her heart?
-Nothing! I only saw her pale and silent and miserable, and because her
-eyes followed me, I feared her, and tried always to keep out of her
-way. But one morning, when I came to El Ombú and went into the kitchen,
-I found her there alone, and before I could escape she caught me in
-her arms, and lifting me off my feet strained me against her breast,
-crying, _hijo de mi alma_, and I knew not what beside; and calling
-God's blessing on me, she covered my face with kisses. Then all at
-once, hearing Santo's voice without, she dropped me and remained like a
-woman of stone, staring at the door with scared eyes.
-
-She, too, died in a little while, and her disappearance made no
-difference in the house, and if Santos wore a black band on his arm,
-it was because custom demanded it and not because he mourned for her in
-his heart.
-
-
-II.
-
-That silent ghost of a woman being gone, no one could say of him that
-he was hard; nor could anything be said against him except that he was
-not a saint, in spite of his name. But, sir, we do not look for saints
-among strong men, who live in the saddle, and are at the head of big
-establishments. If there was one who was a father to the poor it was
-Santos; therefore he was loved by many, and only those who had done him
-an injury or had crossed him in any way had reason to fear and hate
-him. But let me now relate what I, a boy of ten, witnessed one day in
-the year 1808. This will show you what the man's temper was; and his
-courage, and the strength of his wrists.
-
-It was his custom to pay a visit every two or three months to a
-monastery at a distance of half-a-day's journey from El Ombú.
-
-He was greatly esteemed by the friars, and whenever he went to see them
-he had a led horse to carry his presents to the Brothers;--a side of
-fat beef, a sucking-pig or two, a couple of lambs, when they were in
-season, a few fat turkeys and ducks, a bunch of big partridges, a brace
-or two of armadillos, the breast and wings of a fat ostrich; and in
-summer, a dozen ostriches' eggs, and I know not what besides.
-
-One evening I was at El Ombú, and was just starting for home, when
-Santos saw me, and cried out, "Get off and let your horse go, Nicandro.
-I am going to the monastery to-morrow, and you shall ride the laden
-horse, and save me the trouble of leading it. You will be like a little
-bird perched on his back and he will not feel your few ounces' weight.
-You can sleep on a sheepskin in the kitchen, and get up an hour before
-daybreak."
-
-The stars were still shining when we set out on our journey the
-next morning, in the month of June, and when we crossed the river
-Sanborombón at sunrise the earth was all white with hoar frost. At
-noon, we arrived at our destination, and were received by the friars,
-who embraced and kissed Santos on both cheeks, and took charge of our
-horses. After breakfast in the kitchen, the day being now warm and
-pleasant, we went and sat out of doors to sip maté and smoke, and for
-an hour or longer, the conversation between Santos and the Brothers
-had been going on when, all at once, a youth appeared coming at a
-fast gallop towards the gate, shouting as he came, "Los Ingleses! Los
-Ingleses!" We all jumped up and ran to the gate, and climbing up by the
-posts and bars, saw at a distance of less than half-a-league to the
-east, a great army of men marching in the direction of Buenos Ayres.
-We could see that the foremost part of the army had come to a halt on
-the banks of a stream which flows past the monastery and empties itself
-into the Plata, two leagues further east. The army was all composed of
-infantry, but a great many persons on horseback could be seen following
-it, and these, the young man said, were neighbours who had come out to
-look at the English invaders; and he also said that the soldiers, on
-arriving at the stream, had begun to throw away their blankets, and
-that the people were picking them up. Santos hearing this, said he
-would go and join the crowd, and mounting his horse and followed by me,
-and by two of the Brothers, who said they wished to get a few blankets
-for the monastery, we set out at a gallop for the stream.
-
-Arrived at the spot, we found that the English, not satisfied with the
-ford, which had a very muddy bottom, had made a new crossing-place for
-themselves by cutting down the bank on both sides, and that numbers
-of blankets had been folded and laid in the bed of the stream where
-it was about twenty-five yards wide. Hundreds of blankets were also
-being thrown away, and the people were picking them up and loading
-their horses with them. Santos at once threw himself into the crowd
-and gathered about a dozen blankets, the best he could find, for the
-friars; then he gathered a few for himself and ordered me to fasten
-them on the back of my horse.
-
-The soldiers, seeing us scrambling for the blankets, were much amused;
-but when one man among us cried out, "These people must be mad to throw
-their blankets away in cold weather--perhaps their red jackets will
-keep them warm when they lie down to-night"--there was one soldier who
-understood, and could speak Spanish, and he replied, "No, sirs, we
-have no further need of blankets. When we next sleep it will be in
-the best beds in the capitol." Then Santos shouted back, "That, sirs,
-will perhaps be a sleep from which some of you will never awake."
-That speech attracted their attention to Santos, and the soldier who
-had spoken before returned, "There are not many men like you in these
-parts, therefore what you say does not alarm us." Then they looked at
-the friars fastening the blankets Santos had given them on to their
-horses, and seeing that they wore heavy iron spurs strapped on their
-bare feet, they shouted with laughter, and the one who talked with us
-cried out, "We are sorry, good Brothers, that we have not boots as well
-as blankets to give you."
-
-But our business was now done, and bidding good-bye to the friars, we
-set out on our return journey, Santos saying that we should be at home
-before midnight.
-
-It was past the middle of the afternoon, we having ridden about six
-leagues, when we spied at a distance ahead a great number of mounted
-men scattered about over the plain, some standing still, others
-galloping this way or that.
-
-"El pato! el pato!" cried Santos with excitement, "Come, boy, let us
-go and watch the battle while it is near, and when it is passed on we
-will go our way." Urging his horse to a gallop, I following, we came
-to where the men were struggling for the ball, and stood for a while
-looking on. But it was not in him to remain a mere spectator for long;
-never did he see a cattle-marking, or parting, or races, or a dance, or
-any game, and above all games el Pato, but he must have a part in it.
-Very soon he dismounted to throw off some of the heaviest parts of his
-horse-gear, and ordering me to take them up on my horse and follow him,
-he rode in among the players.
-
-About forty or fifty men had gathered at that spot, and were sitting
-quietly on their horses in a wide circle, waiting to see the result of
-a struggle for the Pato between three men who had hold of the ball.
-They were strong men, well mounted, each resolved to carry off the
-prize from the others. Sir, when I think of that sight, and remember
-that the game is no longer played because of the Tyrant who forbade
-it, I am ready to cry out that there are no longer men on these plains
-where I first saw the light! How they tugged and strained and sweated,
-almost dragging each other out of the saddle, their trained horses
-leaning away, digging their hoofs into the turf, as when they resist
-the shock of a lassoed animal, when the lasso stiffens and the pull
-comes! One of the men was a big, powerful mulatto, and the by-standers
-thinking the victory would be his, were only waiting to see him wrest
-the ball from the others to rush upon and try to deprive him of it
-before he could escape from the crowd.
-
-Santos refused to stand inactive, for was there not a fourth handle to
-the ball to be grasped by another fighter? Spurring his horse into the
-group, he very soon succeeded in getting hold of the disengaged handle.
-A cry of resentment at this action on the part of a stranger went up
-from some of those who were looking on, mixed with applause at his
-daring from others, while the three men who had been fighting against
-each other, each one for himself, now perceived that they had a common
-enemy. Excited as they were by the struggle, they could not but be
-startled at the stranger's appearance--that huge man on a big horse, so
-white-skinned and long-haired, with a black beard, that came down over
-his breast, and who showed them, when he threw back his poncho, the
-knife that was like a sword and the big brass-barrelled pistol worn at
-his waist. Very soon after he joined in the fray all four men came to
-the earth. But they did not fall together, and the last to go down was
-Santos, who would not be dragged off his horse, and in the end horse
-and man came down on the top of the others. In coming down, two of the
-men had lost their hold of the ball; last of all, the big mulatto, to
-save himself from being crushed under the falling horse, was forced to
-let go, and in his rage at being beaten, he whipped out his long knife
-against the stranger. Santos, too quick for him, dealt him a blow on
-the forehead with the heavy silver handle of his whip, dropping him
-stunned to the ground. Of the four, Santos alone had so far escaped
-injury, and rising and remounting, the ball still in his hand, he rode
-out from among them, the crowd opening on each side to make room for
-him.
-
-Now in the crowd there was one tall, imposing-looking man, wearing a
-white poncho, many silver ornaments, and a long knife in an embossed
-silver sheath; his horse, too, which was white as milk, was covered
-with silver trappings. This man alone raised his voice; "Friends
-and comrades," he cried, "is this to be the finish? If this stranger
-is permitted to carry the Pato away, it will not be because of his
-stronger wrist and better horse, but because he carries firearms.
-Comrades, what do you say?"
-
-But there was no answer. They had seen the power and resolution of the
-man, and though they were many they preferred to let him go in peace.
-Then the man on a white horse, with a scowl of anger and contempt,
-turned from them and began following us at a distance of about fifty
-yards. Whenever Santos turned back to come to close quarters with
-him, he retired, only to turn and follow us again as soon as Santos
-resumed his course. In this way we rode till sunset. Santos was grave,
-but calm; I, being so young, was in constant terror. "Oh, uncle," I
-whispered, "for the love of God fire your pistol at this man and kill
-him, so that he may not kill us!"
-
-Santos laughed. "Fool of a boy," he replied, "do you not know that he
-wants me to fire at him! He knows that I could not hit him at this
-distance, and that after discharging my pistol we should be equal, man
-to man, and knife to knife; and who knows then which would kill the
-other? God knows best, since He knows everything, and He has put it
-into my heart not to fire."
-
-When it grew dark we rode slower, and the man then lessened the
-distance between us. We could hear the chink-chink of his silver
-trappings, and when I looked back I could see a white misty form
-following us like a ghost. Then, all at once, there came a noise of
-hoofs and a whistling sound of something thrown, and Santos' horse
-plunged and reared and kicked, then stood still trembling with terror.
-His hind legs were entangled in the bolas which had been thrown. With a
-curse Santos threw himself off, and, drawing his knife, cut the thong
-which bound the animal's legs, and remounting we went on as before, the
-white figure still following us.
-
-At length, about midnight, the Sanborombón was reached, at the ford
-where we had crossed in the morning, where it was about forty yards
-wide, and the water only high as the surcingle in the deepest parts.
-
-"Let your heart be glad, Nicandro!" said Santos, as we went down into
-the water; "for our time is come now, and be careful to do as I bid
-you."
-
-We crossed slowly, and coming out on the south side, Santos quietly
-dropped off his horse, and, speaking in a low voice, ordered me to ride
-slowly on with the two horses and wait for him in the road. He said
-that the man who followed would not see him crouching under the bank,
-and thinking it safe would cross over, only to receive the charge fired
-at a few yards distance.
-
-That was an anxious interval that followed, I waiting alone, scarcely
-daring to breathe, staring into the darkness in fear of that white
-figure that was like a ghost, listening for the pistol shot. My prayer
-to heaven was to direct the bullet in its course, so that it might go
-to that terrible man's heart, and we be delivered from him. But there
-was no shot, and no sound except a faint chink of silver and sound of
-hoof-beats that came to my ears after a time, and soon ceased to be
-heard. The man, perhaps, had some suspicion of the other's plan and had
-given up the chase and gone away.
-
-Nothing more do I remember of that journey which ended at El Ombú at
-cock-crow, except that at one spot Santos fastened a thong round
-my waist and bound me before and behind to the saddle to prevent my
-falling from my horse every time I went to sleep.
-
-
-III.
-
-Remember, Señor, that I have spoken of things that passed when I
-was small. The memories of that time are few and scattered, like
-the fragments of tiles and bricks and rusty iron which one may find
-half-buried among the weeds, where the house once stood. Fragments that
-once formed part of the building. Certain events, some faces, and some
-voices, I remember, but I cannot say the year. Nor can I say how many
-years had gone by after Doña Mericie's death, and after my journey to
-the monastery. Perhaps they were few, perhaps many. Invasions had come,
-wars with a foreigner and with the savage, and Independence, and many
-things had happened at a distance. He, Santos Ugarte, was older, I
-know, greyer, when that great misfortune and calamity came to one whom
-God had created so strong, so brave, so noble. And all on account of a
-slave, a youth born at El Ombú, who had been preferred above the others
-by his master. For, as it is said, we breed crows to pick our eyes out.
-But I will say nothing against that poor youth, who was the cause of
-the disaster, for it was not wholly his fault. Part of the fault was in
-Santos--his indomitable temper and his violence. And perhaps, too, the
-time was come when He who rules over all men had said, "You have raised
-your voice and have ridden over others long enough. Look, Santos! I
-shall set My foot upon you, and you shall be like a wild pumpkin at
-the end of summer, when it is dryer and more brittle than an empty
-egg-shell."
-
-Remember that there were slaves in those days, also that there was a
-law fixing every man's price, old or young, so that if any slave went,
-money in hand, to his master and offered him the price of his liberty,
-from that moment he became a free man. It mattered not that his master
-wished not to sell him. So just was the law.
-
-Of his slaves Santos was accustomed to say, "These are my children, and
-serve because they love me, not because they are slaves; and if I were
-to offer his freedom to any one among them, he would refuse to take
-it." He saw their faces, not their hearts.
-
-His favourite was Meliton, black but well favoured, and though but a
-youth, he had authority over the others, and dressed well, and rode his
-master's best horses, and had horses of his own. But it was never said
-of him that he gained that eminence by means of flattery and a tongue
-cunning to frame lies. On the contrary, he was loved by all, even by
-those he was set above, because of his goodness of heart and a sweet
-and gay disposition. He was one of those whose can do almost anything
-better than others; whatever his master wanted done, whether it was
-to ride a race, or break a horse, or throw a lasso, or make a bridle,
-or whip, or surcingle, or play on a guitar, or sing, or dance, it was
-Meliton, Meliton. There was no one like him.
-
-Now this youth cherished a secret ambition in his heart, and saved, and
-saved his money; and at length one day he came with a handful of silver
-and gold to Santos, and said, "Master, here is the price of my freedom,
-take it and count it, and see that it is right, and let me remain at
-El Ombú to serve you henceforth without payment. But I shall no longer
-be a slave."
-
-Santos took the money into his hand, and spoke, "It was for this then
-that you saved, even the money I gave you to spend and to run with,
-and the money you made by selling the animals I gave you--you saved it
-for this! Ingrate, with a heart blacker than your skin! Take back the
-money, and go from my presence, and never cross my path again if you
-wish for a long life." And with that he hurled the handful of silver
-and gold into the young man's face with such force, that he was cut and
-bruised with the coins and well nigh stunned. He went back staggering
-to his horse, and mounting, rode away, sobbing like a child, the blood
-running from his face.
-
-He soon left this neighbourhood and went to live at Las Vivoras, on the
-Vecino river, south of Dolores, and there made good use of his freedom,
-buying fat animals for the market; and for a space of two years he
-prospered, and every man, rich or poor, was his friend. Nevertheless he
-was not happy, for his heart was loyal and he loved his old master, who
-had been a father to him, and desired above all things to be forgiven.
-And, at length, hoping that Santos had outlived his resentment and
-would be pleased to see him again, he one day came to El Ombú and asked
-to see the master.
-
-The old man came out of the house and greeted him jovially. "Ha,
-Meliton," he cried with a laugh, "you have returned in spite of my
-warning. Come down from your horse and let me take your hand once more."
-
-The other, glad to think he was forgiven, alighted, and advancing, put
-out his hand. Santos took it in his, only to crush it with so powerful
-a grip, that the young man cried out aloud, and blinded with tears of
-pain, he did not see that his master had the big brass pistol in his
-left hand, and did not know that his last moment had come. He fell with
-a bullet in his heart.
-
-Look, señor, where I am pointing, twenty yards or so from the edge of
-the shadow of the ombú, do you see a dark green weed with a yellow
-flower on a tall stem growing on the short, dry grass? It was just
-there, on the very spot where the yellow flower is, that poor Meliton
-fell, and was left lying, covered with blood, until noon the next
-day. For no person dared take up the corpse until the Alcalde had been
-informed of the matter and had come to inquire into it.
-
-Santos had mounted his horse and gone away without a word, taking the
-road to Buenos Ayres. He had done that for which he would have to pay
-dearly; for a life is a life, whether the skin be black or white, and
-no man can slay another deliberately, in cold blood, and escape the
-penalty. The law is no respecter of persons, and when he, who commits
-such a deed, is a man of substance, he must expect that Advocates and
-Judges, with all those who take up his cause, will bleed him well
-before they procure him a pardon.
-
-Ugarte cared nothing for that, he had been as good as his word, and
-the devil in his heart was satisfied. Only he would not wait at his
-estancia to be taken, nor would he go and give himself up to the
-authorities, who would then have to place him in confinement, and
-it would be many months before his liberation. That would be like
-suffocation to him; to such a man a prison is like a tomb. No, he would
-go to Buenos Ayres and embark for Montevideo, and from that place he
-would put the matter in motion, and wait there until it was all settled
-and he was free to return to El Ombú.
-
-Dead Meliton was taken away and buried in consecrated ground at
-Chascomus. Rain fell, and washed away the red stains on the ground.
-In the spring, the swallows returned and built their nests under the
-eaves; but Ugarte came not back, nor did any certain tidings of him
-reach us. It was said, I know not whether truly or not, that the
-Advocate who defended him, and the Judge of First Instance, who had the
-case before him, had quarreled about the division of the reward, and
-both being rich, proud persons, they had allowed themselves to forget
-the old man waiting there month after month for his pardon, which never
-came to him.
-
-Better for him if he never heard of the ruin which had fallen on
-El Ombú during his long exile. There was no one in authority: the
-slaves, left to themselves, went away, and there was no person to
-restrain them. As for the cattle and horses, they were blown away like
-thistle-down, and everyone was free to pasture his herds and flocks on
-the land.
-
-The house for a time was in charge of some person placed there by the
-authorities, but little by little it was emptied of its contents; and
-at last it was abandoned, and for a long time no one could be found to
-live in it on account of the ghosts.
-
-
-IV.
-
-There was living at that time, a few leagues from El Ombú, one Valerio
-de la Cueva, a poor man, whose all consisted of a small flock of three
-or four hundred sheep and a few horses. He had been allowed to make a
-small rancho, a mere hut, to shelter himself and his wife Donata and
-their one child, a boy named Bruno; and to pay for the grass his few
-sheep consumed he assisted in the work at the estancia house. This
-poor man, hearing of El Ombú, where he could have house and ground for
-nothing, offered himself as occupant, and in time came with wife and
-child and his small flock, and all the furniture he possessed--a bed,
-two or three chairs, a pot and kettle, and perhaps a few other things.
-Such poverty El Ombú had not known, but all others had feared to
-inhabit such a place on account of its evil name, so that it was left
-for Valerio, who was a stranger in the district.
-
-Tell me, señor, have you ever in your life met with a man, who was
-perhaps poor, or even clothed in rags, and who yet when you had looked
-at and conversed with him, has caused you to say: Here is one who is
-like no other man in the world? Perhaps on rising and going out, on
-some clear morning in summer, he looked at the sun when it rose, and
-perceived an angel sitting in it, and as he gazed, something from that
-being fell upon and passed into and remained with him. Such a man was
-Valerio. I have known no other like him.
-
-"Come, friend Nicandro," he would say, "let us sit down in the shade
-and smoke our cigarettes, and talk of our animals. Here are no politics
-under this old ombú, no ambitions and intrigues and animosities--no
-bitterness except in these green leaves. They are our laurels--the
-leaves of the ombú. Happy Nicandro, who never knew the life of cities!
-I wish that I, too, had seen the light on these quiet plains, under a
-thatched roof. Once I wore fine clothes and gold ornaments, and lived
-in a great house where there were many servants to wait on me. But
-happy I have never been. Every flower I plucked changed into a nettle
-to sting my hand. Perhaps that maleficent one, who has pursued me all
-my days, seeing me now so humbled and one with the poor, has left me
-and gone away. Yes, I am poor, and this frayed garment that covers me
-will I press to my lips because it does not shine with silk and gold
-embroidery. And this poverty which I have found will I cherish, and
-bequeath it as a precious thing to my child when I die. For with it is
-peace."
-
-The peace did not last long; for when misfortune has singled out a man
-for its prey, it will follow him to the end, and he shall not escape
-from it though he mount up to the clouds like the falcon, or thrust
-himself deep down into the earth like the armadillo.
-
-Valerio had been two years at El Ombú when there came an Indian
-invasion on the southern frontier. There was no force to oppose it; the
-two hundred men stationed at the Guardia del Azul had been besieged
-by a part of the invaders in the fort, while the larger number of the
-savages were sweeping away the cattle and horses from the country all
-round. An urgent order came to the commander at Chascomus to send
-a contingent of forty men from the department; and I, then a young
-man of twenty, who had seen no service, was cited to appear at the
-Commandancia, in readiness to march. There I found that Valerio had
-also been cited, and from that moment we were together. Two days later
-we were at the Azul, the Indians having retired with their booty; and
-when all the contingents from the various departments had come in, the
-commander, one Colonel Barboza, set out with about six hundred men in
-pursuit.
-
-It was known that in their retreat the Indians had broken up their
-force into several parties, and that these had taken different
-directions, and it was thought that these bodies would reunite after
-a time, and that the larger number would return to their territory by
-way of Trinqué Lauquén, about seventy-five leagues west of Azul. Our
-Colonel's plan was to go quickly to this point and wait the arrival of
-the Indians. It was impossible that they, burdened with the thousands
-of cattle they had collected, could move fast, while we were burdened
-with nothing, the only animals we drove before us being our horses.
-These numbered about five thousand, but many were unbroken mares, to
-be used as food. Nothing but mare's flesh did we have to eat.
-
-It was the depth of winter, and worse weather I have never known. In
-this desert I first beheld that whiteness called snow, when the rain
-flies like cotton-down before the wind, filling the air and whitening
-the whole earth. All day and every day our clothes were wet, and there
-was no shelter from the wind and rain at night, nor could we make fires
-with the soaked grass and reeds, and wood there was none, so that we
-were compelled to eat our mare's flesh uncooked.
-
-Three weeks were passed in this misery, waiting for the Indians and
-seeking for them, with the hills of Gaumini now before us in the south,
-and now on our left hand; and still no sight and no sign of the enemy.
-It seemed as if the earth had opened and swallowed him up. Our Colonel
-was in despair, and we now began to hope that he would lead us back to
-the Azul.
-
-In these circumstances one of the men, who was thinly clad and had been
-suffering from a cough, dropped from his horse, and it was then seen
-that he was likely to die, and that in any case he would have to be
-left behind. Finding that there was no hope for him, he begged that
-those who were with him would remember, when they were at home again,
-that he had perished in the desert and that his soul was suffering in
-purgatory, and that they would give something to the priests to procure
-him ease. When asked by his officer to say who his relations were and
-where they lived, he replied that he had no one belonging to him. He
-said that he had spent many years in captivity among the Indians at
-the Salinas Grandes, and that on his return he had failed to find any
-one of his relations living in the district where he had been born.
-In answer to further questions, he said that he had been carried away
-when a small boy, that the Indians on that occasion had invaded the
-Christian country in the depth of winter, and on their retreat, instead
-of returning to their own homes, they had gone east, towards the sea
-coast, and had encamped on a plain by a small stream called Curumamuel,
-at Los Tres Arroyos, where there was firewood and sweet water, and good
-grass for the cattle, and where they found many Indians, mostly women
-and children, who had gone thither to await their coming; and at that
-spot they had remained until the spring.
-
-The poor man died that night, and we gathered stones and piled them on
-his body so that the foxes and caranchos should not devour him.
-
-At break of day next morning we were on horseback marching at a gallop
-toward sunrise, for our Colonel had determined to look for the Indians
-at that distant spot near the sea where they had hidden themselves from
-their pursuers so many years before. The distance was about seventy
-leagues, and the journey took us about nine days. And at last, in a
-deep valley near the sea, the enemy was discovered by our scouts, and
-we marched by night until we were within less than a league of their
-encampment, and could see their fires. We rested there for four hours,
-eating raw flesh and sleeping. Then every man was ordered to mount
-his best horse, and we were disposed in a half-moon, so that the free
-horses could easily be driven before us. The Colonel, sitting on his
-horse, addressed us, "Boys," he said, "you have suffered much, but now
-the victory is in our hands, and you shall not lose the reward. All
-the captives you take, and all the thousands of horses and cattle we
-succeed in recovering, shall be sold by public auction on our return,
-and the proceeds divided among you."
-
-He then gave the order, and we moved quietly on for a space of half
-a league, and coming to the edge of the valley saw it all black with
-cattle before us, and the Indians sleeping in their camp; and just when
-the sun rose from the sea and God's light came over the earth, with a
-great shout we charged upon them. In a moment the multitude of cattle,
-struck with panic, began rushing away, bellowing in all directions,
-shaking the earth beneath their hoofs. Our troop of horses, urged on
-by our yells, were soon in the encampment, and the savages, rushing
-hither and thither, trying to save themselves, were shot and speared
-and cut down by swords. One desire was in all our hearts, one cry on
-all lips--kill! kill! kill! Such a slaughter had not been known for a
-long time, and birds and foxes and armadillos must have grown fat on
-the flesh of the heathen we left for them. But we killed only the men,
-and few escaped; the women and children we made captive.
-
-Two days we spent in collecting the scattered cattle and horses,
-numbering about ten thousand; then with our spoil we set out on our
-return and arrived at the Azul at the end of August. On the following
-day the force was broken up into the separate contingents of which it
-was composed, and each in its turn was sent to the Colonel's house
-to be paid. The Chascomus contingent was the last to go up, and on
-presenting ourselves, each man received two months' soldiers' pay,
-after which Colonel Barboza came out and thanked us for our services,
-and ordered us to give up our arms at the fort and go back to our
-district, every man to his own house.
-
-"We have spent some cold nights in the desert together, neighbour
-Nicandro," said Valerio, laughing, "but we have fared well--on raw
-horse flesh; and now to make it better we have received money. Why,
-look, with all this money I shall be able to buy a pair of new shoes
-for Bruno. Brave little man! I can see him toddling about among the
-cardoon thistles, searching for hens' eggs for his mother, and getting
-his poor little feet full of thorns. If there should be any change left
-he shall certainly have some sugar-plums."
-
-But the others on coming to the fort began to complain loudly of the
-treatment they had received, when Valerio, rebuking them, told them to
-act like men and tell the Colonel that they were not satisfied, or else
-hold their peace.
-
-"Will you, Valerio, be our spokesman?" they cried, and he, consenting,
-they all took up their arms again and followed him back to the
-Colonel's house.
-
-Barboza listened attentively to what was said and replied that our
-demands were just. The captives and cattle, he said, had been placed
-in charge of an officer appointed by the authorities and would be sold
-publicly in a few days. Let them now return to the fort and give up
-their arms, and leave Valerio with him to assist in drawing up a formal
-demand for their share of the spoil.
-
-We then retired once more, giving _vivas_ to our Colonel. But no sooner
-had we given up our arms at the fort than we were sharply ordered to
-saddle our horses and take our departure. I rode out with the others,
-but seeing that Valerio did not overtake us I went back to look for him.
-
-This was what had happened. Left alone in his enemy's hands, Barboza
-had his arms taken from him, then ordered his men to carry him out
-to the patio and flay him alive. The men hesitated to obey so cruel a
-command, and this gave Valerio time to speak; "My Colonel," he said,
-"you put a hard task on these poor men, and my hide when taken will be
-of no value to you or to them. Bid them lance me or draw a knife across
-my throat, and I will laud your clemency."
-
-"You shall not lose your hide nor die," returned the Colonel, "for I
-admire your courage. Take him, boys, and stake him out, and give him
-two hundred lashes; then throw him into the road so that it may be
-known that his rebellious conduct has been punished."
-
-This order was obeyed, and out upon the road he was thrown. A
-compassionate storekeeper belonging to the place saw him lying there
-insensible, the carrion-hawks attracted by his naked bleeding body
-hovering about him; and this good man took him and was ministering
-to him when I found him. He was lying, face down, on a pile of rugs,
-racked with pains, and all night long his sufferings were terrible;
-nevertheless, when morning came, he insisted on setting out at once on
-our journey to Chascomus. When his pain was greatest and caused him
-to cry out, the cry, when he saw my face, would turn to a laugh. "You
-are too tender hearted for this world we live in," he would say. "Think
-nothing of this, Nicandro. I have tasted man's justice and mercy before
-now. Let us talk of pleasanter things. Do you know that it is the first
-of September to-day? Spring has come back, though we hardly notice it
-yet in this cold southern country. It has been winter, winter with
-us, and no warmth of sun or fire, and no flowers and no birds' song.
-But our faces are towards the north now; in a few days we shall sit
-again in the shade of the old ombú, all our toil and suffering over,
-to listen to the mangangá humming among the leaves and to the call of
-the yellow ventevéo. And better than all, little Bruno will come to us
-with his hands full of scarlet verbenas. Perhaps in a few years' time
-you, too, will be a father, Nicandro, and will know what it is to hear
-a child's prattle. Come, we have rested long enough, and have many
-leagues to ride!"
-
-The leagues were sixty by the road, but something was gained by leaving
-it, and it was easier for Valerio when the horses trod on the turf.
-To gallop or to trot was impossible, and even walking I had to keep
-at his side to support him with my arm; for his back was all one
-ever-bleeding wound, and his hands were powerless, and all his joints
-swollen and inflamed as a result of his having been stretched out on
-the stakes. Five days we travelled, and day by day and night by night
-he grew feebler, but he would not rest; so long as the light lasted he
-would be on the road; and as we slowly pressed on, I supporting him, he
-would groan with pain and then laugh and begin to talk of the journey's
-end and of the joy of seeing wife and child again.
-
-It was afternoon on the fifth day when we arrived. The sight of the
-ombú which we had had for hours before us, strongly excited him; he
-begged me, almost with tears, to urge the horses to a gallop, but it
-would have killed him, and I would not do it.
-
-No person saw our approach, but the door stood open, and when we had
-walked our horses to within about twenty yards we heard Bruno's voice
-prattling to his mother. Then suddenly Valerio slipped from the saddle
-before I could jump down to assist him, and staggered on for a few
-paces towards the door. Running to his side I heard his cry--"Donata!
-Bruno! let my eyes see you! one kiss!" Only then his wife heard, and
-running out to us, saw him sink, and with one last gasp expire in my
-arms.
-
-Strange and terrible scenes have I witnessed, but never a sadder one
-than this! Tell me, señor, are these things told in books,--does the
-world know them?
-
-Valerio was dead. He who was so brave, so generous even in his poverty,
-of so noble a spirit, yet so gentle; whose words were sweeter than
-honey to me! Of what his loss was to others--to that poor woman who was
-the mother of his one child, his little Bruno--I speak not. There are
-things about which we must be silent, or say only, turning our eyes up,
-Has He forgotten us! Does He know? But to me the loss was greater than
-all losses: for he was my friend, the man I loved above all men, who
-was more to me than any other, even than Santos Ugarte, whose face I
-should see no more.
-
-For he, too, was dead.
-
-And now I have once more mentioned the name of that man, who was once
-so great in this district, let me, before proceeding with the history
-of El Ombú, tell you his end. I heard of it by chance long after he
-had been placed under the ground.
-
-It was the old man's custom in that house, on the other side of the
-Rio de la Plata where he was obliged to live, to go down every day to
-the waterside. Long hours would he spend there, sitting on the rocks,
-always with his face towards Buenos Ayres. He was waiting, waiting for
-the pardon which would, perhaps, in God's good time, come to him from
-that forgetful place. He was thinking of El Ombú; for what was life to
-him away from it, in that strange country? And that unsatisfied desire,
-and perhaps remorse, had, they say, made his face terrible to look at,
-for it was like the face of a dead man who had died with wide-open eyes.
-
-One day some boatmen on the beach noticed that he was seated on the
-rocks far out and that when the tide rose he made no movement to escape
-from the water. They saw him sitting waist-deep in the sea, and when
-they rescued him from his perilous position and brought him to the
-shore, he stared at them like a great white owl and talked in a strange
-way.
-
-"It is very cold and very dark," he said, "and I cannot see your faces,
-but perhaps you know me. I am Santos Ugarte, of El Ombú. I have had
-a great misfortune, friends. To-day in my anger I killed a poor youth
-whom I loved like a son--my poor boy Meliton! Why did he despise my
-warning and put himself in my way! But I will say no more about that.
-After killing him I rode away with the intention of going to Buenos
-Ayres, but on the road I repented of my deed and turned back. I said
-that with my own hands I would take him up and carry him in, and call
-my neighbours together to watch with me by his poor body. But, Sirs,
-the night overtook me and the Sanborombón is swollen with rains, as you
-no doubt know, and in swimming it I lost my horse. I do not know if he
-was drowned. Let me have a fresh horse, friends, and show me the way to
-El Ombú, and God will reward you."
-
-In that delusion he remained till the end, a few days later, when he
-died. May his soul rest in peace!
-
-
-VI.
-
-Señor, when I am here and remember these things, I sometimes say to
-myself: Why, old man, do you come to this tree to sit for an hour in
-the shade, since there is not on all these plains a sadder or more
-bitter place? My answer is, To one who has lived long, there is no
-house and no spot of ground, overgrown with grass and weeds, where a
-house once stood and where men have lived, that is not equally sad. For
-this sadness is in us, in a memory of other days which follows us into
-all places. But for the child there is no past: he is born into the
-world light hearted like a bird; for him gladness is everywhere.
-
-That is how it was with little Bruno, too young to feel the loss of a
-father or to remember him long. It was her great love of this child
-which enabled Donata to live through so terrible a calamity. She never
-quitted El Ombú. An embargo had been placed on the estancia so that it
-could not be sold, and she was not disturbed in her possession of the
-house. She now shared it with an old married couple, who, being poor
-and having a few animals, were glad of a place to live in rent free.
-The man, whose name was Pascual, took care of Donata's flock and the
-few cows and horses she owned along with his own. He was a simple,
-good-tempered old man, whose only fault was indolence, and a love of
-the bottle, and of play. But that mattered little, for when he gambled
-he invariably lost, through not being sober, so that when he had any
-money it was quickly gone.
-
-Old Pascual first put Bruno on a horse and taught him to ride after the
-flock, and to do a hundred things. The boy was like his father, of a
-beautiful countenance, with black curling hair, and eyes as lively as
-a bird's. It was not strange that Donata loved him as no mother ever
-loved a son, but as he grew up a perpetual anxiety was in her heart
-lest he should hear the story of his father's death and the cause of
-it. For she was wise in this; she knew that the most dangerous of all
-passions is that of revenge, since when it enters into the heart all
-others, good or bad, are driven out, and all ties and interests and all
-the words that can be uttered are powerless to restrain a man; and the
-end is ruin. Many times she spoke of this to me, begging me with tears
-never to speak of my dead friend to Bruno, lest he should discover the
-truth, and that fatal rage should enter into his heart.
-
-It had been Donata's custom, every day since Valerio's death, to take
-a pitcher of water, fresh from the well, and pour it out on the ground,
-on the spot where he had sunk down and expired, without that sight of
-wife and child, that one kiss, for which he had cried. Who can say what
-caused her to do such a thing? A great grief is like a delirium, and
-sometimes gives us strange thoughts, and makes us act like demented
-persons. It may have been because of the appearance of the dead face
-as she first saw it, dry and white as ashes, the baked black lips, the
-look of thirst that would give everything for a drink of cold water;
-and that which she had done in the days of anguish, of delirium, she
-had continued to do.
-
-The spot where the water was poured each day being but a few yards
-from the door of the house was of a dryness and hardness of fire-baked
-bricks, trodden hard by the feet of I know not how many generations of
-men, and by hoofs of horses ridden every day to the door. But after a
-long time of watering a little green began to appear in the one spot;
-and the green was of a creeping plant with small round malva-like
-leaves, and little white flowers like porcelain shirt buttons. It
-spread and thickened, and was like a soft green carpet about two yards
-long placed on that dry ground, and it was of an emerald greenness all
-the year round, even in the hot weather when the grass was dead and dry
-and the plains were in colour like a faded yellow rag.
-
-When Bruno was a boy of fourteen I went one day to help him in making
-a sheepfold, and when our work was finished in the afternoon we went
-to the house to sip maté. Before going in, on coming to that green
-patch, Bruno cried out, "Have you ever seen so verdant a spot as this,
-Nicandro, so soft and cool a spot to lie down on when one is hot and
-tired?" He then threw himself down full length upon it, and, lying
-at ease on his back, he looked up at Donata, who come out to us, and
-spoke laughingly, "Ah, little mother of my soul! A thousand times have
-I asked you why you poured water every day on this spot and you would
-not tell me. Now I have found out. It was all to make me a soft cool
-spot to lie on when I come back tired and hot from work. Look! is it
-not like a soft bed with a green and white velvet coverlid; bring water
-now, mother mine, and pour it on my hot, dusty face."
-
-She laughed, too, poor woman, but I could see the tears in her
-eyes--the tears which she was always so careful to hide from him.
-
-All this I remember as if it had happened yesterday; I can see and
-hear it all--Donata's laugh and the tears in her eyes which Bruno
-could not see. I remember it so well because this was almost the last
-time I saw her before I was compelled to go away, for my absence was
-long. But before I speak of that change let me tell you of something
-that happened about two years before at El Ombú, which brought a new
-happiness into that poor widow's life.
-
-It happened that among those that had no right to be on the land, but
-came and settled there because there was no one to forbid them, there
-was a man named Sanchez, who had built himself a small rancho about
-half a league from the old house, and kept a flock of sheep. He was
-a widower with one child, a little girl named Monica. This Sanchez,
-although poor, was not a good man, and had no tenderness in his heart.
-He was a gambler, always away from his rancho, leaving the flock to be
-taken care of by poor little Monica. In winter it was cruel, for then
-the sheep travel most, and most of all on cold, rough days; and she
-without a dog to help her, barefooted on the thistle-grown land, often
-in terror at the sight of cattle, would be compelled to spend the whole
-day out of doors. More than once on a winter evening in bad weather I
-have found her trying to drive the sheep home in the face of the rain,
-crying with misery. It hurt me all the more because she had a pretty
-face: no person could fail to see its beauty, though she was in rags
-and her black hair in a tangle, like the mane of a horse that has been
-feeding among the burrs. At such times I have taken her up on my saddle
-and driven her flock home for her, and have said to myself: "Poor lamb
-without a mother, if you were mine I would seat you on the horns of the
-moon; but, unhappy one! he whom you call father is without compassion."
-
-At length, Sanchez, finding himself without money, just when strangers
-from all places were coming to Chascomus to witness a great race and
-anxious not to lose this chance of large winnings, sold his sheep,
-having nothing of more value to dispose of. But instead of winning he
-lost, and then leaving Monica in a neighbour's house he went away,
-promising to return for her in a few days. But he did not return, and
-it was believed by everybody that he had abandoned the child.
-
-It was then that Donata offered to take her and be a mother to the
-orphan, and I can say, señor, that the poor child's own mother, who
-was dead, could not have treated her more tenderly or loved her more.
-And the pretty one had now been Donata's little daughter and Bruno's
-playmate two years when I was called away, and I saw them not again and
-heard no tidings of them for a space of five years--the five longest
-years of my life.
-
-
-VII.
-
-I went away because men were wanted for the army, and I was taken.
-I was away, I have said, five years, and the five would have been
-ten, and the ten twenty, supposing that life had lasted, but for a
-lance wound in my thigh, which made me a lame man for the rest of my
-life. That was the reason of my discharge and happy escape from that
-purgatory. Once back in these plains where I first saw heaven's light,
-I said in my heart: I can no longer spring light as a bird on to the
-back of an unbroken animal and laugh at his efforts to shake me off;
-nor can I throw a lasso on a running horse or bull and digging my heel
-in the ground, pit my strength against his; nor can I ever be what I
-have been in any work or game on horseback or on foot; nevertheless,
-this lameness, and all I have lost through it, is a small price to pay
-for my deliverance.
-
-But this is not the history of my life; let me remember that I speak
-only of those who have lived at El Ombú in my time, in the old house
-which no longer exists.
-
-There had been no changes when I returned, except that those five
-years had made Bruno almost a man, and more than ever like his father,
-except that he never had that I-know-not-what something to love in the
-eyes which made Valerio different from all men. Donata was the same,
-but older. Grey hair had come to her in her affliction; now her hair
-which should have been black was all white--but she was more at peace,
-for Bruno was good to her, and as a widow's only son, was exempt from
-military service. There was something else to make her happy. Those
-two, who were everything to her, could not grow up under one roof and
-not love; now she could look with confidence to a union between them,
-and there would be no separation. But even so, that old fear she had so
-often spoken of to me in former days was never absent from her heart.
-
-Bruno was now away most of the time, working as a cattle drover,
-his ambition being, Donata informed me, to make money so as to buy
-everything needed for the house.
-
-I had been back, living in that poor rancho, half a league from El
-Ombú, where I first saw the light, for the best part of a year, when
-Bruno, who had been away with his employer buying cattle in the south,
-one day appeared at my place. He had not been to El Ombú, and was
-silent and strange in his manner, and when we were alone together I
-said to him: "What has happened to you, Bruno, that you have the face
-of a stranger and speak in an unaccustomed tone to your friend?"
-
-He answered: "Because you, Nicandro, have treated me like a child,
-concealing from me that which you ought to have told me long ago,
-instead of leaving me to learn it by accident from a stranger."
-
-"It has come," I said to myself, for I knew what he meant: then I spoke
-of his mother.
-
-"Ah, yes," he said with bitterness, "I know now why she pours water
-fresh from the well every day on that spot of ground near the door. Do
-you, Nicandro, think that water will ever wash away that old stain and
-memory? A man who is a man, must in such a thing obey, not a mother's
-wish, nor any woman, but that something which speaks in his heart."
-
-"Let no such thought dwell in you to make you mad," I replied. "Look,
-Bruno, my friend's son and my friend, leave it to God who is above us,
-and who considers and remembers all evil deeds that men do, and desires
-not that anyone should take the sword out of his hand."
-
-"Who is he--this God you talk of?" he answered. "Have you seen or
-spoken with him that you tell me what his mind is in this matter? I
-have only this voice to tell me how a man should act in such a case,"
-and he smote his breast; then overcome with a passion of grief he
-covered his face with his hands and wept.
-
-Vainly I begged him not to lose himself, telling him what the effect of
-his attempt, whether he succeeded or failed, would be on Donata and
-on Monica--it would break those poor women's hearts. I spoke, too, of
-things I had witnessed in my five years' service; the cruel sentences
-from which there was no appeal, the torments, the horrible deaths so
-often inflicted. For these evils there was no remedy on earth: and
-he, a poor, ignorant boy, what would he do but dash himself to pieces
-against that tower of brass!
-
-He replied that within that brazen tower there was a heart full of
-blood; and with that he went away, only asking me as a favour not to
-tell his mother of this visit to me.
-
-Some ten days later she had a message from him, brought from the
-capitol by a traveller going to the south. Bruno sent word that he was
-going to Las Mulitas, a place fifty leagues west of Buenos Ayres, to
-work on an estancia there, and would be absent some months.
-
-Why had he gone thither? Because he had heard that General Barboza--for
-that man was now a General--owned a tract of land at that place, which
-the Government had given him as a reward for his services on the
-southern frontier; and that he had recently returned from the northern
-provinces to Buenos Ayres and was now staying at this estancia at Las
-Mulitas.
-
-Donata knew nothing of his secret motives, but his absence filled her
-with anxiety; and when at length she fell ill I resolved to go in
-search of the poor youth and try to persuade him to return to El Ombú.
-But at Las Mulitas I heard that he was no longer there. All strangers
-had been taken for the army in the frontier department, and Bruno, in
-spite of his passport, had been forced to go.
-
-When I returned to El Ombú with this sad news Donata resolved at once
-to go to the capitol and try to obtain his release. She was ill, and it
-was a long journey for her to perform on horseback, but she had friends
-to go with and take care of her. In the end she succeeded in seeing the
-President, and throwing herself on her knees before him, and with tears
-in her eyes, implored him to let her have her son back.
-
-He listened to her, and gave her a paper to take to the War Office.
-There it was found that Bruno had been sent to El Rosario, and an order
-was despatched for his immediate release. But when the order reached
-its destination the unhappy boy had deserted.
-
-That was the last that Donata ever heard of her son. She guessed why he
-had gone, and knew as well as if I had told her that he had found out
-the secret so long hidden from him. Still, being his mother, she would
-not abandon hope; she struggled to live. Never did I come into her
-presence but I saw in her face a question which she dared not put in
-words. If, it said, you have heard, if you know, when and how his life
-ended, tell me now before I go. But it also said, If you know, do not
-tell me so that I and Monica may go on hoping together to the end.
-
-"I know, Nicandro," she would say. "That if Bruno returns he will not
-be the same--the son I have lost. For in that one thing he is not
-like his father. Could another be like Valerio? No misfortune and no
-injustice could change that heart, or turn his sweetness sour. In
-that freshness and gaiety of temper he was like a child, and Bruno as
-a child was like him. My son! my son! where are you? God of my soul,
-grant that he may yet come to me, though his life be now darkened with
-some terrible passion--though his poor hands be stained with blood, so
-that my eyes may see him again before I go!"
-
-But he came not, and she died without seeing him.
-
-
-VIII.
-
-If Monica, left alone in the house with old Pascual and his wife, had
-been disposed to listen to those who were attracted by her face she
-might have found a protector worthy of her. There were men of substance
-among those who came for her. But it mattered nothing to her whether
-they had land and cattle or not, or what their appearance was, and
-how they were dressed. Her's was a faithful heart. And she looked for
-Bruno's return, not with that poor half-despairing hope which had
-been Donata's, and had failed to keep her alive, but with a hope that
-sustained and made her able to support the months and years of waiting.
-She looked for his coming as the night-watcher for the dawn. On summer
-afternoons, when the heat of the day was over, she would take her
-sewing outside the gate and sit there by the hour, where her sight
-commanded the road to the north. From that side he would certainly
-come. On dark, rainy nights a lantern would be hung on the wall lest
-he, coming at a late hour, should miss the house in the dark. Glad,
-she was not, nor lively; she was pale and thin, and those dark eyes
-that looked too large because of her thinness were the eyes of one who
-had beheld grief. But with it all, there was a serenity, an air of one
-whose tears, held back, would all be shed at the proper time, when he
-returned. And he would, perhaps, come to-day, or, if not to-day, then
-to-morrow, or perhaps the day after, as God willed.
-
-Nearly three years had passed by since Donata's death when, one
-afternoon, I rode to El Ombú, and on approaching the house spied
-a saddled horse, which had got loose going away at a trot. I went
-after, and caught, and led it back, and then saw that its owner was a
-traveller, an old soldier, who with or without the permission of the
-people of the house, was lying down and asleep in the shade of the ombú.
-
-There had lately been a battle in the northern part of the province,
-and the defeated force had broken up, and the men carrying their arms
-had scattered themselves all over the country. This veteran was one of
-them.
-
-He did not wake when I led the horse up and shouted to him. He was
-a man about fifty to sixty years old, grey-haired, with many scars
-of sword and lance wounds on his sun-blackened face and hands. His
-carbine was leaning against the tree a yard or two away, but he had not
-unbuckled his sword, and what now attracted my attention as I sat on
-my horse regarding him, was the way in which he clutched the hilt and
-shook the weapon until it rattled in its scabbard. His was an agitated
-sleep; the sweat stood in big drops on his face, he ground his teeth
-and moaned, and muttered words which I could not catch.
-
-At length, dismounting, I called to him again, then shouted in his ear,
-and finally shook him by the shoulder. Then he woke with a start, and
-struggling up to a sitting position, and staring at me one like one
-demented, he exclaimed, "What has happened?"
-
-When I told him about his horse he was silent, and sitting there with
-eyes cast down, passed his hand repeatedly across his forehead. Never
-in any man's face had I seen misery compared to his. "Pardon me,
-friend," he spoke at last. "My ears were so full of sounds you do not
-hear that I paid little attention to what you were saying."
-
-"Perhaps the great heat of the day has overcome you," I said; "Or maybe
-you are suffering from some malady caused by an old wound received in
-fight."
-
-"Yes, an incurable malady," he returned, gloomily. "Have you, friend,
-been in the army?"
-
-"Five years had I served when a wound which made me lame for life
-delivered me from that hell."
-
-"I have served thirty," he returned, "Perhaps more. I know that I was
-very young when I was taken, and I remember that a woman I called
-mother wept to see me go. That any eyes should have shed tears for me!
-Shall I now in that place in the South where I was born find one who
-remembers my name? I look not for it! I have no one but this"--and here
-he touched his sword.
-
-After an interval, he continued, "We say, friend, that in the army
-we can do no wrong, since all responsibility rests with those who
-are over us; that our most cruel and sanguinary deeds are no more
-a sin or crime than is the shedding of the blood of cattle, or of
-Indians who are not Christians, and are therefore of no more account
-than cattle in God's sight. We say, too, that once we have become
-accustomed to kill, not men only, but even those who are powerless to
-defend themselves--the weak and the innocent--we think nothing of it,
-and have no compunction nor remorse. If this be so, why does He, the
-One who is above, torment me before my time? Is it just? Listen: no
-sooner do I close my eyes than sleep brings to me that most terrible
-experience a man can have--to be in the midst of a conflict and
-powerless. The bugles call: there is a movement everywhere of masses
-of men, foot and horse, and every face has on it the look of one who
-is doomed. There is a murmur of talking all round me, the officers are
-shouting and waving their swords; I strive in vain to catch the word
-of command; I do not know what is happening; it is all confusion, a
-gloom of smoke and dust, a roar of guns, a great noise and shouting of
-the enemy charging through us. And I am helpless. I wake, and slowly
-the noise and terrible scene fade from my mind, only to return when
-sleep again overcomes me. What repose, what refreshment can I know!
-Sleep, they say, is a friend to everyone, and makes all equal, the rich
-and the poor, the guilty and the innocent; they say, too, that this
-forgetfulness is like a draught of cold water to the thirsty man. But
-what shall I say of sleep? Often with this blade would I have delivered
-myself from its torture but for the fear that there may be after death
-something even worse than this dream."
-
-After an interval of silence, seeing that he had recovered from his
-agitation, I invited him to go with me to the house. "I see smoke
-issuing from the kitchen," I said, "let us go in so that you may
-refresh yourself with maté before resuming your journey."
-
-We went in and found the old people boiling the kettle; and in a little
-while Monica came in and sat with us. Never did she greet one without
-that light which was like sunshine in her dark eyes; words were not
-needed to tell me of the gratitude and friendliness she felt toward me,
-for she was not one to forget the past. I remember that she looked well
-that day in her white dress with a red flower. Had not Bruno said that
-he liked to see her in white, and that a flower on her bosom or in her
-hair was an ornament that gave her most grace? And Bruno might arrive
-at any moment. But the sight of that grey-haired veteran in his soiled
-and frayed uniform, and with his clanking sword and his dark scarred
-face, greatly disturbed her. I noticed that she grew paler and could
-scarcely keep her eyes off his face while he talked.
-
-While sipping his maté he told us of fights he had been in, of long
-marches and sufferings in desert places, and of some of the former men
-he had served under. Among them he, by chance, named General Barboza.
-
-Monica, I knew, had never heard of that man, and on this account I
-feared not to speak of him. It had, I said, been reported, I knew not
-whether truthfully or not, that Barboza was dead.
-
-"On that point I can satisfy you," he returned, "since I was serving
-with him, when his life came to an end in the province of San Luis
-about two years ago. He was at the head of nineteen hundred men when it
-happened, and the whole force was filled with amazement at the event.
-Not that they regretted his loss; on the contrary, his own followers
-feared, and were glad to be delivered from him. He exceeded most
-commanders in ferocity, and was accustomed to say scoffingly to his
-prisoners that he would not have gunpowder wasted on them. That was
-not a thing to complain of, but he was capable of treating his own
-men as he treated a spy or a prisoner of war. Many a one have I seen
-put to death with a blunted knife, he, Barboza, looking on, smoking a
-cigarette. It was the manner of his death that startled us for never
-had man been seen to perish in such a way.
-
-"It happened on this march, about a month before the end, that a
-soldier named Bracamonte went one day at noon to deliver a letter from
-his captain to the General. Barboza was sitting in his shirt sleeves in
-his tent when the letter was handed to him, but just when he put out
-his hand to take it the man made an attempt to stab him. The General
-throwing himself back escaped the blow, then instantly sprang like a
-tiger upon his assailant, and seizing him by the wrist, wrenched the
-weapon out of his hand only to strike it quick as lightening into the
-poor fool's throat. No sooner was he down than the General bending
-over him, before drawing out the weapon, called to those who had run
-to his assistance to get him a tumbler. When, tumbler in hand, he
-lifted himself up and looked upon them, they say that his face was of
-the whiteness of iron made white in the furnace, and that his eyes were
-like two flames. He was mad with rage, and cried out with a loud voice,
-"Thus, in the presence of the army do I serve the wretch who thought to
-shed my blood!" Then with a furious gesture he threw down and shattered
-the reddened glass, and bade them take the dead man outside the camp
-and leave him stripped to the vultures.
-
-"This ended the episode, but from that day it was noticed by those
-about him that a change had come over the General. If, friend you have
-served with, or have even seen him, you know the man he was--tall and
-well-formed, blue eyed and fair, like an Englishman, endowed with a
-strength, endurance and resolution that was a wonder to every one: he
-was like an eagle among birds,--that great bird that has no weakness
-and no mercy, whose cry fills all creatures with dismay, whose pleasure
-it is to tear his victim's flesh with his crooked talons. But now
-some secret malady had fallen on him which took away all his mighty
-strength; the colour of his face changed to sickly paleness, and he
-bent forward and swayed this way and that in the saddle as he rode like
-a drunken man, and this strange weakness increased day by day. It was
-said in the army that the blood of the man he had killed had poisoned
-him. The doctors who accompanied us in this march could not cure him,
-and their failure so angered him against them that they began to fear
-for their own safety. They now said that he could not be properly
-treated in camp, but must withdraw to some town where a different
-system could be followed; but this he refused to do.
-
-"Now it happened that we had an old soldier with us who was a
-curandero. He was a native of Santa Fé, and was famed for his cures in
-his own department; but having had the misfortune to kill a man, he
-was arrested and condemned to serve ten years in the army. This person
-now informed some of the officers that he would undertake to cure the
-General, and Barboza, hearing of it, sent for and questioned him. The
-curandero informed him that his malady was one which the doctors could
-not cure. It was a failure of a natural heat of the blood, and only by
-means of animal heat, not by drugs, could health be recovered. In such
-a grave case the usual remedy of putting the feet and legs in the body
-of some living animal opened for the purpose would not be sufficient.
-Some very large beast should be procured and the patient placed bodily
-in it.
-
-"The General agreed to submit himself to this treatment; the doctors
-dared not interfere, and men were sent out in quest of a large animal.
-We were then encamped on a wide sandy plain in San Luis, and as we
-were without tents we were suffering much from the great heat and the
-dust-laden winds. But at this spot the General had grown worse, so that
-he could no longer sit on his horse, and here we had to wait for his
-improvement.
-
-"In due time a very big bull was brought in and fastened to a stake in
-the middle of the camp. A space, fifty or sixty yards round, was marked
-out and roped round, and ponchos hung on the rope to form a curtain so
-that what was being done should not be witnessed by the army. But a
-great curiosity and anxiety took possession of the entire force, and
-when the bull was thrown down and his agonizing bellowings were heard,
-from all sides officers and men began to move toward that fatal spot.
-It had been noised about that the cure would be almost instantaneous,
-and many were prepared to greet the reappearance of the General with a
-loud cheer.
-
-"Then very suddenly, almost before the bellowings had ceased, shrieks
-were heard from the enclosure, and in a moment, while we all stood
-staring and wondering, out rushed the General, stark naked, reddened
-with that bath of warm blood he had been in, a sword which he had
-hastily snatched up in his hand. Leaping over the barrier, he stood
-still for an instant, then catching sight of the great mass of men
-before him he flew at them, yelling and whirling his sword round so
-that it looked like a shining wheel in the sun. The men seeing that he
-was raving mad fled before him, and for a space of a hundred yards or
-more he pursued them; then that superhuman energy was ended; the sword
-flew from his hand, he staggered, and fell prostrate on the earth. For
-some minutes no one ventured to approach him, but he never stirred, and
-at length, when examined, was found to be dead."
-
-The soldier had finished his story, and though I had many questions to
-ask I asked none, for I saw Monica's distress, and that she had gone
-white even to the lips at the terrible things the man had related. But
-now he had ended, and would soon depart, for the sun was getting low.
-
-He rolled up and lighted a cigarette, and was about to rise from the
-bench, when he said, "One thing I forgot to mention about the soldier
-Bracamonte, who attempted to assassinate the General. After he had been
-carried out and stripped for the vultures, a paper was found sewn up
-in the lining of his tunic, which proved to be his passport, for it
-contained his right description. It said that he was a native of this
-department of Chascomus, so that you may have heard of him. His name
-was Bruno de la Cueva."
-
-Would that he had not spoken those last words! Never, though I live
-to be a hundred, shall I forget that terrible scream that came from
-Monica's lips before she fell senseless to the floor!
-
-As I raised her in my arms, the soldier turned and said, "She is
-subject to fits?"
-
-"No," I replied, "that Bruno, of whose death we have now heard for the
-first time, was of this house."
-
-"It was destiny that led me to this place," he said, "or perhaps that
-God who is ever against me; but you, friend, are my witness that I
-crossed not this threshold with a drawn weapon in my hand." And with
-these words he took his departure, and from that day to this I have
-never again beheld his face.
-
-She opened her eyes at last, but the wings of my heart drooped when I
-saw them, since it was easy to see that she had lost her reason; but
-whether that calamity or the grief she would have known is greatest who
-can say? Some have died of pure grief--did it not kill Donata in the
-end?--but the crazed may live many years. We sometimes think it would
-be better if they were dead; but not in all cases--not, señor, in this.
-
-She lived on here with the old people, for from the first she was quiet
-and docile as a child. Finally an order came from a person in authority
-at Chascomus for those who were in the house to quit it. It was going
-to be pulled down for the sake of the material which was required for a
-building in the village. Pascual died about that time, and the widow,
-now old and infirm, went to live with some poor relations at Chascomus
-and took Monica with her. When the old woman died Monica remained with
-these people: she lives with them to this day. But she is free to come
-and go at will, and is known to all in the village as _la loca del
-Ombú_. They are kind to her, for her story is known to them, and God
-has put compassion in their hearts.
-
-To see her you would hardly believe that she is the Monica I have told
-you of, whom I knew as a little one, running bare-footed after her
-father's flock. For she has grey hairs and wrinkles now. As you ride
-to Chascomus from this point you will see, on approaching the lake,
-a very high bank on your left hand, covered with a growth of tall
-fennel, hoarhound, and cardoon thistle. There on most days you will
-find her, sitting on the bank in the shade of the tall fennel bushes,
-looking across the water. She watches for the flamingoes. There are
-many of those great birds on the lake, and they go in flocks, and when
-they rise and travel across the water, flying low, their scarlet wings
-may be seen at a great distance. And every time she catches sight of
-a flock moving like a red line across the lake she cries out with
-delight. That is her one happiness--her life. And she is the last of
-all those who have lived in my time at El Ombú.
-
-
-
-
-STORY OF A PIEBALD HORSE.
-
-
-This is all about a piebald. People there are like birds that come down
-in flocks, hop about chattering, gobble up their seed, then fly away,
-forgetting what they have swallowed. I love not to scatter grain for
-such as these. With you, friend, it is different. Others may laugh if
-they like at the old man of many stories, who puts all things into his
-copper memory. I can laugh, too, knowing that all things are ordered by
-destiny; otherwise I might sit down and cry.
-
-The things I have seen! There was the piebald that died long ago; I
-could take you to the very spot where his bones used to lie bleaching
-in the sun. There is a nettle growing on the spot. I saw it yesterday.
-What important things are these to remember and talk about! Bones of a
-dead horse and a nettle; a young bird that falls from its nest in the
-night and is found dead in the morning: puffballs blown about by the
-wind: a little lamb left behind by the flock bleating at night amongst
-the thorns and thistles, where only the fox or wild dog can hear it!
-Small matters are these, and our lives, what are they? And the people
-we have known, the men and women who have spoken to us and touched us
-with warm hands--the bright eyes and red lips! Can we cast these things
-like dead leaves on the fire? Can we lie down full of heaviness because
-of them, and sleep and rise in the morning without them? Ah, friend!
-
-Let us to the story of the piebald. There was a cattle-marking at
-neighbour Sotelo's estancia, and out of a herd of three thousand head
-we had to part all the yearlings to be branded. After that, dinner
-and a dance. At sunrise we gathered, about thirty of us; all friends
-and neighbours, to do the work. Only with us came one person nobody
-knew. He joined us when we were on our way to the cattle; a young man,
-slender, well-formed, of pleasing countenance and dressed as few could
-dress in those days. His horse also shone with silver trappings. And
-what an animal! Many horses have I seen in this life, but never one
-with such a presence as this young stranger's piebald.
-
-Arrived at the herd, we began to separate the young animals, the men
-riding in couples through the cattle, so that each calf when singled
-out could be driven by two horsemen, one on each side, to prevent it
-from doubling back. I happened to be mounted on a demon with a fiery
-mouth--there was no making him work, so I had to leave the parters and
-stand with little to do, watching the yearlings already parted, to keep
-them from returning to the herd.
-
-Presently neighbour Chapaco rode up to me. He was a good-hearted man,
-well-spoken, half Indian and half Christian; but he also had another
-half, and that was devil.
-
-"What! neighbour Lucero, are you riding on a donkey or a goat, that you
-remain here doing boy's work?"
-
-I began telling him about my horse, but he did not listen; he was
-looking at the parters.
-
-"Who is that young stranger?" he asked.
-
-"I see him to-day," I replied, "and if I see him again to-morrow then I
-shall have seen him twice."
-
-"And in what country of which I have never heard did he learn
-cattle-parting?" said he.
-
-"He rides," I answered, "like one presuming on a good horse. But he is
-safe, his fellow-worker has all the danger."
-
-"I believe you," said Chapaco. "He charges furiously and hurls the
-heifer before his comrade, who has all the work to keep it from
-doubling, and all the danger, for at any moment his horse may go over
-it and fall. This our young stranger does knowingly, thinking that no
-one here will resent it. No, Lucero, he is presuming more on his long
-knife than on his good horse."
-
-Even while we spoke, the two we were watching rode up to us. Chapaco
-saluted the young man, taking off his hat, and said--"Will you take me
-for a partner, friend?"
-
-"Yes; why not, friend?" returned the other; and together the two rode
-back to the herd.
-
-Now I shall watch them, said I to myself, to see what this Indian
-devil intends doing. Soon they came out of the herd driving a very
-small animal. Then I knew what was coming. "May your guardian angel be
-with you to avert a calamity, young stranger!" I exclaimed. Whip and
-spur those two came towards me like men riding a race and not parting
-cattle. Chapaco kept close to the calf, so that he had the advantage,
-for his horse was well trained. At length he got a little ahead, then,
-quick as lightning, he forced the calf round square before the other.
-The piebald struck it full in the middle, and fell because it had to
-fall. But, Saints in Heaven! why did not the rider save himself? Those
-who were watching saw him throw up his feet to tread his horse's neck
-and leap away; nevertheless man, horse, and calf, came down together.
-They ploughed the ground for some distance, so great had been their
-speed, and the man was under. When we picked him up he was senseless,
-the blood flowing from his mouth. Next morning, when the sun rose and
-God's light fell on the earth, he expired.
-
-Of course there was no dancing that night. Some of the people, after
-eating, went away; others remained sitting about all night, talking
-in low tones, waiting for the end. A few of us were at his bedside
-watching his white face and closed eyes. He breathed, and that was all.
-When the sunlight came over the world he opened his eyes, and Sotelo
-asked him how he did. He took no notice, but presently his lips began
-to move, though they seemed to utter no sound. Sotelo bent his ear down
-to listen. "Where does she live?" he asked. He could not answer--he was
-dead.
-
-"He seemed to be saying many things," Sotelo told us, "but I understood
-only this--'Tell her to forgive me.... I was wrong. She loved him from
-the first.... I was jealous, and hated him.... Tell Elaria not to
-grieve--Anacleto will be good to her.' Alas! my friends, where shall I
-find his relations to deliver this dying message to them?"
-
-The Alcalde came that day and made a list of the dead man's
-possessions, and bade Sotelo take charge of them till the relations
-could be found. Then, calling all the people together, he bade each
-person cut on his whip-handle and on the sheath of his knife the
-mark branded on the flank of the piebald, which was in shape like
-a horse-shoe with a cross inside, so that it might be shown to all
-strangers, and made known through the country until the dead man's
-relations should hear of it.
-
-When a year had gone by, the Alcalde told Sotelo that, all inquiries
-having failed, he could now take the piebald and the silver trappings
-for himself. Sotelo would not listen to this, for he was a devout man
-and coveted no person's property, dead or alive. The horse and things,
-however, still remained in his charge.
-
-Three years later I was one afternoon sitting with Sotelo, taking maté,
-when his herd of dun mares were driven up. They came galloping and
-neighing to the corral and ahead of them, looking like a wild horse,
-was the piebald, for no person ever mounted him.
-
-"Never do I look on that horse," I remarked, "without remembering the
-fatal marking, when its master met his death."
-
-"Now you speak of it," said he, "let me inform you that I am about
-to try a new plan. That noble piebald and all those silver trappings
-hanging in my room are always reproaching my conscience. Let us not
-forget the young stranger we put under ground. I have had many masses
-said for his soul's repose, but that does not quite satisfy me.
-Somewhere there is a place where he is not forgotten. Hands there are,
-perhaps, that gather wild flowers to place them with lighted candles
-before the image of the Blessed Virgin; eyes there are that weep and
-watch for his coming. You know how many travellers and cattle-drovers
-going to Buenos Ayres from the south call for refreshment at the
-_pulperia_. I intend taking the piebald and tying him every day at the
-gate there. No person calling will fail to notice the horse, and some
-day perhaps some traveller will recognise the brand on its flank and
-will be able to tell us what department and what estancia it comes
-from."
-
-I did not believe anything would result from this, but said nothing,
-not wishing to discourage him.
-
-Next morning the piebald was tied up at the gate of the _pulperia_, at
-the road side, only to be released again when night came, and this was
-repeated every day for a long time. So fine an animal did not fail to
-attract the attention of all strangers passing that way, still several
-weeks went by and nothing was discovered. At length, one evening, just
-when the sun was setting, there appeared a troop of cattle driven by
-eight men. It had come a great distance, for the troop was a large
-one--about nine hundred head--and they moved slowly, like cattle
-that had been many days on the road. Some of the men came in for
-refreshments; then the store-keeper noticed that one remained outside
-leaning on the gate.
-
-"What is the capatas doing that he remains outside?" said one of the
-men.
-
-"Evidently he has fallen in love with that piebald," said another, "for
-he cannot take his eyes off it."
-
-At length the capatas, a young man of good presence, came in and sat
-down on a bench. The others were talking and laughing about the strange
-things they had all been doing the day before; for they had been many
-days and nights on the road, only nodding a little in their saddles,
-and at length becoming delirious from want of sleep, they had begun to
-act like men that are half-crazed.
-
-"Enough of the delusions of yesterday," said the capatas, who had
-been silently listening to them, "but tell me, boys, am I in the same
-condition to-day?"
-
-"Surely not!" they replied. "Thanks to those horned devils being so
-tired and footsore, we all had some sleep last night."
-
-"Very well then," said he, "now you have finished eating and drinking,
-go back to the troop, but before you leave look well at that piebald
-tied at the gate. He that is not a cattle-drover may ask, 'How can
-my eyes deceive me?' but I know that a crazy brain makes us see many
-strange things when the drowsy eyes can only be held open with the
-fingers."
-
-The men did as they were told, and when they had looked well at the
-piebald, they all shouted out, "He has the brand of the estancia de
-Silva on his flank, and no counter-brand--claim the horse, capatas, for
-he is yours." And after that they rode away to the herd.
-
-"My friend," said the capatas to the store-keeper, "will you explain
-how you came possessed of this piebald horse?"
-
-Then the other told him everything, even the dying words of the young
-stranger, for he knew all.
-
-The capatas bent down his head, and covering his face shed tears. Then
-he said, "And you died thus, Torcuato, amongst strangers! From my
-heart I have forgiven you the wrong you did me. Heaven rest your soul,
-Torcuato; I cannot forget that we were once brothers. I, friend, am
-that Anacleto of whom he spoke with his last breath."
-
-Sotelo was then sent for, and when he arrived and the _pulperia_ was
-closed for the night, the capatas told his story, which I will give you
-in his own words, for I was also present to hear him. This is what he
-told us:--
-
-I was born on the southern frontier. My parents died when I was very
-small, but Heaven had compassion on me and raised up one to shelter
-me in my orphanhood. Don Loreto Silva took me to his estancia on the
-Sarandi, a stream half a day's journey from Tandil, towards the setting
-sun. He treated me like one of his own children, and I took the name of
-Silva. He had two other children, Torcuato, who was about the same age
-as myself, and his daughter, Elaria, who was younger. He was a widower
-when he took charge of me, and died when I was still a youth. After
-his death we moved to Tandil, where we had a house close to the little
-town; for we were all minors, and the property had been left to be
-equally divided between us when we should be of age. For four years we
-lived happily together; then when we were of age we preferred to keep
-the property undivided. I proposed that we should go and live on the
-estancia, but Torcuato would not consent, liking the place where we
-were living best. Finally, not being able to persuade him, I resolved
-to go and attend to the estancia myself. He said that I could please
-myself and that he should stay where he was with Elaria. It was only
-when I told Elaria of these things that I knew how much I loved her.
-She wept and implored me not to leave her.
-
-"Why do you shed tears, Elaria?" I said; "is it because you love me?
-Know, then, that I also love you with all my heart, and if you will be
-mine, nothing can ever make us unhappy. Do not think that my absence
-at the estancia will deprive me of this feeling which has ever been
-growing up in me."
-
-"I do love you, Anacleto," she replied, "and I have also known of your
-love for a long time. But there is something in my heart which I cannot
-impart to you; only I ask you, for the love you bear me, do not leave
-me, and do not ask me why I say this to you."
-
-After this appeal I could not leave her, nor did I ask her to tell me
-her secret. Torcuato and I were friendly, but not as we had been before
-this difference. I had no evil thoughts of him; I loved him and was
-with him continually; but from the moment I announced to him that I
-had changed my mind about going to the estancia, and was silent when
-he demanded the reason, there was a something in him which made it
-different between us. I could not open my heart to him about Elaria,
-and sometimes I thought that he also had a secret which he had no
-intention of sharing with me. This coldness did not, however, distress
-me very much, so great was the happiness I now experienced, knowing
-that I possessed Elaria's love. He was much away from the house, being
-fond of amusements, and he had also begun to gamble. About three months
-passed in this way, when one morning Torcuato, who was saddling his
-horse to go out, said, "Will you come with me, to-day, Anacleto?"
-
-"I do not care to go," I answered.
-
-"Look, Anacleto," said he; "once you were always ready to accompany
-me to a race or dance or cattle-marking. Why have you ceased to care
-for these things? Are you growing devout before your time, or does my
-company no longer please you?"
-
-"It is best to tell him everything and have done with secrets," said I
-to myself, and so replied--
-
-"Since you ask me, Torcuato, I will answer you frankly. It is true that
-I now take less pleasure than formerly in these pastimes; but you have
-not guessed the reason rightly."
-
-"What then is this reason of which you speak?"
-
-"Since you cannot guess it," I replied, "know that it is love."
-
-"Love for whom?" he asked quickly, and turning very pale.
-
-"Do you need ask? Elaria," I replied.
-
-I had scarcely uttered the name before he turned on me full of rage.
-
-"Elaria!" he exclaimed. "Do you dare tell me of love for Elaria! But
-you are only a blind fool, and do not know that I am going to marry her
-myself."
-
-"Are you mad, Torcuato, to talk of marrying your sister?"
-
-"She is no more my sister than you are my brother," he returned. "I,"
-he continued, striking his breast passionately, "am the only child of
-my father, Loreto Silva. Elaria, whose mother died in giving her birth,
-was adopted by my parents. And because she is going to be my wife, I
-am willing that she should have a share of the property; but you, a
-miserable foundling, why were you lifted up so high? Was it not enough
-that you were clothed and fed till you came to man's estate? Not a
-hand's-breadth of the estancia land should be yours by right, and now
-you presume to speak of love for Elaria."
-
-My blood was on fire with so many insults, but I remembered all the
-benefits I had received from his father, and did not raise my hand
-against him. Without more words he left me. I then hastened to Elaria
-and told her what had passed.
-
-"This," I said, "is the secret you would not impart to me. Why, when
-you knew these things, was I kept in ignorance?"
-
-"Have pity on me, Anacleto," she replied, crying. "Did I not see that
-you two were no longer friends and brothers, and this without knowing
-of each other's love? I dared not open my lips to you or to him. It is
-always a woman's part to suffer in silence. God intended us to be poor,
-Anacleto, for we were both born of poor parents, and had this property
-never come to us, how happy we might have been!"
-
-"Why do you say such things, Elaria? Since we love each other, we
-cannot be unhappy, rich or poor."
-
-"Is it a little matter," she replied, "that Torcuato must be our bitter
-enemy? But you do not know every thing. Before Torcuato's father died,
-he said he wished his son to marry me when we came of age. When he
-spoke about it we were sitting together by his bed."
-
-"And what did you say, Elaria?" I asked, full of concern.
-
-"Torcuato promised to marry me. I only covered my face, and was silent,
-for I loved you best even then, though I was almost a child, and my
-heart was filled with grief at his words. After we came here, Torcuato
-reminded me of his father's words. I answered that I did not wish to
-marry him, that he was only a brother to me. Then he said that we were
-young and he could wait until I was of another mind. This is all I have
-to say; but how shall we three live together any longer? I cannot bear
-to part from you, and every moment I tremble to think what may happen
-when you two are together."
-
-"Fear nothing," I said. "To-morrow morning you can go to spend a week
-at some friend's house in the town; then I will speak to Torcuato, and
-tell him that since we cannot live in peace together we must separate.
-Even if he answers with insults I shall do nothing to grieve you, and
-if he refuses to listen to me, I shall send some person we both respect
-to arrange all things between us."
-
-This satisfied her, but as evening approached she grew paler, and I
-knew she feared Torcuato's return. He did not, however, come back that
-night. Early next morning she was ready to leave. It was an easy walk
-to the town, but the dew was heavy on the grass, and I saddled a horse
-for her to ride. I had just lifted her to the saddle when Torcuato
-appeared. He came at great speed, and throwing himself off his horse,
-advanced to us. Elaria trembled and seemed ready to sink upon the earth
-to hide herself like a partridge that has seen the hawk. I prepared
-myself for insults and perhaps violence. He never looked at me; he only
-spoke to her.
-
-"Elaria," he said, "something has happened--something that obliges me
-to leave this house and neighbourhood at once. Remember when I am away
-that my father, who cherished you and enriched you with his bounty, and
-who also cherished and enriched this ingrate, spoke to us from his
-dying bed and made me promise to marry you. Think what his love was; do
-not forget that his last wish is sacred, and that Anacleto has acted a
-base, treacherous part in trying to steal you from me. He was lifted
-out of the mire to be my brother and equal in everything except this.
-He has got a third part of my inheritance--let that satisfy him; your
-own heart, Elaria, will tell you that a marriage with him would be a
-crime before God and man. Look not for my return to-morrow nor for many
-days. But if you two begin to laugh at my father's dying wishes, look
-for me, for then I shall not delay to come back to you, Elaria, and to
-you, Anacleto. I have spoken."
-
-He then mounted his horse and rode away. Very soon we learned the cause
-of his sudden departure. He had quarrelled over his cards and in a
-struggle that followed had stabbed his adversary to the heart. He had
-fled to escape the penalty. We did not believe that he would remain
-long absent; for Torcuato was very young, well off, and much liked,
-and this was, moreover, his first offence against the law. But time
-went on and he did not return, nor did any message from him reach us,
-and we at last concluded that he had left the country. Only now after
-four years have I accidentally discovered his fate through seeing his
-piebald horse.
-
-After he had been absent over a year, I asked Elaria to become my wife.
-"We cannot marry till Torcuato returns," she said. "For if we take the
-property that ought to have been all his, and at the same time disobey
-his father's dying wish, we shall be doing an evil thing. Let us take
-care of the property till he returns to receive it all back from us;
-then, Anacleto, we shall be free to marry."
-
-I consented, for she was more to me than lands and cattle. I put
-the estancia in order and leaving a trustworthy person in charge of
-everything I invested my money in fat bullocks to resell in Buenos
-Ayres, and in this business I have been employed ever since. From the
-estancia I have taken nothing, and now it must all come back to us--his
-inheritance and ours. This is a bitter thing and will give Elaria great
-grief.
-
-
-Thus ended Anacleto's story, and when he had finished speaking and
-still seemed greatly troubled in his mind, Sotelo said to him,
-"Friend, let me advise you what to do. You will now shortly be married
-to the woman you love and probably some day a son will be born to you.
-Let him be named Torcuato, and let Torcuato's inheritance be kept
-for him. And if God gives you no son, remember what was done for you
-and for the girl you are going to marry, when you were orphans and
-friendless, and look out for some unhappy child in the same condition,
-to protect and enrich him as you were enriched."
-
-"You have spoken well," said Anacleto. "I will report your words to
-Elaria, and whatever she wishes done that will I do."
-
-
-So ends my story, friend. The cattle-drover left us that night and
-we saw no more of him. Only before going he gave the piebald and the
-silver trappings to Sotelo. Six months after his visit, Sotelo also
-received a letter from him to say that his marriage with Elaria had
-taken place; and the letter was accompanied with a present of seven
-cream-coloured horses with black manes and hoofs.
-
-
-
-
-NIÑO DIABLO.
-
-
-The wide pampa rough with long grass; a vast level disc now growing
-dark, the horizon encircling it with a ring as faultless as that
-made by a pebble dropped into smooth water; above it the clear sky
-of June, wintry and pale, still showing in the west the saffron hues
-of the afterglow tinged with vapoury violet and grey. In the centre
-of the disc a large low rancho thatched with yellow rushes, a few
-stunted trees and cattle enclosures grouped about it; and dimly seen
-in the shadows, cattle and sheep reposing. At the gate stands Gregory
-Gorostiaga, lord of house, lands and ruminating herds, leisurely
-unsaddling his horse; for whatsoever Gregory does is done leisurely.
-Although no person is within earshot he talks much over his task, now
-rebuking his restive animal, and now cursing his benumbed fingers and
-the hard knots in his gear. A curse falls readily and not without a
-certain natural grace from Gregory's lips; it is the oiled feather
-with which he touches every difficult knot encountered in life. From
-time to time he glances towards the open kitchen door, from which issue
-the far-flaring light of the fire and familiar voices, with savoury
-smells of cookery that come to his nostrils like pleasant messengers.
-
-The unsaddling over at last the freed horse gallops away, neighing
-joyfully, to seek his fellows; but Gregory is not a four-footed thing
-to hurry himself; and so, stepping slowly and pausing frequently to
-look about him as if reluctant to quit the cold night air, he turns
-towards the house.
-
-The spacious kitchen was lighted by two or three wicks in cups of
-melted fat, and by a great fire in the middle of the clay floor that
-cast crowds of dancing shadows on the walls and filled the whole room
-with grateful warmth. On the walls were fastened many deers' heads,
-and on their convenient prongs were hung bridles and lassos, ropes of
-onions and garlics, bunches of dried herbs, and various other objects.
-At the fire a piece of beef was roasting on a spit; and in a large pot
-suspended by hook and chain from the smoke-blackened central beam,
-boiled and bubbled an ocean of mutton broth, puffing out white clouds
-of steam redolent of herbs and cummin-seed. Close to the fire, skimmer
-in hand, sat Magdalen, Gregory's fat and florid wife, engaged in frying
-pies in a second smaller pot. There also, on a high, straight-backed
-chair, sat Ascension, her sister-in-law, a wrinkled spinster; also, in
-a low rush-bottomed seat, her mother-in-law, an ancient white-headed
-dame, staring vacantly into the flames. On the other side of the fire
-were Gregory's two eldest daughters, occupied just now in serving maté
-to their elders--that harmless bitter decoction the sipping of which
-fills up all vacant moments from dawn to bed-time--pretty dove-eyed
-girls of sixteen, both also named Magdalen, but not after their mother
-nor because confusion was loved by the family for its own sake; they
-were twins, and born on the day sacred to Santa Magdalena. Slumbering
-dogs and cats were disposed about the floor, also four children. The
-eldest, a boy, sitting with legs outstretched before him, was cutting
-threads from a slip of colt's hide looped over his great toe. The two
-next, boy and girl, were playing a simple game called nines, once known
-to English children as nine men's morrice; the lines were rudely
-scratched on the clay floor, and the men they played with were bits
-of hardened clay, nine red and as many white. The youngest, a girl of
-five, sat on the floor nursing a kitten that purred contentedly on her
-lap and drowsily winked its blue eyes at the fire; and as she swayed
-herself from side to side she lisped out the old lullaby in her baby
-voice:--
-
-
-     _A-ro-ró mi niño_
-     _A-ro-ró mi sol,_
-     _A-ro-ró pedazos_
-     _De mi corazon._
-
-
-Gregory stood on the threshold surveying this domestic scene with
-manifest pleasure.
-
-"Papa mine, what have you brought me?" cried the child with the kitten.
-
-"Brought you, interested? Stiff whiskers and cold hands to pinch your
-dirty little cheeks. How is your cold to-night, mother?"
-
-"Yes, son, it is very cold to-night; we knew that before you came in,"
-replied the old dame testily as she drew her chair a little closer to
-the fire.
-
-"It is useless speaking to her," remarked Ascension. "With her to be
-out of temper is to be deaf."
-
-"What has happened to put her out?" he asked.
-
-"I can tell you, papa," cried one of the twins. "She wouldn't let
-me make your cigars to-day, and sat down out of doors to make them
-herself. It was after breakfast when the sun was warm."
-
-"And of course she fell asleep," chimed in Ascension.
-
-"Let me tell it, auntie!" exclaimed the other. "And she fell asleep,
-and in a moment Rosita's lamb came and ate up the whole of the
-tobacco-leaf in her lap."
-
-"It didn't!" cried Rosita, looking up from her game. "I opened its
-mouth and looked with all my eyes, and there was no tobacco-leaf in it."
-
-"That lamb! that lamb!" said Gregory slily. "Is it to be wondered at
-that we are turning grey before our time--all except Rosita! Remind me
-to-morrow, wife, to take it to the flock; or if it has grown fat on all
-the tobacco-leaf, aprons and old shoes it has eaten--"
-
-"Oh no, no, no!" screamed Rosita, starting up and throwing the game
-into confusion, just when her little brother had made a row and was in
-the act of seizing on one of her pieces in triumph.
-
-"Hush, silly child, he will not harm your lamb," said the mother,
-pausing from her task and raising eyes that were tearful with the smoke
-of the fire and of the cigarette she held between her good-humoured
-lips. "And now, if these children have finished speaking of their
-important affairs, tell me, Gregory, what news do you bring?"
-
-"They say," he returned, sitting down and taking the maté-cup from
-his daughter's hand, "that the invading Indians bring seven hundred
-lances, and that those that first opposed them were all slain. Some say
-they are now retreating with the cattle they have taken; while others
-maintain that they are waiting to fight our men."
-
-"Oh, my sons, my sons, what will happen to them!" cried Magdalen,
-bursting into tears.
-
-"Why do you cry, wife, before God gives you cause?" returned her
-husband. "Are not all men born to fight the infidel? Our boys are not
-alone--all their friends and neighbours are with them."
-
-"Say not this to me, Gregory, for I am not a fool nor blind. All their
-friends indeed! And this very day I have seen the Niño Diablo; he
-galloped past the house, whistling like a partridge that knows no
-care. Why must my two sons be called away, while he, a youth without
-occupation and with no mother to cry for him, remains behind?"
-
-"You talk folly, Magdalen," replied her lord. "Complain that the
-ostrich and puma are more favoured than your sons, since no man calls
-on them to serve the state; but mention not the Niño, for he is freer
-than the wild things which Heaven has made, and fights not on this side
-nor on that."
-
-"Coward! Miserable!" murmured the incensed mother.
-
-Whereupon one of the twins flushed scarlet, and retorted, "He is not a
-coward, mother!"
-
-"And if not a coward why does he sit on the hearth among women and
-old men in times like these? Grieved am I to hear a daughter of mine
-speak in defence of one who is a vagabond and a stealer of other men's
-horses!"
-
-The girl's eyes flashed angrily, but she answered not a word.
-
-"Hold your tongue, woman, and accuse no man of crimes," spoke Gregory.
-"Let every Christian take proper care of his animals; and as for
-the infidel's horses, he is a virtuous man that steals them. The
-girl speaks truth; the Niño is no coward, but he fights not with our
-weapons. The web of the spider is coarse and ill-made compared with
-the snare he spreads to entangle his prey." Thus fixing his eyes on
-the face of the girl who had spoken, he added; "therefore be warned in
-season, my daughter, and fall not into the snare of the Niño Diablo."
-
-Again the girl blushed and hung her head.
-
-At this moment a clatter of hoofs, the jangling of a bell, and shouts
-of a traveller to the horses driven before him, came in at the open
-door. The dogs roused themselves, almost overturning the children
-in their hurry to rush out; and up rose Gregory to find out who was
-approaching with so much noise.
-
-"I know, _papita_," cried one of the children. "It is Uncle Polycarp."
-
-"You are right, child," said her father. "Cousin Polycarp always
-arrives at night, shouting to his animals like a troop of Indians." And
-with that he went out to welcome his boisterous relative.
-
-The traveller soon arrived, spurring his horse, scared at the light and
-snorting loudly, to within two yards o£ the door. In a few minutes the
-saddle was thrown off, the fore feet of the bell-mare fettered, and the
-horses allowed to wander away in quest of pasturage; then the two men
-turned into the kitchen.
-
-A short, burly man aged about fifty, wearing a soft hat thrust
-far back on his head, with truculent greenish eyes beneath arched
-bushy eyebrows, and a thick shapeless nose surmounting a bristly
-moustache--such was Cousin Polycarp. From neck to feet he was covered
-with a blue cloth poncho, and on his heels he wore enormous silver
-spurs that clanked and jangled over the floor like the fetters of a
-convict. After greeting the women and bestowing the avuncular blessing
-on the children, who had clamoured for it as for some inestimable
-boon--he sat down, and flinging back his poncho displayed at his waist
-a huge silver-hilted knife and a heavy brass-barelled horse-pistol.
-
-"Heaven be praised for its goodness, Cousin Magdalen," he said. "What
-with pies and spices your kitchen is more fragrant than a garden of
-flowers. That's as it should be, for nothing but rum have I tasted this
-bleak day. And the boys are away fighting, Gregory tells me. Good!
-When the eaglets have found out their wings let them try their talons.
-What, Cousin Magdalen, crying for the boys! Would you have had them
-girls?"
-
-"Yes, a thousand times," she replied, drying her wet eyes on her apron.
-
-"Ah, Magdalen, daughters can't be always young and sweet-tempered,
-like your brace of pretty partridges yonder. They grow old, Cousin
-Magdalen--old and ugly and spiteful; and are more bitter and worthless
-than the wild pumpkin. But I speak not of those who are present, for I
-would say nothing to offend my respected Cousin Ascension, whom may God
-preserve, though she never married."
-
-"Listen to me, Cousin Polycarp," returned the insulted dame so
-pointedly alluded to. "Say nothing to me nor of me, and I will also
-hold my peace concerning you; for you know very well that if I were
-disposed to open my lips I could say a thousand things."
-
-"Enough, enough, you have already said them a thousand times," he
-interrupted. "I know all that, cousin; let us say no more."
-
-"That is only what I ask," she retorted, "for I have never loved to
-bandy words with you; and you know already, therefore I need not
-recall it to your mind, that if I am single it is not because some men
-whose names I could mention if I felt disposed--and they are the names
-not of dead but of living men--would not have been glad to marry me;
-but because I preferred my liberty and the goods I inherited from my
-father; and I see not what advantage there is in being the wife of one
-who is a brawler and a drunkard and spender of other people's money,
-and I know not what besides."
-
-"There it is!" said Polycarp, appealing to the fire. "I knew that I had
-thrust my foot into a red ant's nest--careless that I am! But in truth,
-Ascension, it was fortunate for you in those distant days you mention
-that you hardened your heart against all lovers. For wives, like cattle
-that must be branded with their owner's mark, are first of all taught
-submission to their husbands; and consider, cousin, what tears! what
-sufferings!" And having ended thus abruptly, he planted his elbows on
-his knees and busied himself with the cigarette he had been trying to
-roll up with his cold drunken fingers for the last five minutes.
-
-Ascension gave a nervous twitch at the red cotton kerchief on her
-head, and cleared her throat with a sound "sharp and short like the
-shrill swallow's cry," when----
-
-"_Madre del Cielo_, how you frightened me!" screamed one of the twins,
-giving a great start.
-
-The cause of this sudden outcry was discovered in the presence of
-a young man quietly seated on the bench at the girl's side. He had
-not been there a minute before, and no person had seen him enter the
-room--what wonder that the girl was startled! He was slender in form,
-and had small hands and feet, and oval olive face, smooth as a girl's
-except for the incipient moustache on his lip. In place of a hat he
-wore only a scarlet ribbon bound about his head, to keep back the
-glossy black hair that fell to his shoulders; and he was wrapped in a
-white woollen Indian poncho, while his lower limbs were cased in white
-colt-skin coverings, shaped like stockings to his feet, with the red
-tassels of his embroidered garters falling to the ankles.
-
-"The Niño Diablo!" all cried in a breath, the children manifesting the
-greatest joy at his appearance. But old Gregory spoke with affected
-anger. "Why do you always drop on us in this treacherous way, like rain
-through a leaky thatch?" he exclaimed. "Keep these strange arts for
-your visits in the infidel country; here we are all Christians, and
-praise God on the threshold when we visit a neighbour's house. And now,
-Niño Diablo, what news of the Indians?"
-
-"Nothing do I know and little do I concern myself about specks on the
-horizon," returned the visitor with a light laugh. And at once all the
-children gathered round him, for the Niño they considered to belong
-to them when he came, and not to their elders with their solemn talk
-about Indian warfare and lost horses. And now, now he would finish that
-wonderful story, long in the telling, of the little girl alone and lost
-in the great desert, and surrounded by all the wild animals met to
-discuss what they should do with her. It was a grand story, even mother
-Magdalen listened, though she pretended all the time to be thinking
-only of her pies--and the teller, like the grand old historians of
-other days, put most eloquent speeches, all made out of his own head,
-into the lips (and beaks) of the various actors--puma, ostrich, deer,
-cavy, and the rest.
-
-In the midst of this performance supper was announced, and all
-gathered willingly round a dish of Magdalen's pies, filled with
-minced meat, hard-boiled eggs chopped small, raisins, and plenty of
-spice. After the pies came roast beef; and, finally, great basins of
-mutton broth fragrant with herbs and cummin-seed. The rage of hunger
-satisfied, each one said a prayer, the elders murmuring with bowed
-heads, the children on their knees uplifting shrill voices. Then
-followed the concluding semi-religious ceremony of the day, when each
-child in its turn asked a blessing of father, mother, grandmother,
-uncle, aunt, and not omitting the stranger within the gates, even the
-Niño Diablo of evil-sounding name.
-
-The men drew forth their pouches, and began making their cigarettes,
-when once more the children gathered round the story-teller, their
-faces glowing with expectation.
-
-"No, no," cried their mother. "No more stories to-night--to bed, to
-bed!"
-
-"Oh, mother, mother!" cried Rosita pleadingly, and struggling to
-free herself; for the good woman had dashed in among them to enforce
-obedience. "Oh, let me stay till the story ends! The reed-cat has said
-such things! Oh, what will they do with the poor little girl?"
-
-"And oh, mother mine!" drowsily sobbed her little sister; "the
-armadillo that said--that said nothing because it had nothing to say,
-and the partridge that whistled and said,--" and here she broke into
-a prolonged wail. The boys also added their voices until the hubbub
-was no longer to be borne, and Gregory rose up in his wrath and called
-on some one to lend him a big whip; only then they yielded, and still
-sobbing and casting many a lingering look behind, were led from the
-kitchen.
-
-During this scene the Niño had been carrying on a whispered
-conversation with the pretty Magdalen of his choice, heedless of the
-uproar of which he had been the indirect cause; deaf also to the bitter
-remarks of Ascension concerning some people who, having no homes of
-their own, were fond of coming uninvited into other people's houses,
-only to repay the hospitality extended to them by stealing their silly
-daughters affections, and teaching their children to rebel against
-their authority.
-
-But the noise and confusion had served to arouse Polycarp from a drowsy
-fit; for like a boa constrictor, he had dined largely after his long
-fast, and dinner had made him dull; bending towards his cousin he
-whispered earnestly: "Who is this young stranger, Gregory?"
-
-"In what corner of the earth have you been hiding to ask who the Niño
-Diablo is?" returned the other.
-
-"Must I know the history of every cat and dog?"
-
-"The Niño is not cat nor dog, cousin, but a man among men, like a
-falcon among birds. When a child of six the Indians killed all his
-relations and carried him into captivity. After five years he escaped
-out of their hands, and, guided by sun and stars and signs on the
-earth, he found his way back to the Christian's country, bringing many
-beautiful horses stolen from his captors; also the name of Niño Diablo
-first given to him by the infidel. We know him by no other."
-
-"This is a good story; in truth I like it well--it pleases me
-mightily," said Polycarp. "And what more, cousin Gregory?"
-
-"More than I can tell, cousin. When he comes the dogs bark not--who
-knows why? his tread is softer than the cat's; the untamed horse is
-tame for him. Always in the midst of dangers, yet no harm, no scratch.
-Why? Because he stoops like the falcon, makes his stroke and is
-gone--Heaven knows where!"
-
-"What strange things are you telling me? Wonderful! And what more
-cousin, Gregory?"
-
-"He often goes into the Indian country, and lives freely with the
-infidel, disguised, for they do not know him who was once their
-captive. They speak of the Niño Diablo to him, saying that when they
-catch that thief they will flay him alive. He listens to their strange
-stories, then leaves them, taking their finest ponchos and silver
-ornaments, and the flower of their horses."
-
-"A brave youth, one after my own heart, cousin Gregory. Heaven defend
-and prosper him in all his journeys into the Indian territory! Before
-we part I shall embrace him and offer him my friendship, which is worth
-something. More, tell me more, cousin Gregory?"
-
-"These things I tell you to put you on your guard; look well to your
-horses, cousin."
-
-"What!" shouted the other, lifting himself up from his stooping
-posture, and staring at his relation with astonishment and kindling
-anger in his countenance.
-
-The conversation had been carried on in a low tone, and the sudden
-loud exclamation startled them all--all except the Niño, who continued
-smoking and chatting pleasantly to the twins.
-
-"Lightning and pestilence, what is this you say to me, Gregory
-Gorostiaga!" continued Polycarp, violently slapping his thigh and
-thrusting his hat farther back on his head.
-
-"Prudence!" whispered Gregory. "Say nothing to offend the Niño, he
-never forgives an enemy--with horses."
-
-"Talk not to me of prudence!" bawled the other. "You hit me on the
-apple of the eye and counsel me not to cry out. What! have not I, whom
-men call Polycarp of the South, wrestled with tigers in the desert,
-and must I hold my peace because of a boy--even a boy devil? Talk of
-what you like, cousin, and I am a meek man--meek as a sucking babe; but
-touch not on my horses, for then I am a whirlwind, a conflagration, a
-river flooded in winter, and all wrath and destruction like an invasion
-of Indians! Who can stand before me? Ribs of steel are no protection!
-Look at my knife; do you ask why there are stains on the blade? Listen;
-because it has gone straight to the robber's heart!" And with that he
-drew out his great knife and flourished it wildly, and made stabs and
-slashes at an imaginary foe suspended above the fire.
-
-The pretty girls grew silent and pale and trembled like poplar leaves;
-the old grandmother rose up, and clutching at her shawl toddled
-hurriedly away, while Ascension uttered a snort of disdain. But the
-Niño still talked and smiled, blowing thin smoke-clouds from his lips,
-careless of that tempest of wrath gathering before him; till, seeing
-the other so calm, the man of war returned his weapon to its sheath,
-and glancing round and lowering his voice to a conversational tone,
-informed his hearers that his name was Polycarp, one known and feared
-by all men,--especially in the south; that he was disposed to live in
-peace and amity with the entire human race, and he therefore considered
-it unreasonable of some men to follow him about the world asking him to
-kill them. "Perhaps," he concluded, with a touch of irony, "they think
-I gain something by putting them to death. A mistake, good friends; I
-gain nothing by it! I am not a vulture, and their dead bodies can be of
-no use to me."
-
-Just after this sanguinary protest and disclaimer the Niño all at once
-made a gesture as if to impose silence, and turning his face towards
-the door, his nostrils dilating, and his eyes appearing to grow large
-and luminous like those of a cat.
-
-"What do you hear, Niño?" asked Gregory.
-
-"I hear lapwings screaming," he replied.
-
-"Only at a fox perhaps," said the other. "But go to the door, Niño, and
-listen."
-
-"No need," he returned, dropping his hand, the light of a sudden
-excitement passing from his face. "'Tis only a single horseman riding
-this way at a fast gallop."
-
-Polycarp got up and went to the door, saying that when a man was among
-robbers it behoved him to look well after his cattle. Then he came
-back and sat down again. "Perhaps," he remarked, with a side glance at
-the Niño, "a better plan would be to watch the thief. A lie, cousin
-Gregory; no lapwings are screaming; no single horseman approaching at a
-fast gallop. The night is serene, and earth as silent as the sepulchre."
-
-"Prudence!" whispered Gregory again. "Ah, cousin, always playful like
-a kitten; when will you grow old and wise? Can you not see a sleeping
-snake without turning aside to stir it up with your naked foot?"
-
-Strange to say, Polycarp made no reply. A long experience in getting up
-quarrels had taught him that these impassive men were, in truth, often
-enough like venomous snakes, quick and deadly when roused. He became
-secret and watchful in his manner.
-
-All now were intently listening. Then said Gregory, "Tell us, Niño,
-what voices, fine as the trumpet of the smallest fly, do you hear
-coming from that great silence? Has the mother skunk put her little
-ones to sleep in their kennel and gone out to seek for the pipit's
-nest? Have fox and armadillo met to challenge each other to fresh
-trials of strength and cunning? What is the owl saying this moment to
-his mistress in praise of her big green eyes?"
-
-The young man smiled slightly but answered not; and for full five
-minutes more all listened, then sounds of approaching hoofs became
-audible. Dogs began to bark, horses to snort in alarm, and Gregory rose
-and went forth to receive the late night-wanderer. Soon he appeared,
-beating the angry barking dogs off with his whip, a white-faced,
-wild-haired man, furiously spurring his horse like a person demented
-or flying from robbers.
-
-"_Ave Maria!_" he shouted aloud; and when the answer was given in
-suitable pious words, the scared-looking stranger drew near, and
-bending down said, "Tell me, good friend, is one whom men call Niño
-Diablo with you; for to this house I have been directed in my search
-for him?"
-
-"He is within, friend," answered Gregory. "Follow me and you shall see
-him with your own eyes. Only first unsaddle, so that your horse may
-roll before the sweat dries on him."
-
-"How many horses have I ridden their last journey on this quest!" said
-the stranger, hurriedly pulling off the saddle and rugs. "But tell
-me one thing more; is he well--no indisposition? Has he met with no
-accident--a broken bone, a sprained ankle?"
-
-"Friend," said Gregory, "I have heard that once in past times the moon
-met with an accident, but of the Niño no such thing has been reported
-to me."
-
-With this assurance the stranger followed his host into the kitchen,
-made his salutation, and sat down by the fire. He was about thirty
-years old, a good-looking man, but his face was haggard, his eyes
-bloodshot, his manner restless, and he appeared like one half-crazed
-by some great calamity. The hospitable Magdalen placed food before him
-and pressed him to eat. He complied, although reluctantly, despatched
-his supper in a few moments, and murmured a prayer; then, glancing
-curiously at the two men seated near him, he addressed himself to
-the burly, well-armed, and dangerous-looking Polycarp. "Friend," he
-said, his agitation increasing as he spoke, "four days have I been
-seeking you, taking neither food nor rest, so great was my need of your
-assistance. You alone, after God, can help me. Help me in this strait,
-and half of all I possess in land and cattle and gold shall be freely
-given to you, and the angels above will applaud your deed!"
-
-"Drunk or mad?" was the only reply vouchsafed to this appeal.
-
-"Sir," said the stranger with dignity, "I have not tasted wine these
-many days, nor has my great grief crazed me."
-
-"Then what ails the man?" said Polycarp. "Fear perhaps, for he is white
-in the face like one who has seen the Indians."
-
-"In truth I have seen them. I was one of those unfortunates who first
-opposed them, and most of the friends who were with me are now food for
-wild dogs. Where our houses stood there are only ashes and a stain of
-blood on the ground. Oh, friend, can you not guess why you alone were
-in my thoughts when this trouble came to me--why I have ridden day and
-night to find you?"
-
-"Demons!" exclaimed Polycarp, "into what quagmires would this man lead
-me? Once for all I understand you not! Leave me in peace, strange man,
-or we shall quarrel." And here he tapped his weapon significantly.
-
-At this juncture, Gregory, who took his time about everything, thought
-proper to interpose. "You are mistaken, friend," said he. "The young
-man sitting on your right is the Niño Diablo, for whom you inquired a
-little while ago."
-
-A look of astonishment, followed by one of intense relief, came over
-the stranger's face. Turning to the young man he said, "My friend,
-forgive me this mistake. Grief has perhaps dimmed my sight; but
-sometimes the iron blade and the blade of finest temper are not easily
-distinguished by the eye. When we try them we know which is the brute
-metal, and cast it aside to take up the other, and trust our life to
-it. The words I have spoken were meant for you, and you have heard
-them."
-
-"What can I do for you, friend?" said the Niño.
-
-"Oh, sir, the greatest service! You can restore my lost wife to me.
-The savages have taken her away into captivity. What can I do to save
-her--I who cannot make myself invisible, and fly like the wind, and
-compass all things!" And here he bowed his head, and covering his face
-gave way to over-mastering grief.
-
-"Be comforted, friend," said the other, touching him lightly on the
-arm. "I will restore her to you."
-
-"Oh, friend, how shall I thank you for these words!" cried the unhappy
-man, seizing and pressing the Niño's hand.
-
-"Tell me her name--describe her to me."
-
-"Torcuata is her name--Torcuata de la Rosa. She is one finger's width
-taller than this young woman," indicating one of the twins who was
-standing. "But not dark; her cheeks are rosy--no, no, I forget, they
-will be pale now, white than the grass plumes, with stains of dark
-colour under the eyes. Brown hair and blue eyes, but very deep blue.
-Look well, friend lest you think them black and leave her to perish."
-
-"Never!" remarked Gregory, shaking his head.
-
-"Enough--you have told me enough, friend," said the Niño, rolling up a
-cigarette.
-
-"Enough!" repeated the other, surprised. "But you do not know; she is
-my life; my life is in your hands. How can I persuade you to be with
-me? Cattle I have. I had gone to pay the herdsmen their wages when the
-Indians came unexpectedly; and my house at La Chilca, on the banks of
-the Langueyú, was burnt, and my wife taken away during my absence.
-Eight hundred head of cattle have escaped the savages, and half of them
-shall be yours; and half of all I possess in money and land."
-
-"Cattle!" returned the Niño smiling, and holding a lighted stick to his
-cigarette. "I have enough to eat without molesting myself with the care
-of cattle."
-
-"But I told you that I had other things," said the stranger full of
-distress.
-
-The young man laughed, and rose from his seat.
-
-"Listen to me," he said. "I go now to follow the Indians--to mix with
-them, perhaps. They are retreating slowly, burdened with much spoil. In
-fifteen days go to the little town of Tandil, and wait for me there.
-As for land, if God has given so much of it to the ostrich it is not
-a thing for a man to set a great value on." Then he bent down to
-whisper a few words in the ear of the girl at his side; and immediately
-afterwards, with a simple "good-night" to the others, stepped lightly
-from the kitchen. By another door the girl also hurriedly left the
-room, to hide her tears from the watchful censuring eyes of mother and
-aunt.
-
-Then the stranger, recovering from his astonishment at the abrupt
-ending of the conversation, started up, and crying aloud, "Stay! stay
-one moment--one word more!" rushed out after the young man. At some
-distance from the house he caught sight of the Niño, sitting motionless
-on his horse, as if waiting to speak to him.
-
-"This is what I have to say to you," spoke the Niño, bending down to
-the other. "Go back to Langueyú, and rebuild your house, and expect
-me there with your wife in about thirty days. When I bade you go to
-the Tandil in fifteen days, I spoke only to mislead that man Polycarp,
-who has an evil mind. Can I ride a hundred leagues and back in fifteen
-days? Say no word of this to any man. And fear not. If I fail to
-return with your wife at the appointed time take some of that money
-you have offered me, and bid a priest say a mass for my soul's repose;
-for eye of man shall never see me again, and the brown hawks will be
-complaining that there is no more flesh to be picked from my bones."
-
-During this brief colloquy, and afterwards, when Gregory and his
-women-folk went off to bed, leaving the stranger to sleep in his rugs
-beside the kitchen fire, Polycarp, who had sworn a mighty oath not to
-close his eyes that night, busied himself making his horses secure.
-Driving them home, he tied them to the posts of the gate within
-twenty-five yards of the kitchen door. Then he sat down by the fire and
-smoked and dozed, and cursed his dry mouth and drowsy eyes that were so
-hard to keep open. At intervals of about fifteen minutes he would get
-up and go out to satisfy himself that his precious horses were still
-safe. At length in rising, some time after midnight, his foot kicked
-against some loud-sounding metal object lying beside him on the floor,
-which on examination, proved to be a copper bell of a peculiar shape,
-and curiously like the one fastened to the neck of his bell-mare.
-Bell in hand, he stepped to the door and put out his head, and lo!
-his horses were no longer at the gate! Eight horses: seven iron-grey
-geldings, every one of them swift and sure-footed, sound as the bell in
-his hand, and as like each other as seven claret coloured eggs in the
-tinamou's nest; and the eighth the gentle piebald mare--the _madrina_
-his horses loved and would follow to the world's end, now, alas! with a
-thief on her back! Gone--gone!
-
-He rushed out, uttering a succession of frantic howls and imprecations;
-and finally, to wind up the performance, dashed the now useless bell
-with all his energy against the gate, shattering it into a hundred
-pieces. Oh, that bell, how often and how often in how many a wayside
-public-house had he boasted, in his cups and when sober, of its mellow,
-far-reaching tone,--the sweet sound that assured him in the silent
-watches of the night that his beloved steeds were safe! Now he danced
-on the broken fragments, digging them into the earth with his heel; now
-in his frenzy, he could have dug them up again to grind them to powder
-with his teeth!
-
-The children turned restlessly in bed, dreaming of the lost little
-girl in the desert; and the stranger half awoke, muttering, "Courage,
-O Torcuata--let not your heart break.... Soul of my life, he gives you
-back to me--on my bosom, _rosa fresca, rosa fresca_!" Then the hands
-unclenched themselves again, and the muttering died away. But Gregory
-woke fully, and instantly divined the cause of the clamour. "Magdalen!
-Wife!" he said. "Listen to Polycarp; the Niño has paid him out for
-his insolence! Oh, fool, I warned him, and he would not listen!" But
-Magdalen refused to wake; and so, hiding his head under the coverlet,
-he made the bed shake with suppressed laughter, so pleased was he at
-the clever trick played on his blustering cousin. All at once his
-laughter ceased, and out popped his head again, showing in the dim
-light a somewhat long and solemn face. For he had suddenly thought of
-his pretty daughter asleep in the adjoining room. Asleep! Wide awake,
-more likely, thinking of her sweet lover, brushing the dews from the
-hoary pampas grass in his southward flight, speeding away into the
-heart of the vast mysterious wilderness. Listening also to her uncle,
-the desperado, apostrophizing the midnight stars; while with his knife
-he excavates two deep trenches, three yards long and intersecting
-each other at right angles--a sacred symbol on which he intends, when
-finished, to swear a most horrible vengeance. "Perhaps," muttered
-Gregory, "the Niño has still other pranks to play in this house."
-
-When the stranger heard next morning what had happened, he was better
-able to understand the Niño's motive in giving him that caution
-overnight; nor was he greatly put out, but thought it better that an
-evil-minded man should lose his horses than that the Niño should set
-out badly mounted on such an adventure.
-
-"Let me not forget," said the robbed man, as he rode away on a horse
-borrowed from his cousin, "to be at the Tandil this day fortnight, with
-a sharp knife and a blunderbuss charged with a handful of powder and
-not fewer than twenty-three slugs."
-
-Terribly in earnest was Polycarp of the South! He was there at the
-appointed time, slugs and all; but the smooth-cheeked, mysterious,
-child-devil came not; nor, stranger still, did the scared-looking de la
-Rosa come clattering in to look for his lost Torcuata. At the end of
-the fifteenth day de la Rosa was at Langueyú, seventy-five miles from
-the Tandil, alone in his new rancho, which had just been rebuilt with
-the aid of a few neighbours. Through all that night he sat alone by the
-fire, pondering many things. If he could only recover his lost wife,
-then he would bid a long farewell to that wild frontier and take her
-across the great sea, and to that old tree-shaded stone farm-house in
-Andalusia, which he had left a boy, and where his aged parents still
-lived, thinking no more to see their wandering son. His resolution was
-taken; he would sell all he possessed, all except a portion of land
-in the Langueyú with the house he had just rebuilt; and to the Niño
-Diablo, the deliverer, he would say, "Friend, though you despise the
-things that others value, take this land and poor house for the sake of
-the girl Magdalen you love; for then perhaps her parents will no longer
-deny her to you."
-
-He was still thinking of these things, when a dozen or twenty
-military starlings--that cheerful scarlet-breasted songster of the
-lonely pampas--alighted on the thatch outside, and warbling their gay,
-careless winter-music told him that it was day. And all day long, on
-foot and on horseback, his thoughts were of his lost Torcuata; and
-when evening once more drew near his heart was sick with suspense and
-longing; and climbing the ladder placed against the gable of his rancho
-he stood on the roof gazing westwards into the blue distance. The sun,
-crimson and large, sunk into the great green sea of grass, and from all
-the plain rose the tender fluting notes of the tinamou-partridges, bird
-answering bird. "Oh, that I could pierce the haze with my vision," he
-murmured, "that I could see across a hundred leagues of level plain,
-and look this moment on your sweet face, Torcuata!"
-
-
-And Torcuata was in truth a hundred leagues distant from him at that
-moment; and if the miraculous sight he wished for had been given, this
-was what he would have seen. A wide barren plain scantily clothed with
-yellow tufts of grass and thorny shrubs, and at its southern extremity,
-shutting out the view on that side, a low range of dune-like hills.
-Over this level ground, towards the range, moves a vast herd of cattle
-and horses--fifteen or twenty thousand head--followed by a scattered
-horde of savages armed with their long lances. In a small compact body
-in the centre ride the captives, women and children. Just as the red
-orb touches the horizon the hills are passed, and lo! a wide grassy
-valley beyond, with flocks and herds pasturing, and scattered trees,
-and the blue gleam of water from a chain of small lakes! There full in
-sight, is the Indian settlement, the smoke rising peacefully up from
-the clustered huts. At the sight of home the savages burst into loud
-cries of joy and triumph, answered, as they drew near, with piercing
-screams of welcome from the village population, chiefly composed of
-women, children and old men.
-
-
-It is past midnight; the young moon has set; the last fires are dying
-down; the shouts and loud noise of excited talk and laughter have
-ceased, and the weary warriors, after feasting on sweet mare's flesh to
-repletion, have fallen asleep in their huts, or lying out of doors on
-the ground. Only the dogs are excited still and keep up an incessant
-barking. Even the captive women, huddled together in one hut in the
-middle of the settlement, fatigued with their long rough journey, have
-cried themselves to sleep at last.
-
-At length one of the sad sleepers wakes, or half wakes, dreaming that
-some one has called her name. How could such a thing be? Yet her own
-name still seems ringing in her brain, and at length, fully awake,
-she finds herself intently listening. Again it sounded--"Torcuata"--a
-voice fine as the pipe of a mosquito, yet so sharp and distinct that
-it tingled in her ear. She sat up and listened again, and once more it
-sounded "Torcuata!" "Who speaks?" she returned in a fearful whisper.
-The voice, still fine and small, replied, "Come out from among the
-others until you touch the wall." Trembling she obeyed, creeping out
-from among the sleepers until she came into contact with the side of
-the hut. Then the voice sounded again, "Creep round the wall until you
-come to a small crack of light on the other side." Again she obeyed,
-and when she reached the line of faint light it widened quickly to an
-aperture, through which a shadowy arm was passed round her waist;
-and in a moment she was lifted up, and saw the stars above her, and
-at her feet dark forms of men wrapped in their ponchos lying asleep.
-But no one woke, no alarm was given; and in a very few minutes she was
-mounted, man-fashion, on a bare-backed horse, speeding swiftly over
-the dim plains, with the shadowy form of her mysterious deliverer some
-yards in advance, driving before him a score or so of horses. He had
-only spoken half-a-dozen words to her since their escape from the hut,
-but she knew by those words that he was taking her to Langueyú.
-
-
-
-
-MARTA RIQUELME.
-
-(_From the Sepulvida MSS._)
-
-
-I.
-
-Far away from the paths of those who wander to and fro on the earth,
-sleeps Jujuy in the heart of this continent. It is the remotest of our
-provinces, and divided from the countries of the Pacific by the giant
-range of the Cordillera; a region of mountains and forest, torrid heats
-and great storms; and although in itself a country half as large as the
-Spanish peninsula, it possesses, as its only means of communication
-with the outside world, a few insignificant roads which are scarcely
-more than mule-paths.
-
-The people of this region have few wants; they aspire not after
-progress, and have never changed their ancient manner of life. The
-Spanish were long in conquering them: and now, after three centuries
-of Christian dominion, they still speak the Quichua, and subsist in
-a great measure on patay, a sweet paste made from the pod of the wild
-algarroba tree; while they still retain as a beast of burden the llama,
-a gift of their old masters the Peruvian Incas.
-
-This much is common knowledge, but of the peculiar character of the
-country, or of the nature of the things which happen within its
-borders, nothing is known to those without; Jujuy being to them only a
-country lying over against the Andes, far removed from and unaffected
-by the progress of the world. It has pleased Providence to give me a
-more intimate knowledge, and this has been a sore affliction and great
-burden now for many years. But I have not taken up my pen to complain
-that all the years of my life are consumed in a region where the
-great spiritual enemy of mankind is still permitted to challenge the
-supremacy of our Master, waging an equal war against his followers:
-my sole object is to warn, perhaps also to comfort, others who will
-be my successors in this place, and who will come to the church of
-Yala ignorant of the means which will be used for the destruction of
-their souls. And if I set down anything in this narrative which might
-be injurious to our holy religion, owing to the darkness of our
-understandings and the little faith that is in us, I pray that the sin
-I now ignorantly commit may be forgiven me, and that this manuscript
-may perish miraculously unread by any person.
-
-I was educated for the priesthood, in the city of Cordova, that famous
-seminary of learning and religion; and in 1838, being then in my
-twenty-seventh year, I was appointed priest to a small settlement in
-the distant province of which I have spoken. The habit of obedience,
-early instilled in me by my Jesuit masters, enabled me to accept this
-command unmurmuringly, and even with an outward show of cheerfulness.
-Nevertheless it filled me with grief, although I might have suspected
-that some such hard fate had been designed for me, since I had been
-made to study the Quichua language, which is now only spoken in the
-Andean provinces. With secret bitter repinings I tore myself from all
-that made life pleasant and desirable--the society of innumerable
-friends, the libraries, the beautiful church where I had worshipped,
-and that renowned University which has shed on the troubled annals
-of our unhappy country whatever lustre of learning and poetry they
-possess.
-
-My first impressions of Jujuy did not serve to raise my spirits. After
-a trying journey of four week's duration--the roads being difficult and
-the country greatly disturbed at the time--I reached the capital of the
-province, also called Jujuy, a town of about two thousand inhabitants.
-Thence I journeyed to my destination, a settlement called Yala,
-situated on the north-western border of the province, where the river
-Yala takes its rise, at the foot of that range of mountains which,
-branching eastwards from the Andes, divides Jujuy from Bolivia. I was
-wholly unprepared for the character of the place I had come to live in.
-Yala was a scattered village of about ninety souls--ignorant, apathetic
-people, chiefly Indians. To my unaccustomed sight the country appeared
-a rude, desolate chaos of rocks and gigantic mountains, compared with
-which the famous sierras of Cordova sunk into mere hillocks, and of
-vast gloomy forests, whose death-like stillness was broken only by the
-savage screams of some strange fowl, or by the hoarse thunders of a
-distant waterfall.
-
-As soon as I had made myself known to the people of the village, I set
-myself to acquire a knowledge of the surrounding country; but before
-long I began to despair of ever finding the limits of my parish in
-any direction. The country was wild, being only tenanted by a few
-widely-separated families, and like all deserts it was distasteful
-to me in an eminent degree; but as I would frequently be called upon
-to perform long journeys, I resolved to learn as much as possible of
-its geography. Always striving to overcome my own inclinations, which
-made a studious, sedentary life most congenial, I aimed at being very
-active; and having procured a good mule I began taking long rides every
-day, without a guide and with only a pocket compass to prevent me from
-losing myself. I could never altogether overcome my natural aversion
-to silent deserts, and in my long rides I avoided the thick forest and
-deep valleys, keeping as much as possible to the open plain.
-
-One day having ridden about twelve or fourteen miles from Yala, I
-discovered a tree of noble proportions growing by itself in the open,
-and feeling much oppressed by the heat I alighted from my mule and
-stretched myself on the ground under the grateful shade. There was a
-continuous murmur of lecheguanas--a small honey wasp--in the foliage
-above me, for the tree was in flower, and this soothing sound soon
-brought that restful feeling to my mind which insensibly leads to
-slumber. I was, however, still far from sleep, but reclining with eyes
-half closed, thinking of nothing, when suddenly, from the depths of the
-dense leafage above me, rang forth a shriek, the most terrible it has
-ever fallen to the lot of any human being to hear. In sound it was a
-human cry, yet expressing a degree of agony and despair surpassing the
-power of any human soul to feel, and my impression was that it could
-only have been uttered by some tortured spirit allowed to wander for
-a season on the earth. Shriek after shriek, each more powerful and
-terrible to hear than the last, succeeded, and I sprang to my feet, the
-hair standing erect on my head, a profuse sweat of terror breaking out
-all over me. The cause of all these maddening sounds remained invisible
-to my eyes; and finally running to my mule I climbed hastily on to its
-back and never ceased flogging the poor beast all the way back to Yala.
-
-On reaching my house I sent for one Osuna, a man of substance, able to
-converse in Spanish, and much respected in the village. In the evening
-he came to see me, and I then gave an account of the extraordinary
-experience I had encountered that day.
-
-"Do not distress yourself, Father--you have only heard the Kakué," he
-replied. I then learnt from him that the Kakué is a fowl frequenting
-the most gloomy and sequestered forests and known to every one in the
-country for its terrible voice. Kakué, he also informed me, was the
-ancient name of the country, but the word was misspelt Jujuy by the
-early explorers, and this corrupted name was eventually retained. All
-this, which I now heard for the first time, is historical; but when he
-proceeded to inform me that the Kakué is a metamorphosed human being,
-that women and sometimes men, whose lives have been darkened with great
-suffering and calamities, are changed by compassionate spirits into
-these lugubrious birds, I asked him somewhat contemptuously whether he,
-an enlightened man, believed a thing so absurd.
-
-"There is not in all Jujuy," he replied, "a person who disbelieves it."
-
-"That is a mere assertion," cried I, "but it shows which way your
-mind inclines. No doubt the superstition concerning the Kakué is very
-ancient, and has come down to us together with the Quichua language
-from the aborigines. Transformations of men into animals are common
-in all the primitive religions of South America. Thus, the Guaranies
-relate that flying from a conflagration caused by the descent of the
-sun to the earth many people cast themselves into the river Paraguay,
-and were incontinently changed into capybaras and caymans; while others
-who took refuge in trees were blackened and scorched by the heat and
-became monkeys. But to go no further than the traditions of the Incas
-who once ruled over this region, it is related that after the first
-creation the entire human family, inhabiting the slopes of the Andes,
-were changed into crickets by a demon at enmity with man's first
-creator. Throughout the continent these ancient beliefs are at present
-either dead or dying out; and if the Kakué legend still maintains its
-hold on the vulgar here it is owing to the isolated position of the
-country, hemmed in by vast mountains and having no intercourse with
-neighbouring states."
-
-Perceiving that my arguments had entirely failed to produce any effect
-I began to lose my temper, and demanded whether he, a Christian, dared
-to profess belief in a fable born of the corrupt imagination of the
-heathen?
-
-He shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I have only stated what we, in
-Jujuy, know to be a fact. What is, is; and if you talk until to-morrow
-you cannot make it different, although you may prove yourself a very
-learned person."
-
-His answer produced a strange effect on me. For the first time in my
-life I experienced the sensation of anger in all its power. Rising to
-my feet I paced the floor excitedly, and using many gestures, smiting
-the table with my hands and shaking my clenched fist close to his face
-in a threatening manner, and with a violence of language unbecoming
-in a follower of Christ, I denounced the degrading ignorance and
-heathenish condition of mind of the people I had come to live with; and
-more particularly of the person before me, who had some pretensions to
-education and should have been free from the gross delusions of the
-vulgar. While addressing him in this tone he sat smoking a cigarette,
-blowing rings from his lips and placidly watching them rise towards the
-ceiling, and with his studied supercilious indifference aggravated
-my rage to such a degree that I could scarcely restrain myself from
-flying at his throat or striking him to the earth with one of the
-cane-bottomed chairs in the room.
-
-As soon as he left me, however, I was overwhelmed with remorse at
-having behaved in a manner so unseemly. I spent the night in penitent
-tears and prayers, and resolved in future to keep a strict watch over
-myself, now that the secret enemy of my soul had revealed itself to
-me. Nor did I make this resolution a moment too soon. I had hitherto
-regarded myself as a person of a somewhat mild and placid disposition;
-the sudden change to new influences, and, perhaps also, the secret
-disgust I felt at my lot, had quickly developed my true character,
-which now become impatient to a degree and prone to sudden violent
-outbursts of passion during which I had little control over my tongue.
-The perpetual watch over myself and struggle against my evil nature
-which had now become necessary was the cause of but half my trouble. I
-discovered that my parishioners, with scarcely an exception, possessed
-that dull apathetic temper of mind concerning spiritual things, which
-had so greatly exasperated me in the man Osuna, and which obstructed
-all my efforts to benefit them. These people, or rather their ancestors
-centuries ago, had accepted Christianity, but it had never properly
-filtered down into their hearts. It was on the surface still; and if
-their half-heathen minds were deeply stirred it was not by the story
-of the Passion of our Lord, but by some superstitious belief inherited
-from their progenitors. During all the years I have spent in Yala I
-never said a Mass, never preached a sermon, never attempted to speak of
-the consolations of faith, without having the thought thrust on to me
-that my words were useless, that I was watering the rock where no seed
-could germinate, and wasting my life in vain efforts to impart religion
-to souls that were proof against it. Often have I been reminded of
-our holy and learned Father Guevara's words, when he complains of the
-difficulties encountered by the earlier Jesuit missionaries. He relates
-how one endeavoured to impress the Chiriguanos with the danger they
-incurred by refusing baptism, picturing to them their future condition
-when they would be condemned to everlasting fire. To which they only
-replied that they were not disturbed by what he told them, but were,
-on the contrary, greatly pleased to hear that the flames of the future
-would be unquenchable, for that would save them infinite trouble,
-and if they found the fire too hot they would remove themselves to a
-proper distance from it. So hard it was for their heathen intellects to
-comprehend the solemn doctrines of our faith!
-
-
-II.
-
-My knowledge of the Quichua language, acquired solely by the study
-of the vocabularies, was at first of little advantage to me. I found
-myself unable to converse on familiar topics with the people of Yala;
-and this was a great difficulty in my way, and a cause of distress for
-more reasons than one. I was unprovided with books, or other means of
-profit and recreation, and therefore eagerly sought out the few people
-in the place able to converse in Spanish, for I have always been fond
-of social intercourse. There were only four: one very old man, who
-died shortly after my arrival; another was Osuna, a man for whom I had
-conceived an unconquerable aversion; the other two were women, the
-widow Riquelme and her daughter. About this girl I must speak at some
-length, since it is with her fortunes that this narrative is chiefly
-concerned. The widow Riquelme was poor, having only a house in Yala,
-but with a garden sufficiently large to grow a plentiful provision of
-fruit and vegetables, and to feed a few goats, so that these women had
-enough to live on, without ostentation, from their plot of ground. They
-were of pure Spanish blood; the mother was prematurely old and faded;
-Marta, who was a little over fifteen when I arrived at Yala, was the
-loveliest being I had ever beheld; though in this matter my opinion
-may be biased, for I only saw her side by side with the dark-skinned
-coarse-haired Indian women, and compared with their faces of ignoble
-type Marta's was like that of an angel. Her features were regular;
-her skin white, but with that pale darkness in it seen in some whose
-families have lived for generations in tropical countries. Her eyes,
-shaded by long lashes, were of that violet tint seen sometimes in
-people of Spanish blood--eyes which appear black until looked at
-closely. Her hair was, however, the crown of her beauty and chief
-glory, for it was of great length and a dark shining gold colour--a
-thing wonderful to see!
-
-The society of these two women, who were full of sympathy and
-sweetness, promised to be a great boon to me, and I was often with
-them; but very soon I discovered that, on the contrary, it was only
-about to add a fresh bitterness to my existence. The Christian
-affection I felt for this beautiful child insensibly degenerated into
-a mundane passion of such overmastering strength that all my efforts
-to pluck it out of my heart proved ineffectual. I cannot describe my
-unhappy condition during the long months when I vainly wrestled with
-this sinful emotion, and when I often thought in the bitterness of my
-heart that my God had forsaken me. The fear that the time would come
-when my feelings would betray themselves increased on me until at
-length, to avoid so great an evil, I was compelled to cease visiting
-the only house in Yala where it was a pleasure for me to enter. What
-had I done to be thus cruelly persecuted by Satan? was the constant cry
-of my soul. Now I know that this temptation was only a part of that
-long and desperate struggle in which the servants of the prince of the
-power of the air had engaged to overthrow me.
-
-Not for five years did this conflict with myself cease to be a constant
-danger--a period which seemed to my mind not less than half a century.
-Nevertheless, knowing that idleness is the parent of evil, I was
-incessantly occupied; for when there was nothing to call me abroad,
-I laboured with my pen at home, filling in this way many volumes,
-which in the end may serve to throw some light on the great historical
-question of the Incas' Cis-Andine dominion, and its effect on the
-conquered nations.
-
-When Marta was twenty years old it became known in Yala that she had
-promised her hand in marriage to one Cosme Luna, and of this person a
-few words must be said. Like many young men, possessing no property
-or occupation, and having no disposition to work, he was a confirmed
-gambler, spending all his time going about from town to town to attend
-horse-races and cock-fights. I had for a long time regarded him as an
-abominable pest in Yala, a wretch possessing a hundred vices under a
-pleasing exterior, and not one redeeming virtue, and it was therefore
-with the deepest pain that I heard of his success with Marta. The
-widow, who was naturally disappointed at her daughter's choice, came to
-me with tears and complaints, begging me to assist her in persuading
-her beloved child to break off an engagement which promised only to
-make her unhappy for life. But with that secret feeling in my heart,
-ever-striving to drag me down to my ruin, I dared not help her, albeit,
-I would gladly have given my right hand to save Marta from the calamity
-of marrying such a man.
-
-The tempest which these tidings had raised in my heart never abated
-while the preparations for the marriage were going on. I was forced
-now to abandon my work, for I was incapable of thought; nor did all my
-religious exercises avail to banish for one moment the strange, sullen
-rage which had taken complete possession of me. Night after night I
-would rise from my bed and pace the floor of my room for hours, vainly
-trying to shut out the promptings of some fiend perpetually urging
-me to take some desperate course against this young man. A thousand
-schemes for his destruction suggested themselves to my mind, and when
-I had resolutely dismissed them all and prayed that my sinful temper
-might be forgiven, I would rise from my knees still cursing him a
-thousand times more than ever.
-
-In the meantime, Marta herself saw nothing wrong in Cosme, for love had
-blinded her. He was young, good looking, could play on the guitar and
-sing, and was master of that easy, playful tone in conversation which
-is always pleasing to women. Moreover, he dressed well and was generous
-with his money, with which he was apparently well provided.
-
-In due time they were married, and Cosme, having no house of his own,
-came to live with his mother-in-law in Yala. Then, at length, what I
-had foreseen also happened. He ran out of money, and his new relations
-had nothing he could lay his hands on to sell. He was too proud to
-gamble for coppers, and the poor people of Yala had no silver to risk;
-he could not or would not work, and the vacant life he was living began
-to grow wearisome. Once more he took to his old courses, and it soon
-grew to be a common thing for him to be absent from home for a month or
-six weeks at a time. Marta looked unhappy, but would not complain or
-listen to a word against Cosme; for whenever he returned to Yala then
-his wife's great beauty was like a new thing to him, bringing him to
-her feet, and making him again for a brief season her devoted lover and
-slave.
-
-She at length became a mother. For her sake I was glad; for now with
-her infant boy to occupy her mind Cosme's neglect would seem more
-endurable. He was away when the child was born; he had gone, it was
-reported, into Catamarca, and for three months nothing was heard of
-him. This was a season of political troubles, and men being required to
-recruit the forces, all persons found wandering about the country not
-engaged in any lawful occupation, were taken for military service. And
-this had happened to Cosme. A letter from him reached Marta at last,
-informing her that he had been carried away to San Luis, and asking her
-to send him two hundred pesos, as with that amount he would be able to
-purchase his release. But it was impossible for her to raise the money;
-nor could she leave Yala to go to him, for her mother's strength was
-now rapidly failing, and Marta could not abandon her to the care of
-strangers. All this she was obliged to tell Cosme in the letter she
-wrote to him, and which perhaps never reached his hands, for no reply
-to it ever came.
-
-At length, the widow Riquelme died; then Marta sold the house and
-garden and all she possessed, and taking her child with her, went out
-to seek her husband. Travelling first to the town of Jujuy, she there,
-with other women, attached herself to a convoy about to start on a
-journey to the southern provinces. Several months went by, and then
-came the disastrous tidings to Yala that the convoy had been surprised
-by Indians in a lonely place and all the people slain.
-
-I will not here dwell on the anguish of mind I endured on learning
-Marta's sad end: for I tried hard to believe that her troubled life was
-indeed over, although I was often assured by my neighbours that the
-Indians invariably spare the women and children.
-
-Every blow dealt by a cruel destiny against this most unhappy woman
-had pierced my heart; and during the years that followed, and when the
-villagers had long ceased to speak of her, often in the dead of the
-night I rose and sought the house where she had lived, and walking
-under the trees in that garden where I had so often held intercourse
-with her, indulged a grief which time seemed powerless to mitigate.
-
-
-III.
-
-Marta was not dead; but what happened to her after her departure from
-Yala was this. When the convoy with which she journeyed was attacked
-the men only were slain, while the women and children were carried away
-into captivity. When the victors divided the spoil among themselves,
-the child, which even in that long painful journey into the desert,
-with the prospect of a life of cruel slavery before her, had been a
-comfort to Marta, was taken forcibly from her arms to be conveyed
-to some distant place, and from that moment she utterly lost sight
-of it. She herself was bought by an Indian able to pay for a pretty
-white captive, and who presently made her his wife. She, a Christian,
-the wife of a man loved only too well, could not endure this horrible
-fate which had overtaken her. She was also mad with grief at the loss
-of her child, and stealing out one dark stormy night she fled from
-the Indian settlement. For several days and nights she wandered about
-the desert, suffering every hardship and in constant fear of jaguars,
-and was at length found by the savages in a half-starved condition
-and unable longer to fly from them. Her owner, when she was restored
-to him, had no mercy on her: he bound her to a tree growing beside
-his hovel, and there every day he cruelly scourged her naked flesh to
-satisfy his barbarous resentment, until she was ready to perish with
-excessive suffering. He also cut off her hair, and braiding it into a
-belt wore it always round his waist,--a golden trophy which doubtless
-won him great honour and distinction amongst his fellow savages. When
-he had by these means utterly broken her spirit and reduced her to the
-last condition of weakness, he released her from the tree, but at the
-same time fastened a log of wood to her ankle, so that only with great
-labour, and drawing herself along with the aid of her hands, could
-she perform the daily tasks her master imposed on her. Only after a
-whole year of captivity, and when she had given birth to a child, was
-the punishment over and her foot released from the log. The natural
-affection which she felt for this child of a father so cruel was now
-poor Marta's only comfort. In this hard servitude five years of her
-miserable existence were consumed; and only those who know the stern,
-sullen, pitiless character of the Indian can imagine what this period
-was for Marta, without sympathy from her fellow-creatures, with no hope
-and no pleasure beyond the pleasure of loving and caressing her own
-infant savages. Of these she was now the mother of three.
-
-When her youngest was not many months old Marta had one day wandered
-some distance in search of sticks for firewood, when a woman, one of
-her fellow-captives from Jujuy, came running to her, for she had been
-watching for an opportunity of speaking with Marta. It happened that
-this woman had succeeded in persuading her Indian husband to take her
-back to her home in the Christian country, and she had at the same
-time won his consent to take Marta with them, having conceived a great
-affection for her. The prospect of escape filled poor Marta's heart
-with joy, but when she was told that her children could on no account
-be taken, then a cruel struggle commenced in her breast. Bitterly she
-pleaded for permission to take her babes, and at last overcome by her
-importunity her fellow-captive consented to her taking the youngest of
-the three; though this concession was made very reluctantly.
-
-In a short time the day appointed for the flight arrived, and Marta
-carrying her infant met her friends in the wood. They were quickly
-mounted, and the journey began which was to last for many days, and
-during which they were to suffer much from hunger, thirst and fatigue.
-One dark night as they journeyed through a hilly and wooded country,
-Marta being overcome with fatigue so that she could scarcely keep her
-seat, the Indian with affected kindness relieved her of the child she
-always carried in her arms. An hour passed, and then pressing forward
-to his side and asking for her child she was told that it had been
-dropped into a deep, swift stream over which they had swam their horses
-some time before. Of what happened after that she was unable to give
-any very clear account. She only dimly remembered that through many
-days of scorching heat and many nights of weary travel she was always
-piteously pleading for her lost child--always seeming to hear it crying
-to her to save it from destruction. The long journey ended at last.
-She was left by the others at the first Christian settlement they
-reached, after which travelling slowly from village to village she made
-her way to Yala. Her old neighbours and friends did not know her at
-first, but when they were at length convinced that it was indeed Marta
-Riquelme that stood before them she was welcomed like one returned from
-the grave. I heard of her arrival, and hastening forth to greet her
-found her seated before a neighbour's house already surrounded by half
-the people of the village.
-
-Was this woman indeed Marta, once the pride of Yala! It was hard to
-believe it, so darkened with the burning suns and winds of years was
-her face, once so fair; so wasted and furrowed with grief and the many
-hardships she had undergone! Her figure, worn almost to a skeleton, was
-clothed with ragged garments, while her head, bowed down with sorrow
-and despair, was divested of that golden crown which had been her chief
-ornament. Seeing me arrive she cast herself on her knees before me and
-taking my hand in hers covered it with tears and kisses. The grief I
-felt at the sight of her forlorn condition mingled with joy for her
-deliverance from death and captivity overcame me; I was shaken like a
-reed in the wind, and covering my face with my robe I sobbed aloud in
-the presence of all the people.
-
-
-IV.
-
-Everything that charity could dictate was done to alleviate her misery.
-A merciful woman of Yala received her into her house and provided
-her with decent garments. But a for time nothing served to raise her
-desponding spirits; she still grieved for her lost babe, and seemed
-ever in fancy listening to its piteous cries for help. When assured
-that Cosme would return in due time that alone gave her comfort. She
-believed what they told her, for it agreed with her wish, and by
-degrees the effects of her terrible experience began to wear off,
-giving place to a feeling of feverish impatience with which she looked
-forward to her husband's return. With this feeling, which I did all
-I could to encourage, perceiving it to be the only remedy against
-despair, came also a new anxiety about her personal appearance. She
-grew careful in her dress, and made the most of her short and sunburnt
-hair. Beauty she could never recover; but she possessed good features
-which could not be altered; her eyes also retained their violet colour,
-and hope brought back to her something of the vanished expression of
-other years.
-
-At length, when she had been with us over a year, one day there came a
-report that Cosme had arrived, that he had been seen in Yala, and had
-alighted at Andrada's door--the store in the main road. She heard it
-and rose up with a great cry of joy. He had come to her at last--he
-would comfort her! She could not wait for his arrival: what wonder!
-Hurrying forth she flew like the wind through the village, and in
-a few moments stood on Andrada's threshold, panting from her race,
-her cheeks glowing, all the hope and life and fire of her girlhood
-rushing back to her heart. There she beheld Cosme, changed but little,
-surrounded by his old companions, listening in silence and with a
-dismayed countenance to the story of Marta's sufferings in the great
-desert, of her escape and return to Yala, where she had been received
-like one come back from the sepulchre. Presently they caught sight of
-her standing there. "Here is Marta herself arrived in good time," they
-cried. "Behold your wife!"
-
-He shook himself from them with a strange laugh. "What, that woman
-my wife--Marta Riquelme!" he replied. "No, no, my friends, be not
-deceived; Marta perished long ago in the desert, where I have been to
-seek for her. Of her death I have no doubt; let me pass."
-
-He pushed by her, left her standing there motionless as a statue,
-unable to utter a word, and was quickly on his horse riding away from
-Yala.
-
-Then suddenly she recovered possession of her faculties, and with a
-cry of anguish hurried after him, imploring him to return to her; but
-finding that he would not listen to her she was overcome with despair
-and fell upon the earth insensible. She was taken up by the people who
-had followed her out and carried back into the house. Unhappily she was
-not dead, and when she recovered consciousness it was pitiful to hear
-the excuses she invented for the remorseless wretch who had abandoned
-her. She was altered, she said, greatly altered--it was not strange
-that Cosme had refused to believe that she could be the Marta of six
-years ago! In her heart she knew that nobody was deceived: to all Yala
-it was patent that she had been deserted. She could not endure it, and
-when she met people in the street she lowered her eyes and passed on,
-pretending not to see them. Most of her time was spent indoors, and
-there she would sit for hours without speaking or stirring, her cheeks
-resting on her hands, her eyes fixed on vacancy. My heart bled for her;
-morning and evening I remembered her in my prayers; by every argument I
-sought to cheer her drooping spirit, even telling her that the beauty
-and freshness of her youth would return to her in time, and that her
-husband would repent and come back to her.
-
-These efforts were fruitless. Before many days she disappeared from
-Yala, and though diligent search was made in the adjacent mountains
-she could not be found. Knowing how empty and desolate her life had
-been, deprived of every object of affection, I formed the opinion that
-she had gone back to the desert to seek the tribe where she had been a
-captive in the hope of once more seeing her lost children. At length,
-when all expectation of ever seeing her again had been abandoned, a
-person named Montero came to me with tidings of her. He was a poor
-man, a charcoal-burner, and lived with his wife and children in the
-forest about two hour's journey from Yala, at a distance from any other
-habitation. Finding Marta wandering lost in the woods he had taken
-her to his rancho, and she had been pleased to find this shelter,
-away from the people of Yala who knew her history; and it was at
-Marta's own request that this good man had ridden to the village to
-inform me of her safety. I was greatly relieved to hear all this, and
-thought that Marta had acted wisely in escaping from the villagers,
-who were always pointing her out and repeating her wonderful history.
-In that sequestered spot where she had taken refuge, removed from sad
-associations and gossiping tongues, the wounds in her heart would
-perhaps gradually heal and peace return to her perturbed spirit.
-
-Before many weeks had elapsed, however, Montero's wife came to me with
-a very sad account of Marta. She had grown day by day more silent and
-solitary in her habits, spending most of her time in some secluded spot
-among the trees, where she would sit motionless, brooding over her
-memories for hours at a time. Nor was this the worst. Occasionally
-she would make an effort to assist in the household work, preparing
-the patay or maize for the supper, or going out with Montero's wife to
-gather firewood in the forest. But suddenly, in the middle of her task,
-she would drop her bundle of sticks and, casting herself on the earth,
-break forth into the most heart-rending cries and lamentations, loudly
-exclaiming that God had unjustly persecuted her, that He was a being
-filled with malevolence, and speaking many things against Him very
-dreadful to hear. Deeply distressed at these tidings I called for my
-mule and accompanied the poor woman back to her own house; but when we
-arrived there Marta could nowhere be found.
-
-Most willingly would I have remained to see her, and try once more to
-win her back from these desponding moods, but I was compelled to return
-to Yala. For it happened that a fever epidemic had recently broken out
-and spread over the country, so that hardly a day passed without its
-long journey to perform and deathbed to attend. Often during those
-days, worn out with fatigue and want of sleep, I would dismount from my
-mule and rest for a season against a rock or tree, wishing for death
-to come and release me from so sad an existence.
-
-When I left Montero's house I charged him to send me news of Marta as
-soon as they should find her; but for several days I heard nothing.
-At length word came that they had discovered her hiding-place in the
-forest, but could not induce her to leave it, or even to speak to them;
-and they implored me to go to them, for they were greatly troubled at
-her state, and knew not what to do.
-
-Once more I went out to seek her; and this was the saddest journey
-of all, for even the elements were charged with unusual gloom, as if
-to prepare my mind for some unimaginable calamity. Rain, accompanied
-by terrific thunder and lightning, had been falling in torrents for
-several days, so that the country was all but impassable: the swollen
-streams roared between the hills, dragging down rocks and trees, and
-threatening, whenever we were compelled to ford them, to carry us away
-to destruction. The rain had ceased, but the whole sky was covered
-by a dark motionless cloud, unpierced by a single ray of sunshine.
-The mountains, wrapped in blue vapours, loomed before us, vast and
-desolate; and the trees, in that still, thick atmosphere, were like
-figures of trees hewn out of solid ink-black rock and set up in some
-shadowy subterranean region to mock its inhabitants with an imitation
-of the upper world.
-
-At length we reached Montero's hut, and, followed by all the family,
-went to look for Marta. The place where she had concealed herself was
-in a dense wood half a league from the house, and the ascent to it
-being steep and difficult Montero was compelled to walk before, leading
-my mule by the bridle. At length we came to the spot where they had
-discovered her, and there, in the shadow of the woods, we found Marta
-still in the same place, seated on the trunk of a fallen tree, which
-was sodden with the rain and half buried under great creepers and
-masses of dead and rotting foliage. She was in a crouching attitude,
-her feet gathered under her garments, which were now torn to rags and
-fouled with clay; her elbows were planted on her drawn-up knees, and
-her long bony fingers thrust into her hair, which fell in tangled
-disorder over her face. To this pitiable condition had she been brought
-by great and unmerited sufferings.
-
-Seeing her, a cry of compassion escaped my lips, and casting myself off
-my mule I advanced towards her. As I approached she raised her eyes
-to mine, and then I stood still, transfixed with amazement and horror
-at what I saw; for they were no longer those soft violet orbs which
-had retained until recently their sweet pathetic expression; now they
-were round and wild-looking, opened to thrice their ordinary size, and
-filled with a lurid yellow fire, giving them a resemblance to the eyes
-of some hunted savage animal.
-
-"Great God, she has lost her reason!" I cried; then falling on my
-knees I disengaged the crucifix from my neck with trembling hands, and
-endeavoured to hold it up before her sight. This movement appeared
-to infuriate her; the insane, desolate eyes, from which all human
-expression had vanished, became like two burning balls, which seemed to
-shoot out sparks of fire; her short hair rose up until it stood like an
-immense crest on her head; and suddenly bringing down her skeleton-like
-hands she thrust the crucifix violently from her, uttering at the same
-time a succession of moans and cries that pierced my heart with pain to
-hear. And presently flinging up her arms, she burst forth into shrieks
-so terrible in the depth of agony they expressed that overcome by the
-sound I sank upon the earth and hid my face. The others, who were close
-behind me, did likewise, for no human soul could endure those cries,
-the remembrance of which, even now after many years, causes the blood
-to run cold in my veins.
-
-"The Kakué! The Kakué!" exclaimed Montero, who was close behind me.
-
-Recalled to myself by these words I raised my eyes only to discover
-that Marta was no longer before me. For even in that moment, when those
-terrible cries were ringing through my heart, waking the echoes of the
-mountain solitudes, the awful change had come, and she had looked her
-last with human eyes on earth and on man! In another form--that strange
-form of the Kakué--she had fled out of our sight for ever to hide in
-those gloomy woods which were henceforth to be her dwelling place.
-And I--most miserable of men, what had I done that all my prayers and
-strivings had been thus frustrated, that out of my very hands the
-spirit of the power of darkness had thus been permitted to wrest this
-unhappy soul from me!
-
-I rose up trembling from the earth, the tears pouring unchecked down
-my cheeks, while the members of Montero's family gathered round me
-and clung to my garments. Night closed on us, black as despair and
-death, and with the greatest difficulty we made our way back through
-the woods. But I would not remain at the rancho; at the risk of my
-life I returned to Yala, and all through that dark solitary ride I was
-incessantly crying out to God to have mercy on me. Towards midnight I
-reached the village in safety, but the horror with which that unheard
-of tragedy infected me, the fears and the doubts which dared not yet
-shape themselves into words, remained in my breast to torture me.
-For days I could neither eat nor sleep. I was reduced to a skeleton
-and my hair began to turn white before its time. Being now incapable
-of performing my duties, and believing that death was approaching I
-yearned once more for the city of my birth. I escaped at length from
-Yala, and with great difficulty reached the town of Jujuy, and from
-thence by slow stages I journeyed back to Cordova.
-
-
-V.
-
-"Once more do I behold thee, O Cordova, beautiful to my eyes as the
-new Jerusalem coming down from Heaven to those who have witnessed the
-resurrection! Here, where my life began, may I now be allowed to lie
-down in peace, like a tired child that falls asleep on its mother's
-breast."
-
-Thus did I apostrophize my natal city, when, looking from the height
-above, I at last saw it before me, girdled with purple hills and bright
-with the sunshine, the white towers of the many churches springing out
-of the green mist of groves and gardens.
-
-Nevertheless Providence ordained that in Cordova I was to find life and
-not death. Surrounded by old beloved friends, worshipping in the old
-church I knew so well, health returned to me, and I was like one who
-rises after a night of evil dreams and goes forth to feel the sunshine
-and fresh wind on his face. I told the strange story of Marta to one
-person only; this was Father Irala, a learned and discreet man of
-great piety, and one high in authority in the church at Cordova. I was
-astonished that he was able to listen calmly to the things I related;
-he spoke some consoling words, but made no attempt then or afterwards
-to throw any light on the mystery. In Cordova a great cloud seemed to
-be lifted from my mind which left my faith unimpaired; I was once more
-cheerful and happy--happier than I had ever been since leaving it.
-Three months went by; then Irala told me one day that it was time for
-me to return to Yala, for my health being restored there was nothing to
-keep me longer from my flock.
-
-O that flock, that flock, in which for me there had been only one
-precious lamb!
-
-I was greatly disquieted; all those nameless doubts and fears which
-had left me now seemed returning; I begged him to spare me, to send
-some younger man, ignorant of the matters I had imparted to him,
-to take my place. He replied that for the very reason that I was
-acquainted with those matters I was the only fit person to go to Yala.
-Then in my agitation I unburdened my heart to him. I spoke of that
-heathenish apathy of the people I had struggled in vain to overcome,
-of the temptations I had encountered--the passion of anger and earthly
-love, the impulse to commit some terrible crime. Then had come the
-tragedy of Marta Riquelme, and the spiritual world had seemed to
-resolve itself into a chaos where Christ was powerless to save; in my
-misery and despair my reason had almost forsaken me and I had fled
-from the country. In Cordova hope had revived, my prayers had brought
-an immediate response, and the Author of salvation seemed to be near
-to me. Here in Cordova, I said in conclusion, was life, but in the
-soul-destroying atmosphere of Yala death eternal.
-
-"Brother Sepulvida," he answered, "we know all your sufferings and
-suffer with you; nevertheless you must return to Yala. Though there in
-the enemy's country, in the midst of the fight, when hard pressed and
-wounded, you have perhaps doubted God's omnipotence, He calls you to
-the front again, where He will be with you and fight at your side. It
-is for you, not for us, to find the solution of those mysteries which
-have troubled you; and that you have already come near to the solution
-your own words seem to show. Remember that we are here not for our own
-pleasure, but to do our Master's work; that the highest reward will
-not be for those who sit in the cool shade, book in hand, but for the
-toilers in the field who are suffering the burden and heat of the day.
-Return to Yala and be of good heart, and in due time all things will be
-made clear to your understanding."
-
-These words gave me some comfort, and meditating much on them I took my
-departure from Cordova, and in due time arrived at my destination.
-
-I had, on quitting Yala, forbidden Montero and his wife to speak of the
-manner of Marta's disappearance, believing that it would be better for
-my people to remain in ignorance of such a matter; but now, when going
-about in the village on my return I found that it was known to every
-one. That "Marta had become a Kakué," was mentioned on all sides; yet
-it did not affect them with astonishment and dismay that this should
-be so, it was merely an event for idle women to chatter about, like
-Quiteria's elopement or Maxima's quarrel with her mother-in-law.
-
-It was now the hottest season of the year, when it was impossible to
-be very active, or much out of doors. During those days the feeling of
-despondence began again to weigh heavily on my heart. I pondered on
-Irala's words, and prayed continually, but the illumination he had
-prophesied came not. When I preached, my voice was like the buzzing
-of summer flies to the people: they came or sat or knelt on the floor
-of the church, and heard me with stolid unmoved countenances, then
-went forth again unchanged in heart. After the morning Mass I would
-return to my house, and, sitting alone in my room, pass the sultry
-hours, immersed in melancholy thoughts, having no inclination to work.
-At such times the image of Marta, in all the beauty of her girlhood,
-crowned with her shining golden hair, would rise before me, until the
-tears gathering in my eyes would trickle through my fingers. Then too
-I often recalled that terrible scene in the wood--the crouching figure
-in its sordid rags, the glaring furious eyes,--again those piercing
-shrieks seemed to ring through me, and fill the dark mountain's forest
-with echoes, and I would start up half maddened with the sensations of
-horror renewed within me.
-
-And one day, while sitting in my room, with these memories for only
-company, all at once a voice in my soul told me that the end was
-approaching, that the crisis was come, and that to whichever side I
-fell, there I should remain through all eternity. I rose up from my
-seat staring straight before me, like one who sees an assassin enter
-his apartment dagger in hand and who nerves himself for the coming
-struggle. Instantly all my doubts, my fears, my unshapen thoughts found
-expression, and with a million tongues shrieked out in my soul against
-my Redeemer. I called aloud on Him to save me, but He came not; and
-the spirits of darkness, enraged at my long resistance, had violently
-seized on my soul, and were dragging it down perdition. I reached forth
-my hands and took hold of the crucifix standing near me, and clung to
-it as a drowning mariner does to a floating spar. "Cast it down!" cried
-out a hundred devils in my ear. "Trample under foot this symbol of a
-slavery which has darkened your life and made earth a hell! He that
-died on the cross is powerless now; miserably do they perish who put
-their trust in Him! Remember Marta Riquelme, and save yourself from her
-fate while there is time."
-
-My hands relaxed their hold on the cross, and falling on the stones,
-I cried aloud to the Lord to slay me and take my soul, for by death
-only could I escape from that great crime my enemies were urging me to
-commit.
-
-Scarcely had I pronounced these words before I felt that the fiends had
-left me, like ravening wolves scared from their quarry. I rose up and
-washed the blood from my bruised forehead, and praised God; for now
-there was a great calm in my heart, and I knew that He who died to save
-the world was with me, and that His grace had enabled me to conquer and
-deliver my own soul from perdition.
-
-From that time I began to see the meaning of Irala's words, that it was
-for me and not for him to find the solution of the mysteries which had
-troubled me, and that I had already come near to finding it. I also saw
-the reason of that sullen resistance to religion in the minds of the
-people of Yala; of the temptations which had assailed me--the strange
-tempests of anger and the carnal passions, never experienced elsewhere,
-and which had blown upon my heart like hot blighting winds; and even
-of all the events of Marta Riquelme's tragic life; for all these
-things had been ordered with devilish cunning to drive my soul into
-rebellion. I no longer dwelt persistently on that isolated event of
-her transformation, for now the whole action of that tremendous warfare
-in which the powers of darkness are arrayed against the messengers of
-the Gospel began to unfold itself before me.
-
-In thought I went back to the time, centuries ago, when as yet not one
-ray of heavenly light had fallen upon this continent; when men bowed
-down in worship to gods, which they called in their several languages
-Pachacamac, Viracocho, and many others; names which being translated
-mean, The All-powerful, Ruler of Men, The Strong Comer, Lord of the
-Dead, The Avenger. These were not mythical beings; they were mighty
-spiritual entities, differing from each other in character, some
-taking delight in wars and destruction, while others regarded their
-human worshippers with tolerant and even kindly feelings. And because
-of this belief in powerful benevolent beings some learned Christian
-writers have held that the aborigines possessed a knowledge of the
-true God, albeit obscured by many false notions. This is a manifest
-error; for if in the material world light and darkness cannot mingle,
-much less can the Supreme Ruler stoop to share His sovereignty with
-Belial and Moloch, or in this continent, with Tupa and Viracocho:
-but all these demons, great and small, and known by various names,
-were angels of darkness who had divided amongst themselves this new
-world and the nations dwelling in it. Nor need we be astonished at
-finding here resemblance to the true religion--majestic and graceful
-touches suggesting the Divine Artist; for Satan himself is clothed
-as an angel of light, and scruples not to borrow the things invented
-by the Divine Intelligence. These spirits possessed unlimited power
-and authority; their service was the one great business of all men's
-lives; individual character and natural feelings were crushed out by
-an implacable despotism, and no person dreamed of disobedience to
-their decrees, interpreted by their high priests; but all men were
-engaged in raising colossal temples, enriched with gold and precious
-stones, to their honour, and priests and virgins in tens of thousands
-conducted their worship with a pomp and magnificence surpassing those
-of ancient Egypt or Babylon. Nor can we doubt that these beings often
-made use of their power to suspend the order of nature, transforming
-men into birds and beasts, causing the trembling of the earth which
-ruins whole cities, and performing many other stupendous miracles to
-demonstrate their authority or satisfy their malignant natures. The
-time came when it pleased the Ruler of the world to overthrow this evil
-empire, using for that end the ancient, feeble instruments despised of
-men, the missionary priests, and chiefly those of the often persecuted
-Brotherhood founded by Loyola, whose zeal and holiness have always been
-an offence to the proud and carnal-minded. Country after country, tribe
-after tribe, the old gods were deprived of their kingdom, fighting
-always with all their weapons to keep back the tide of conquest.
-And at length, defeated at all points, and like an army fighting in
-defence of its territory, and gradually retiring before the invader to
-concentrate itself in some apparently inaccessible region and there
-stubbornly resist to the end; so have all the old gods and demons
-retired into this secluded country, where, if they cannot keep out the
-seeds of truth they have at least succeeded in rendering the soil it
-falls upon barren as stone. Nor does it seem altogether strange that
-these once potent beings should be satisfied to remain in comparative
-obscurity and inaction when the entire globe is open to them, offering
-fields worthy of their evil ambition. For great as their power and
-intelligence must be they are, nevertheless, finite beings, possessing
-like man, individual characteristics, capabilities and limitations;
-and after reigning where they have lost a continent, they may possibly
-be unfit or unwilling to serve elsewhere. For we know that even in the
-strong places of Christianity there are spirits enough for the evil
-work of leading men astray; whole nations are given up to damnable
-heresies, and all religion is trodden under foot by many whose portion
-will be where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.
-
-From the moment of my last struggle, when this revelation began to
-dawn upon my mind, I have been safe from their persecutions. No angry
-passions, no sinful motions, no doubts and despondence disturb the
-peace of my soul. I was filled with fresh zeal, and in the pulpit felt
-that it was not my voice, but the voice of some mighty spirit speaking
-with my lips and preaching to the people with an eloquence of which I
-was not capable. So far, however, it has been powerless to win their
-souls. The old gods, although no longer worshipped openly, are their
-gods still, and could a new Tupac Amaru arise to pluck down the symbols
-of Christianity, and proclaim once more the Empire of the Sun, men
-would everywhere bow down to worship his rising beams and joyfully
-rebuild temples to the Lightning and the Rainbow.
-
-Although the lost spirits cannot harm they are always near me,
-watching all my movements, ever striving to frustrate my designs. Nor
-am I unmindful of their presence. Even here, sitting in my study and
-looking out on the mountains, rising like stupendous stairs towards
-heaven and losing their summits in the gathering clouds, I seem to
-discern the awful shadowy form of Pachacamac, supreme among the old
-gods. Though his temples are in ruins, where the Pharaohs of the Andes
-and their millions of slaves worshipped him for a thousand years, he
-is awful still in his majesty and wrath that plays like lightning on
-his furrowed brows, kindling his stern countenance, and the beard
-which rolls downward like an immense white cloud to his knees. Around
-him gather other tremendous forms in their cloudy vestments--the
-Strongcomer, the Lord of the Dead, the Avenger, the Ruler of men, and
-many others whose names were once mighty throughout the continent.
-They have met to take counsel together; I hear their voices in the
-thunder hoarsely rolling from the hills, and in the wind stirring the
-forest before the coming tempest. Their faces are towards me, they are
-pointing to me with their cloudy hands, they are speaking of me--even
-of me, an old, feeble, worn-out man! But I do not quail before them; my
-soul is firm though my flesh is weak; though my knees tremble while I
-gaze, I dare look forward even to win another victory over them before
-I depart.
-
-Day and night I pray for that soul still wandering lost in the great
-wilderness; and no voice rebukes my hope or tells me that my prayer is
-unlawful. I strain my eyes gazing out towards the forest; but I know
-not whether Marta Riquelme will return to me with the tidings of her
-salvation in a dream of the night, or clothed in the garments of the
-flesh, in the full light of day. For her salvation I wait, and when I
-have seen it I shall be ready to depart; for as the traveller, whose
-lips are baked with hot winds, and who thirsts for a cooling draught
-and swallows sand, strains his eyeballs to see the end of his journey
-in some great desert, so do I look forward to the goal of this life,
-when I shall go to Thee, O my Master, and be at rest!
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX TO EL OMBÚ.
-
-THE ENGLISH INVASION AND THE GAME OF EL PATO.
-
-
-I must say at once that El Ombú is mostly a true story, although the
-events did not occur exactly in the order given. The incidents relating
-to the English invasion of June and July, 1807, is told pretty much as
-I had it from the old gaucho called Nicandro in the narrative. That
-was in the sixties. The undated notes which I made of my talks with
-the old man, containing numerous anecdotes of Santos Ugarte and the
-whole history of El Ombú, were written, I think, in 1868--the year of
-the great dust storm. These ancient notes are now before me, and look
-very strange, both as to the writing and the quality of the paper;
-also as to the dirtiness of the same, which makes me think that the
-old manuscript must have been out in that memorable storm, which, I
-remember, ended with rain--the rain coming down as liquid mud.
-
-There were other old men living in that part of the country who, as
-boys, had witnessed the march of an English army on Buenos Ayres, and
-one of these confirmed the story of the blankets thrown away by the
-army, and of the chaff between some of the British soldiers and the
-natives.
-
-I confess I had some doubts as to the truth of this blanket story when
-I came to read over my old notes; but in referring to the proceedings
-of the court-martial on Lieutenant-General Whitelocke, published in
-London in 1808, I find that the incident is referred to. On page 57 of
-the first volume occurs the following statement, made by General Gower
-in his evidence. "The men, particularly of Brigadier-General Lumley's
-brigade, were very much exhausted, and Lieutenant-General Whitelocke,
-to give them a chance of getting on with tolerable rapidity, ordered
-all the blankets of the army to be thrown down."
-
-There is nothing, however, in the evidence about the blankets having
-been used to make a firmer bottom for the army to cross a river, nor is
-the name of the river mentioned.
-
-Another point in the old gaucho's story may strike the English reader
-as very strange and almost incredible; this is, that within a very
-few miles of the army of the hated foreign invader, during its march
-on the capital, where the greatest excitement prevailed and every
-preparation for defence was being made, a large number of men were
-amusing themselves at the game of El Pato. To those who are acquainted
-with the character of the gaucho there is nothing incredible in such a
-fact; for the gaucho is, or was, absolutely devoid of the sentiment of
-patriotism, and regarded all rulers, all in authority from the highest
-to the lowest, as his chief enemies, and the worst kind of robbers,
-since they robbed him not only of his goods but of his liberty.
-
-It mattered not to him whether his country paid tribute to Spain or to
-England, whether a man appointed by someone at a distance as Governor
-or Viceroy had black or blue eyes. It was seen that when the Spanish
-dominion came to an end his hatred was transferred to the ruling
-cliques of a so-called Republic. When the gauchos attached themselves
-to Rosas, and assisted him to climb into power, they were under the
-delusion that he was one of themselves, and would give them that
-perfect liberty to live their own lives in their own way, which is
-their only desire. They found out their mistake when it was too late.
-
-It was Rosas who abolished the game of El Pato, but before saying more
-on that point it would be best to describe the game. I have never
-seen an account of it in print, but for a very long period, and down
-to probably about 1840, it was the most popular out-door game on the
-Argentine pampas. Doubtless it originated there; it was certainly
-admirably suited to the habits and disposition of the horsemen of the
-plains; and unlike most out-door games it retained its original simple,
-rude character to the end.
-
-Pato means duck; and to play the game a duck or fowl, or, as was
-usually the case, some larger domestic bird--turkey, gosling, or
-muscovy duck--was killed and sewn up in a piece of stout raw hide,
-forming a somewhat shapeless ball, twice as big as a football, and
-provided with four loops or handles of strong twisted raw hide made of
-a convenient size to be grasped by a man's hand. A great point was to
-have the ball and handles so strongly made that three or four powerful
-men could take hold and tug until they dragged each other to the ground
-without anything giving way.
-
-Whenever it was resolved at any place to have a game, and someone
-had offered to provide the bird, and the meeting place had been
-settled, notice would be sent round among the neighbours; and at the
-appointed time all the men and youths living within a circle of several
-leagues would appear on the spot, mounted on their best horses. On
-the appearance of the man on the ground carrying the duck the others
-would give chase; and by-and-by he would be overtaken, and the ball
-wrested from his hand; the victor in his turn would be pursued, and
-when overtaken there would perhaps be a scuffle or scrimmage, as in
-football, only the strugglers would be first on horseback before
-dragging each other to the earth. Occasionally when this happened a
-couple of hot-headed players, angry at being hurt or worsted, would
-draw their weapons against each other in order to find who was in the
-right, or to prove which was the better man. But fight or no fight,
-someone would get the duck and carry it away to be chased again.
-Leagues of ground would be gone over by the players in this way, and
-at last some one, luckier or better mounted than his fellows, would
-get the duck and successfully run the gauntlet of the people scattered
-about on the plain, and make good his escape. He was the victor, and
-it was his right to carry the bird home and have it for his dinner.
-This was, however, a mere fiction; the man who carried off the duck
-made for the nearest house, followed by all the others, and there not
-only the duck was cooked, but a vast amount of meat to feed the whole
-of the players. While the dinner was in preparation, messengers would
-be despatched to neighbouring houses to invite the women; and on their
-arrival dancing would be started and kept up all night.
-
-To the gauchos of the great plains, who took to the back of a horse
-from childhood, almost as spontaneously as a parasite to the animal on
-which it feeds, the pato was the game of games, and in their country
-as much as cricket and football and golf together to the inhabitants
-of this island. Nor could there have been any better game for men
-whose existence, or whose success in life, depended so much on their
-horsemanship; and whose chief glory it was to be able to stick on
-under difficulties, and, when sticking on was impossible, to fall off
-gracefully and like a cat, on their feet. To this game the people of
-the pampa were devoted up to a time when it came into the head of a
-president of the republic to have no more of it, and with a stroke of
-the pen it was abolished for ever.
-
-It would take a strong man in this country to put down any out-door
-game to which the people are attached; and he was assuredly a very
-strong man who did away with El Pato in that land. If any other man
-who has occupied the position of head of the State at any time during
-the last ninety years, had attempted such a thing a universal shout of
-derision would have been the result, and wherever such an absurd decree
-had appeared pasted up on the walls and doors of churches, shops, and
-other public places, the gauchos would have been seen filling their
-mouths with water to squirt it over the despised paper. But this man
-was more than a president; he was that Rosas, called by his enemies
-the 'Nero of America.' Though by birth a member of a distinguished
-family, he was by predilection a gaucho, and early in life took
-to the semi-barbarous life of the plains. Among his fellows Rosas
-distinguished himself as a dare-devil, one who was not afraid to throw
-himself from the back of his own horse on to that of a wild horse in
-the midst of a flying herd into which he had charged. He had all the
-gaucho's native ferocity, his fierce hates and prejudices; and it was
-in fact his intimate knowledge of the people he lived with, his oneness
-in mind with them, that gave him his wonderful influence over them, and
-enabled him to carry out his ambitious schemes. But why, when he had
-succeeded in making himself all-powerful by means of their help, when
-he owed them so much, and the ties uniting him to them were so close,
-did he deprive them of their beloved pastime? The reason, which will
-sound almost ridiculous after what I have said of the man's character,
-was that he considered the game too rough. It is true that it had
-(for him) its advantages, since it made the men of the plains hardy,
-daring, resourceful fighters on horseback--the kind of men he most
-needed for his wars; on the other hand, it caused so much injury to the
-players, and resulted in so many bloody fights and fierce feuds between
-neighbours that he considered he lost more than he gained by it.
-
-There were not men enough in the country for his wants; even boys of
-twelve and fourteen were sometimes torn from the arms of their weeping
-mothers to be made soldiers of; he could not afford to have full-grown
-strong men injuring and killing each other for their own amusement.
-They must, like good citizens, sacrifice their pleasure for their
-country's sake. And at length, when his twenty years' reign was over,
-when people were again free to follow their own inclinations without
-fear of bullet and cold steel--it was generally cold steel in those
-days--those who had previously played the game had had roughness enough
-in their lives, and now only wanted rest and ease; while the young men
-and youths who had not taken part in El Pato nor seen it played, had
-never come under its fascination, and had no wish to see it revived.
-
-
-
-
-
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-      The Project Gutenberg eBook of El Ombú, by W. H. Hudson.
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-<pre>
-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of El Ombú, by William Henry Hudson
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-
-Title: El Ombú
-
-Author: William Henry Hudson
-
-Release Date: October 21, 2019 [EBook #60541]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EL OMBÚ ***
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-Produced by Tim Lindell, Martin Pettit and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
-file was produced from images generously made available
-by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
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-</pre>
-
-
-<div class ="mynote"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note:<br /><br />
-Obvious typographic errors have been corrected.<br /></p></div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<div class="center"><a name="cover.jpg" id="cover.jpg"></a><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="cover" /></div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<h1>EL OMBÚ</h1>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p class="center">Uniform with this volume <span class="smcap">The Readers' Library</span>. 50 volumes
-published. Full list of titles can be had from the Publishers
-<span class="smcap">Duckworth &amp; Co. Covent Garden, London</span></p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p class="bold2">El Ombú</p>
-
-<p class="bold">by W. H. Hudson</p>
-
-<p class="bold">Author of "Green Mansions," "The Purple Land," "A<br />
-Crystal Age," "A Little Boy Lost"</p>
-
-<div class="center space-above"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<div><i>Cada comarca en la tierra</i></div>
-<div><i>Tiene su rasgo prominente,</i></div>
-<div><i>Brazil tiene su sol ardiente,</i></div>
-<div><i>Minas de plata el Perú:</i></div>
-<div><i>Buenos Ayres&mdash;patria hermosa&mdash;</i></div>
-<div><i>Tiene su Pampa grandiosa;</i></div>
-<div><i>La Pampa tiene el Ombú.</i></div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p class="bold space-above">LONDON<br />DUCKWORTH &amp; CO.<br />3 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p class="center"><i>First Published 1902.</i><br />
-<i>Reissued under the title of "South American Sketches" 1909</i><br />
-<i>Published in the Readers Library 1920</i></p>
-
-<p class="center"><i>All rights reserved</i></p>
-
-<p class="center space-above"><i>Printed in Great Britain by R. Folkard &amp; Son, London</i></p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p class="center"><span class="smcap">To my Friend</span></p>
-
-<p class="center">R. B. CUNNINGHAME GRAHAM</p>
-
-<p class="center">("<i>Singularisimo escritor ingles</i>")</p>
-
-<p class="center">Who has lived with and knows (even to the marrow as they would
-themselves say) the horsemen of the Pampas, and who alone of European
-writers has rendered something of the vanishing colour of that remote life.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<h2>NOTE.</h2>
-
-<p>The two short stories included in this volume are reprints:&mdash;the
-"Story of a Piebald Horse" from a book of travel and adventure in
-South America, long out of print; the other, "Niño Diablo," is taken,
-by permission, from <i>Macmillan's Magazine</i>. The two long stories now
-appear for the first time, excepting only the incidents of the English
-invasion told in "El Ombú," and the Appendix to the same story, which
-formed part of an article describing the game of El Pato in the
-<i>Badminton Magazine</i>.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
-
-<table summary="CONTENTS">
-  <tr>
-    <td colspan="2" class="left"></td>
-    <td><span class="smaller">PAGE</span></td>
-  </tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td>1.&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
-    <td class="left">El Ombú</td>
-    <td><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td>
-  </tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td>2.&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
-    <td class="left">Story of a Piebald Horse</td>
-    <td><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td>
-  </tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td>3.&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
-    <td class="left">Niño Diablo</td>
-    <td><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td>
-  </tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td>4.&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
-    <td class="left">Marta Riquelme</td>
-    <td><a href="#Page_125">125</a></td>
-  </tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td>5.&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
-    <td class="left">Appendix to El Ombú</td>
-    <td><a href="#Page_174">174</a></td>
-  </tr>
-</table>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>EL OMBÚ.</h2>
-
-<blockquote><p class="center"><i>This history of a house that had been was told in the shade, one
-summer's day, by Nicandro, that old man to whom we all loved to listen,
-since he could remember and properly narrate the life of every person
-he had known in his native place, near to the lake of Chascomus, on the
-southern pampas of Buenos Ayres.</i></p></blockquote>
-
-<p>In all this district, though you should go twenty leagues to this
-way and that, you will not find a tree as big as this ombú, standing
-solitary, where there is no house; therefore it is known to all as "the
-ombú," as if but one existed; and the name of all this estate, which is
-now ownerless and ruined, is El Ombú. From one of the higher branches,
-if you can climb, you will see the lake of Chascomus, two thirds of a
-league away, from shore to shore, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> village on its banks. Even
-smaller things will you see on a clear day; perhaps a red line moving
-across the water&mdash;a flock of flamingos flying in their usual way. A
-great tree standing alone, with no house near it; only the old brick
-foundations of a house, so overgrown with grass and weeds that you have
-to look closely to find them. When I am out with my flock in the summer
-time, I often come here to sit in the shade. It is near the main road;
-travellers, droves of cattle, the diligence, and bullock-carts pass in
-sight. Sometimes, at noon, I find a traveller resting in the shade, and
-if he is not sleeping we talk and he tells me the news of that great
-world my eyes have never seen. They say that sorrow and at last ruin
-comes upon the house on whose roof the shadow of the ombú tree falls;
-and on that house which now is not, the shadow of this tree came every
-summer day when the sun was low. They say, too, that those who sit much
-in the ombú shade become crazed. Perhaps, sir, the bone of my skull is
-thicker than in most men, since I have been accustomed to sit here all
-my life, and though now an old man I have not yet lost my reason. It
-is true that evil fortune came to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> old house in the end; but into
-every door sorrow must enter&mdash;sorrow and death that comes to all men;
-and every house must fall at last.</p>
-
-<p>Do you hear the mangangá, the carpenter bee, in the foliage over
-our heads? Look at him, like a ball of shining gold among the green
-leaves, suspended in one place, humming loudly! Ah, señor, the years
-that are gone, the people that have lived and died, speak to me thus
-audibly when I am sitting here by myself. These are memories; but there
-are other things that come back to us from the past; I mean ghosts.
-Sometimes, at midnight, the whole tree, from its great roots to its
-topmost leaves, is seen from a distance shining like white fire. What
-is that fire, seen of so many, which does not scorch the leaves? And,
-sometimes, when a traveller lies down here to sleep the siesta, he
-hears sounds of footsteps coming and going, and noises of dogs and
-fowls, and of children shouting and laughing, and voices of people
-talking; but when he starts up and listens, the sounds grow faint, and
-seem at last to pass away into the tree with a low murmur as of wind
-among the leaves.</p>
-
-<p>As a small boy, from the time when I was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> able, at the age of about
-six years, to climb on to a pony and ride, I knew this tree. It was
-then what it is now; five men with their arms stretched to their utmost
-length could hardly encircle it. And the house stood there, where you
-see a bed of nettles&mdash;a long, low house, built of bricks, when there
-were few brick houses in this district, with a thatched roof.</p>
-
-<p>The last owner was just touching on old age. Not that he looked aged;
-on the contrary, he looked what he was, a man among men, a head taller
-than most, with the strength of an ox; but the wind had blown a little
-sprinkling of white ashes into his great beard and his hair, which
-grew to his shoulders like the mane of a black horse. That was Don
-Santos Ugarte, known to all men in this district as the White Horse,
-on account of the whiteness of his skin where most men look dark; also
-because of that proud temper and air of authority which he had. And
-for still another reason&mdash;the number of children in this neighbourhood
-of which he was said to be the father. In all houses, for many leagues
-around, the children were taught to reverence him, calling him "uncle,"
-and when he appeared they would run and, dropping on their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> knees
-before him, cry out "<i>Bendicion mi tio.</i>" He would give them his
-blessing; then, after tweaking a nose and pinching an ear or two, he
-would flourish his whip over their heads to signify that he had done
-with them, and that they must quickly get out of his way.</p>
-
-<p>These were children of the wind, as the saying is, and the desire of
-his heart was for a legitimate son, an Ugarte by name, who would come
-after him at El Ombú, as he had come after his father. But though he
-had married thrice, there was no son born, and no child. Some thought
-it a mystery that one with so many sons should yet be without a son.
-The mystery, friend, was only for those who fail to remember that such
-things are not determined by ourselves. We often say, that He who is
-above us is too great to concern Himself with our small affairs. There
-are so many of us; and how shall He, seated on his throne at so great
-a distance, know all that passes in his dominions! But Santos was no
-ordinary person, and He who was greater than Santos had doubtless had
-his attention drawn to this man; and had considered the matter, and had
-said, "You shall not have your desire; for though you are a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> devout
-man, one who gives freely of his goods to the church and my poor, I am
-not wholly satisfied with you." And so it came to pass that he had no
-son and heir.</p>
-
-<p>His first two wives had died, so it was said, because of his bitterness
-against them. I only knew the third&mdash;Doña Mericie, a silent, sad woman,
-who was of less account than any servant, or any slave in the house.
-And I, a simple boy, what could I know of the secrets of her heart?
-Nothing! I only saw her pale and silent and miserable, and because her
-eyes followed me, I feared her, and tried always to keep out of her
-way. But one morning, when I came to El Ombú and went into the kitchen,
-I found her there alone, and before I could escape she caught me in
-her arms, and lifting me off my feet strained me against her breast,
-crying, <i>hijo de mi alma</i>, and I knew not what beside; and calling
-God's blessing on me, she covered my face with kisses. Then all at
-once, hearing Santo's voice without, she dropped me and remained like a
-woman of stone, staring at the door with scared eyes.</p>
-
-<p>She, too, died in a little while, and her disappearance made no
-difference in the house, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> if Santos wore a black band on his arm,
-it was because custom demanded it and not because he mourned for her in
-his heart.</p>
-
-<h3>II.</h3>
-
-<p>That silent ghost of a woman being gone, no one could say of him that
-he was hard; nor could anything be said against him except that he was
-not a saint, in spite of his name. But, sir, we do not look for saints
-among strong men, who live in the saddle, and are at the head of big
-establishments. If there was one who was a father to the poor it was
-Santos; therefore he was loved by many, and only those who had done him
-an injury or had crossed him in any way had reason to fear and hate
-him. But let me now relate what I, a boy of ten, witnessed one day in
-the year 1808. This will show you what the man's temper was; and his
-courage, and the strength of his wrists.</p>
-
-<p>It was his custom to pay a visit every two or three months to a
-monastery at a distance of half-a-day's journey from El Ombú.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>He was greatly esteemed by the friars, and whenever he went to see them
-he had a led horse to carry his presents to the Brothers;&mdash;a side of
-fat beef, a sucking-pig or two, a couple of lambs, when they were in
-season, a few fat turkeys and ducks, a bunch of big partridges, a brace
-or two of armadillos, the breast and wings of a fat ostrich; and in
-summer, a dozen ostriches' eggs, and I know not what besides.</p>
-
-<p>One evening I was at El Ombú, and was just starting for home, when
-Santos saw me, and cried out, "Get off and let your horse go, Nicandro.
-I am going to the monastery to-morrow, and you shall ride the laden
-horse, and save me the trouble of leading it. You will be like a little
-bird perched on his back and he will not feel your few ounces' weight.
-You can sleep on a sheepskin in the kitchen, and get up an hour before
-daybreak."</p>
-
-<p>The stars were still shining when we set out on our journey the
-next morning, in the month of June, and when we crossed the river
-Sanborombón at sunrise the earth was all white with hoar frost. At
-noon, we arrived at our destination, and were received by the friars,
-who embraced and kissed Santos on both cheeks, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> took charge of our
-horses. After breakfast in the kitchen, the day being now warm and
-pleasant, we went and sat out of doors to sip maté and smoke, and for
-an hour or longer, the conversation between Santos and the Brothers
-had been going on when, all at once, a youth appeared coming at a
-fast gallop towards the gate, shouting as he came, "Los Ingleses! Los
-Ingleses!" We all jumped up and ran to the gate, and climbing up by the
-posts and bars, saw at a distance of less than half-a-league to the
-east, a great army of men marching in the direction of Buenos Ayres.
-We could see that the foremost part of the army had come to a halt on
-the banks of a stream which flows past the monastery and empties itself
-into the Plata, two leagues further east. The army was all composed of
-infantry, but a great many persons on horseback could be seen following
-it, and these, the young man said, were neighbours who had come out to
-look at the English invaders; and he also said that the soldiers, on
-arriving at the stream, had begun to throw away their blankets, and
-that the people were picking them up. Santos hearing this, said he
-would go and join the crowd, and mounting his horse and followed by me,
-and by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> two of the Brothers, who said they wished to get a few blankets
-for the monastery, we set out at a gallop for the stream.</p>
-
-<p>Arrived at the spot, we found that the English, not satisfied with the
-ford, which had a very muddy bottom, had made a new crossing-place for
-themselves by cutting down the bank on both sides, and that numbers
-of blankets had been folded and laid in the bed of the stream where
-it was about twenty-five yards wide. Hundreds of blankets were also
-being thrown away, and the people were picking them up and loading
-their horses with them. Santos at once threw himself into the crowd
-and gathered about a dozen blankets, the best he could find, for the
-friars; then he gathered a few for himself and ordered me to fasten
-them on the back of my horse.</p>
-
-<p>The soldiers, seeing us scrambling for the blankets, were much amused;
-but when one man among us cried out, "These people must be mad to throw
-their blankets away in cold weather&mdash;perhaps their red jackets will
-keep them warm when they lie down to-night"&mdash;there was one soldier who
-understood, and could speak Spanish, and he replied, "No, sirs, we
-have no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> further need of blankets. When we next sleep it will be in
-the best beds in the capitol." Then Santos shouted back, "That, sirs,
-will perhaps be a sleep from which some of you will never awake."
-That speech attracted their attention to Santos, and the soldier who
-had spoken before returned, "There are not many men like you in these
-parts, therefore what you say does not alarm us." Then they looked at
-the friars fastening the blankets Santos had given them on to their
-horses, and seeing that they wore heavy iron spurs strapped on their
-bare feet, they shouted with laughter, and the one who talked with us
-cried out, "We are sorry, good Brothers, that we have not boots as well
-as blankets to give you."</p>
-
-<p>But our business was now done, and bidding good-bye to the friars, we
-set out on our return journey, Santos saying that we should be at home
-before midnight.</p>
-
-<p>It was past the middle of the afternoon, we having ridden about six
-leagues, when we spied at a distance ahead a great number of mounted
-men scattered about over the plain, some standing still, others
-galloping this way or that.</p>
-
-<p>"El pato! el pato!" cried Santos with <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>excitement, "Come, boy, let us
-go and watch the battle while it is near, and when it is passed on we
-will go our way." Urging his horse to a gallop, I following, we came
-to where the men were struggling for the ball, and stood for a while
-looking on. But it was not in him to remain a mere spectator for long;
-never did he see a cattle-marking, or parting, or races, or a dance, or
-any game, and above all games el Pato, but he must have a part in it.
-Very soon he dismounted to throw off some of the heaviest parts of his
-horse-gear, and ordering me to take them up on my horse and follow him,
-he rode in among the players.</p>
-
-<p>About forty or fifty men had gathered at that spot, and were sitting
-quietly on their horses in a wide circle, waiting to see the result of
-a struggle for the Pato between three men who had hold of the ball.
-They were strong men, well mounted, each resolved to carry off the
-prize from the others. Sir, when I think of that sight, and remember
-that the game is no longer played because of the Tyrant who forbade
-it, I am ready to cry out that there are no longer men on these plains
-where I first saw the light! How they tugged and strained and sweated,
-almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> dragging each other out of the saddle, their trained horses
-leaning away, digging their hoofs into the turf, as when they resist
-the shock of a lassoed animal, when the lasso stiffens and the pull
-comes! One of the men was a big, powerful mulatto, and the by-standers
-thinking the victory would be his, were only waiting to see him wrest
-the ball from the others to rush upon and try to deprive him of it
-before he could escape from the crowd.</p>
-
-<p>Santos refused to stand inactive, for was there not a fourth handle to
-the ball to be grasped by another fighter? Spurring his horse into the
-group, he very soon succeeded in getting hold of the disengaged handle.
-A cry of resentment at this action on the part of a stranger went up
-from some of those who were looking on, mixed with applause at his
-daring from others, while the three men who had been fighting against
-each other, each one for himself, now perceived that they had a common
-enemy. Excited as they were by the struggle, they could not but be
-startled at the stranger's appearance&mdash;that huge man on a big horse, so
-white-skinned and long-haired, with a black beard, that came down over
-his breast, and who showed them, when he threw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> back his poncho, the
-knife that was like a sword and the big brass-barrelled pistol worn at
-his waist. Very soon after he joined in the fray all four men came to
-the earth. But they did not fall together, and the last to go down was
-Santos, who would not be dragged off his horse, and in the end horse
-and man came down on the top of the others. In coming down, two of the
-men had lost their hold of the ball; last of all, the big mulatto, to
-save himself from being crushed under the falling horse, was forced to
-let go, and in his rage at being beaten, he whipped out his long knife
-against the stranger. Santos, too quick for him, dealt him a blow on
-the forehead with the heavy silver handle of his whip, dropping him
-stunned to the ground. Of the four, Santos alone had so far escaped
-injury, and rising and remounting, the ball still in his hand, he rode
-out from among them, the crowd opening on each side to make room for
-him.</p>
-
-<p>Now in the crowd there was one tall, imposing-looking man, wearing a
-white poncho, many silver ornaments, and a long knife in an embossed
-silver sheath; his horse, too, which was white as milk, was covered
-with silver trappings. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> man alone raised his voice; "Friends
-and comrades," he cried, "is this to be the finish? If this stranger
-is permitted to carry the Pato away, it will not be because of his
-stronger wrist and better horse, but because he carries firearms.
-Comrades, what do you say?"</p>
-
-<p>But there was no answer. They had seen the power and resolution of the
-man, and though they were many they preferred to let him go in peace.
-Then the man on a white horse, with a scowl of anger and contempt,
-turned from them and began following us at a distance of about fifty
-yards. Whenever Santos turned back to come to close quarters with
-him, he retired, only to turn and follow us again as soon as Santos
-resumed his course. In this way we rode till sunset. Santos was grave,
-but calm; I, being so young, was in constant terror. "Oh, uncle," I
-whispered, "for the love of God fire your pistol at this man and kill
-him, so that he may not kill us!"</p>
-
-<p>Santos laughed. "Fool of a boy," he replied, "do you not know that he
-wants me to fire at him! He knows that I could not hit him at this
-distance, and that after discharging my pistol we should be equal, man
-to man, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> knife to knife; and who knows then which would kill the
-other? God knows best, since He knows everything, and He has put it
-into my heart not to fire."</p>
-
-<p>When it grew dark we rode slower, and the man then lessened the
-distance between us. We could hear the chink-chink of his silver
-trappings, and when I looked back I could see a white misty form
-following us like a ghost. Then, all at once, there came a noise of
-hoofs and a whistling sound of something thrown, and Santos' horse
-plunged and reared and kicked, then stood still trembling with terror.
-His hind legs were entangled in the bolas which had been thrown. With a
-curse Santos threw himself off, and, drawing his knife, cut the thong
-which bound the animal's legs, and remounting we went on as before, the
-white figure still following us.</p>
-
-<p>At length, about midnight, the Sanborombón was reached, at the ford
-where we had crossed in the morning, where it was about forty yards
-wide, and the water only high as the surcingle in the deepest parts.</p>
-
-<p>"Let your heart be glad, Nicandro!" said Santos, as we went down into
-the water; "for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> our time is come now, and be careful to do as I bid
-you."</p>
-
-<p>We crossed slowly, and coming out on the south side, Santos quietly
-dropped off his horse, and, speaking in a low voice, ordered me to ride
-slowly on with the two horses and wait for him in the road. He said
-that the man who followed would not see him crouching under the bank,
-and thinking it safe would cross over, only to receive the charge fired
-at a few yards distance.</p>
-
-<p>That was an anxious interval that followed, I waiting alone, scarcely
-daring to breathe, staring into the darkness in fear of that white
-figure that was like a ghost, listening for the pistol shot. My prayer
-to heaven was to direct the bullet in its course, so that it might go
-to that terrible man's heart, and we be delivered from him. But there
-was no shot, and no sound except a faint chink of silver and sound of
-hoof-beats that came to my ears after a time, and soon ceased to be
-heard. The man, perhaps, had some suspicion of the other's plan and had
-given up the chase and gone away.</p>
-
-<p>Nothing more do I remember of that journey which ended at El Ombú at
-cock-crow, except that at one spot Santos fastened a thong round<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>
-my waist and bound me before and behind to the saddle to prevent my
-falling from my horse every time I went to sleep.</p>
-
-<h3>III.</h3>
-
-<p>Remember, Señor, that I have spoken of things that passed when I
-was small. The memories of that time are few and scattered, like
-the fragments of tiles and bricks and rusty iron which one may find
-half-buried among the weeds, where the house once stood. Fragments that
-once formed part of the building. Certain events, some faces, and some
-voices, I remember, but I cannot say the year. Nor can I say how many
-years had gone by after Doña Mericie's death, and after my journey to
-the monastery. Perhaps they were few, perhaps many. Invasions had come,
-wars with a foreigner and with the savage, and Independence, and many
-things had happened at a distance. He, Santos Ugarte, was older, I
-know, greyer, when that great misfortune and calamity came to one whom
-God had created<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> so strong, so brave, so noble. And all on account of a
-slave, a youth born at El Ombú, who had been preferred above the others
-by his master. For, as it is said, we breed crows to pick our eyes out.
-But I will say nothing against that poor youth, who was the cause of
-the disaster, for it was not wholly his fault. Part of the fault was in
-Santos&mdash;his indomitable temper and his violence. And perhaps, too, the
-time was come when He who rules over all men had said, "You have raised
-your voice and have ridden over others long enough. Look, Santos! I
-shall set My foot upon you, and you shall be like a wild pumpkin at
-the end of summer, when it is dryer and more brittle than an empty
-egg-shell."</p>
-
-<p>Remember that there were slaves in those days, also that there was a
-law fixing every man's price, old or young, so that if any slave went,
-money in hand, to his master and offered him the price of his liberty,
-from that moment he became a free man. It mattered not that his master
-wished not to sell him. So just was the law.</p>
-
-<p>Of his slaves Santos was accustomed to say, "These are my children, and
-serve because they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> love me, not because they are slaves; and if I were
-to offer his freedom to any one among them, he would refuse to take
-it." He saw their faces, not their hearts.</p>
-
-<p>His favourite was Meliton, black but well favoured, and though but a
-youth, he had authority over the others, and dressed well, and rode his
-master's best horses, and had horses of his own. But it was never said
-of him that he gained that eminence by means of flattery and a tongue
-cunning to frame lies. On the contrary, he was loved by all, even by
-those he was set above, because of his goodness of heart and a sweet
-and gay disposition. He was one of those whose can do almost anything
-better than others; whatever his master wanted done, whether it was
-to ride a race, or break a horse, or throw a lasso, or make a bridle,
-or whip, or surcingle, or play on a guitar, or sing, or dance, it was
-Meliton, Meliton. There was no one like him.</p>
-
-<p>Now this youth cherished a secret ambition in his heart, and saved, and
-saved his money; and at length one day he came with a handful of silver
-and gold to Santos, and said, "Master, here is the price of my freedom,
-take it and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> count it, and see that it is right, and let me remain at
-El Ombú to serve you henceforth without payment. But I shall no longer
-be a slave."</p>
-
-<p>Santos took the money into his hand, and spoke, "It was for this then
-that you saved, even the money I gave you to spend and to run with,
-and the money you made by selling the animals I gave you&mdash;you saved it
-for this! Ingrate, with a heart blacker than your skin! Take back the
-money, and go from my presence, and never cross my path again if you
-wish for a long life." And with that he hurled the handful of silver
-and gold into the young man's face with such force, that he was cut and
-bruised with the coins and well nigh stunned. He went back staggering
-to his horse, and mounting, rode away, sobbing like a child, the blood
-running from his face.</p>
-
-<p>He soon left this neighbourhood and went to live at Las Vivoras, on the
-Vecino river, south of Dolores, and there made good use of his freedom,
-buying fat animals for the market; and for a space of two years he
-prospered, and every man, rich or poor, was his friend. Nevertheless he
-was not happy, for his heart was loyal and he loved his old master, who
-had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> a father to him, and desired above all things to be forgiven.
-And, at length, hoping that Santos had outlived his resentment and
-would be pleased to see him again, he one day came to El Ombú and asked
-to see the master.</p>
-
-<p>The old man came out of the house and greeted him jovially. "Ha,
-Meliton," he cried with a laugh, "you have returned in spite of my
-warning. Come down from your horse and let me take your hand once more."</p>
-
-<p>The other, glad to think he was forgiven, alighted, and advancing, put
-out his hand. Santos took it in his, only to crush it with so powerful
-a grip, that the young man cried out aloud, and blinded with tears of
-pain, he did not see that his master had the big brass pistol in his
-left hand, and did not know that his last moment had come. He fell with
-a bullet in his heart.</p>
-
-<p>Look, señor, where I am pointing, twenty yards or so from the edge of
-the shadow of the ombú, do you see a dark green weed with a yellow
-flower on a tall stem growing on the short, dry grass? It was just
-there, on the very spot where the yellow flower is, that poor Meliton
-fell, and was left lying, covered with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> blood, until noon the next
-day. For no person dared take up the corpse until the Alcalde had been
-informed of the matter and had come to inquire into it.</p>
-
-<p>Santos had mounted his horse and gone away without a word, taking the
-road to Buenos Ayres. He had done that for which he would have to pay
-dearly; for a life is a life, whether the skin be black or white, and
-no man can slay another deliberately, in cold blood, and escape the
-penalty. The law is no respecter of persons, and when he, who commits
-such a deed, is a man of substance, he must expect that Advocates and
-Judges, with all those who take up his cause, will bleed him well
-before they procure him a pardon.</p>
-
-<p>Ugarte cared nothing for that, he had been as good as his word, and
-the devil in his heart was satisfied. Only he would not wait at his
-estancia to be taken, nor would he go and give himself up to the
-authorities, who would then have to place him in confinement, and
-it would be many months before his liberation. That would be like
-suffocation to him; to such a man a prison is like a tomb. No, he would
-go to Buenos Ayres and embark for Montevideo, and from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> that place he
-would put the matter in motion, and wait there until it was all settled
-and he was free to return to El Ombú.</p>
-
-<p>Dead Meliton was taken away and buried in consecrated ground at
-Chascomus. Rain fell, and washed away the red stains on the ground.
-In the spring, the swallows returned and built their nests under the
-eaves; but Ugarte came not back, nor did any certain tidings of him
-reach us. It was said, I know not whether truly or not, that the
-Advocate who defended him, and the Judge of First Instance, who had the
-case before him, had quarreled about the division of the reward, and
-both being rich, proud persons, they had allowed themselves to forget
-the old man waiting there month after month for his pardon, which never
-came to him.</p>
-
-<p>Better for him if he never heard of the ruin which had fallen on
-El Ombú during his long exile. There was no one in authority: the
-slaves, left to themselves, went away, and there was no person to
-restrain them. As for the cattle and horses, they were blown away like
-thistle-down, and everyone was free to pasture his herds and flocks on
-the land.</p>
-
-<p>The house for a time was in charge of some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> person placed there by the
-authorities, but little by little it was emptied of its contents; and
-at last it was abandoned, and for a long time no one could be found to
-live in it on account of the ghosts.</p>
-
-<h3>IV.</h3>
-
-<p>There was living at that time, a few leagues from El Ombú, one Valerio
-de la Cueva, a poor man, whose all consisted of a small flock of three
-or four hundred sheep and a few horses. He had been allowed to make a
-small rancho, a mere hut, to shelter himself and his wife Donata and
-their one child, a boy named Bruno; and to pay for the grass his few
-sheep consumed he assisted in the work at the estancia house. This
-poor man, hearing of El Ombú, where he could have house and ground for
-nothing, offered himself as occupant, and in time came with wife and
-child and his small flock, and all the furniture he possessed&mdash;a bed,
-two or three chairs, a pot and kettle, and perhaps a few other things.
-Such poverty El Ombú had not known, but all others had feared to
-inhabit such a place on account of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> its evil name, so that it was left
-for Valerio, who was a stranger in the district.</p>
-
-<p>Tell me, señor, have you ever in your life met with a man, who was
-perhaps poor, or even clothed in rags, and who yet when you had looked
-at and conversed with him, has caused you to say: Here is one who is
-like no other man in the world? Perhaps on rising and going out, on
-some clear morning in summer, he looked at the sun when it rose, and
-perceived an angel sitting in it, and as he gazed, something from that
-being fell upon and passed into and remained with him. Such a man was
-Valerio. I have known no other like him.</p>
-
-<p>"Come, friend Nicandro," he would say, "let us sit down in the shade
-and smoke our cigarettes, and talk of our animals. Here are no politics
-under this old ombú, no ambitions and intrigues and animosities&mdash;no
-bitterness except in these green leaves. They are our laurels&mdash;the
-leaves of the ombú. Happy Nicandro, who never knew the life of cities!
-I wish that I, too, had seen the light on these quiet plains, under a
-thatched roof. Once I wore fine clothes and gold ornaments, and lived
-in a great house where there were many servants to wait on me. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>
-happy I have never been. Every flower I plucked changed into a nettle
-to sting my hand. Perhaps that maleficent one, who has pursued me all
-my days, seeing me now so humbled and one with the poor, has left me
-and gone away. Yes, I am poor, and this frayed garment that covers me
-will I press to my lips because it does not shine with silk and gold
-embroidery. And this poverty which I have found will I cherish, and
-bequeath it as a precious thing to my child when I die. For with it is
-peace."</p>
-
-<p>The peace did not last long; for when misfortune has singled out a man
-for its prey, it will follow him to the end, and he shall not escape
-from it though he mount up to the clouds like the falcon, or thrust
-himself deep down into the earth like the armadillo.</p>
-
-<p>Valerio had been two years at El Ombú when there came an Indian
-invasion on the southern frontier. There was no force to oppose it; the
-two hundred men stationed at the Guardia del Azul had been besieged
-by a part of the invaders in the fort, while the larger number of the
-savages were sweeping away the cattle and horses from the country all
-round. An urgent order came to the commander at Chascomus to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> send
-a contingent of forty men from the department; and I, then a young
-man of twenty, who had seen no service, was cited to appear at the
-Commandancia, in readiness to march. There I found that Valerio had
-also been cited, and from that moment we were together. Two days later
-we were at the Azul, the Indians having retired with their booty; and
-when all the contingents from the various departments had come in, the
-commander, one Colonel Barboza, set out with about six hundred men in
-pursuit.</p>
-
-<p>It was known that in their retreat the Indians had broken up their
-force into several parties, and that these had taken different
-directions, and it was thought that these bodies would reunite after
-a time, and that the larger number would return to their territory by
-way of Trinqué Lauquén, about seventy-five leagues west of Azul. Our
-Colonel's plan was to go quickly to this point and wait the arrival of
-the Indians. It was impossible that they, burdened with the thousands
-of cattle they had collected, could move fast, while we were burdened
-with nothing, the only animals we drove before us being our horses.
-These numbered about five thousand, but many were unbroken mares, to
-be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> used as food. Nothing but mare's flesh did we have to eat.</p>
-
-<p>It was the depth of winter, and worse weather I have never known. In
-this desert I first beheld that whiteness called snow, when the rain
-flies like cotton-down before the wind, filling the air and whitening
-the whole earth. All day and every day our clothes were wet, and there
-was no shelter from the wind and rain at night, nor could we make fires
-with the soaked grass and reeds, and wood there was none, so that we
-were compelled to eat our mare's flesh uncooked.</p>
-
-<p>Three weeks were passed in this misery, waiting for the Indians and
-seeking for them, with the hills of Gaumini now before us in the south,
-and now on our left hand; and still no sight and no sign of the enemy.
-It seemed as if the earth had opened and swallowed him up. Our Colonel
-was in despair, and we now began to hope that he would lead us back to
-the Azul.</p>
-
-<p>In these circumstances one of the men, who was thinly clad and had been
-suffering from a cough, dropped from his horse, and it was then seen
-that he was likely to die, and that in any case he would have to be
-left behind. Finding that there was no hope for him, he begged that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
-those who were with him would remember, when they were at home again,
-that he had perished in the desert and that his soul was suffering in
-purgatory, and that they would give something to the priests to procure
-him ease. When asked by his officer to say who his relations were and
-where they lived, he replied that he had no one belonging to him. He
-said that he had spent many years in captivity among the Indians at
-the Salinas Grandes, and that on his return he had failed to find any
-one of his relations living in the district where he had been born.
-In answer to further questions, he said that he had been carried away
-when a small boy, that the Indians on that occasion had invaded the
-Christian country in the depth of winter, and on their retreat, instead
-of returning to their own homes, they had gone east, towards the sea
-coast, and had encamped on a plain by a small stream called Curumamuel,
-at Los Tres Arroyos, where there was firewood and sweet water, and good
-grass for the cattle, and where they found many Indians, mostly women
-and children, who had gone thither to await their coming; and at that
-spot they had remained until the spring.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The poor man died that night, and we gathered stones and piled them on
-his body so that the foxes and caranchos should not devour him.</p>
-
-<p>At break of day next morning we were on horseback marching at a gallop
-toward sunrise, for our Colonel had determined to look for the Indians
-at that distant spot near the sea where they had hidden themselves from
-their pursuers so many years before. The distance was about seventy
-leagues, and the journey took us about nine days. And at last, in a
-deep valley near the sea, the enemy was discovered by our scouts, and
-we marched by night until we were within less than a league of their
-encampment, and could see their fires. We rested there for four hours,
-eating raw flesh and sleeping. Then every man was ordered to mount
-his best horse, and we were disposed in a half-moon, so that the free
-horses could easily be driven before us. The Colonel, sitting on his
-horse, addressed us, "Boys," he said, "you have suffered much, but now
-the victory is in our hands, and you shall not lose the reward. All
-the captives you take, and all the thousands of horses and cattle we
-succeed in recovering, shall be sold by public<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> auction on our return,
-and the proceeds divided among you."</p>
-
-<p>He then gave the order, and we moved quietly on for a space of half
-a league, and coming to the edge of the valley saw it all black with
-cattle before us, and the Indians sleeping in their camp; and just when
-the sun rose from the sea and God's light came over the earth, with a
-great shout we charged upon them. In a moment the multitude of cattle,
-struck with panic, began rushing away, bellowing in all directions,
-shaking the earth beneath their hoofs. Our troop of horses, urged on
-by our yells, were soon in the encampment, and the savages, rushing
-hither and thither, trying to save themselves, were shot and speared
-and cut down by swords. One desire was in all our hearts, one cry on
-all lips&mdash;kill! kill! kill! Such a slaughter had not been known for a
-long time, and birds and foxes and armadillos must have grown fat on
-the flesh of the heathen we left for them. But we killed only the men,
-and few escaped; the women and children we made captive.</p>
-
-<p>Two days we spent in collecting the scattered cattle and horses,
-numbering about ten thousand; then with our spoil we set out on our
-return<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> and arrived at the Azul at the end of August. On the following
-day the force was broken up into the separate contingents of which it
-was composed, and each in its turn was sent to the Colonel's house
-to be paid. The Chascomus contingent was the last to go up, and on
-presenting ourselves, each man received two months' soldiers' pay,
-after which Colonel Barboza came out and thanked us for our services,
-and ordered us to give up our arms at the fort and go back to our
-district, every man to his own house.</p>
-
-<p>"We have spent some cold nights in the desert together, neighbour
-Nicandro," said Valerio, laughing, "but we have fared well&mdash;on raw
-horse flesh; and now to make it better we have received money. Why,
-look, with all this money I shall be able to buy a pair of new shoes
-for Bruno. Brave little man! I can see him toddling about among the
-cardoon thistles, searching for hens' eggs for his mother, and getting
-his poor little feet full of thorns. If there should be any change left
-he shall certainly have some sugar-plums."</p>
-
-<p>But the others on coming to the fort began to complain loudly of the
-treatment they had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> received, when Valerio, rebuking them, told them to
-act like men and tell the Colonel that they were not satisfied, or else
-hold their peace.</p>
-
-<p>"Will you, Valerio, be our spokesman?" they cried, and he, consenting,
-they all took up their arms again and followed him back to the
-Colonel's house.</p>
-
-<p>Barboza listened attentively to what was said and replied that our
-demands were just. The captives and cattle, he said, had been placed
-in charge of an officer appointed by the authorities and would be sold
-publicly in a few days. Let them now return to the fort and give up
-their arms, and leave Valerio with him to assist in drawing up a formal
-demand for their share of the spoil.</p>
-
-<p>We then retired once more, giving <i>vivas</i> to our Colonel. But no sooner
-had we given up our arms at the fort than we were sharply ordered to
-saddle our horses and take our departure. I rode out with the others,
-but seeing that Valerio did not overtake us I went back to look for him.</p>
-
-<p>This was what had happened. Left alone in his enemy's hands, Barboza
-had his arms taken from him, then ordered his men to carry him out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>
-to the patio and flay him alive. The men hesitated to obey so cruel a
-command, and this gave Valerio time to speak; "My Colonel," he said,
-"you put a hard task on these poor men, and my hide when taken will be
-of no value to you or to them. Bid them lance me or draw a knife across
-my throat, and I will laud your clemency."</p>
-
-<p>"You shall not lose your hide nor die," returned the Colonel, "for I
-admire your courage. Take him, boys, and stake him out, and give him
-two hundred lashes; then throw him into the road so that it may be
-known that his rebellious conduct has been punished."</p>
-
-<p>This order was obeyed, and out upon the road he was thrown. A
-compassionate storekeeper belonging to the place saw him lying there
-insensible, the carrion-hawks attracted by his naked bleeding body
-hovering about him; and this good man took him and was ministering
-to him when I found him. He was lying, face down, on a pile of rugs,
-racked with pains, and all night long his sufferings were terrible;
-nevertheless, when morning came, he insisted on setting out at once on
-our journey to Chascomus. When his pain was greatest and caused<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> him
-to cry out, the cry, when he saw my face, would turn to a laugh. "You
-are too tender hearted for this world we live in," he would say. "Think
-nothing of this, Nicandro. I have tasted man's justice and mercy before
-now. Let us talk of pleasanter things. Do you know that it is the first
-of September to-day? Spring has come back, though we hardly notice it
-yet in this cold southern country. It has been winter, winter with
-us, and no warmth of sun or fire, and no flowers and no birds' song.
-But our faces are towards the north now; in a few days we shall sit
-again in the shade of the old ombú, all our toil and suffering over,
-to listen to the mangangá humming among the leaves and to the call of
-the yellow ventevéo. And better than all, little Bruno will come to us
-with his hands full of scarlet verbenas. Perhaps in a few years' time
-you, too, will be a father, Nicandro, and will know what it is to hear
-a child's prattle. Come, we have rested long enough, and have many
-leagues to ride!"</p>
-
-<p>The leagues were sixty by the road, but something was gained by leaving
-it, and it was easier for Valerio when the horses trod on the turf.
-To gallop or to trot was impossible, and even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> walking I had to keep
-at his side to support him with my arm; for his back was all one
-ever-bleeding wound, and his hands were powerless, and all his joints
-swollen and inflamed as a result of his having been stretched out on
-the stakes. Five days we travelled, and day by day and night by night
-he grew feebler, but he would not rest; so long as the light lasted he
-would be on the road; and as we slowly pressed on, I supporting him, he
-would groan with pain and then laugh and begin to talk of the journey's
-end and of the joy of seeing wife and child again.</p>
-
-<p>It was afternoon on the fifth day when we arrived. The sight of the
-ombú which we had had for hours before us, strongly excited him; he
-begged me, almost with tears, to urge the horses to a gallop, but it
-would have killed him, and I would not do it.</p>
-
-<p>No person saw our approach, but the door stood open, and when we had
-walked our horses to within about twenty yards we heard Bruno's voice
-prattling to his mother. Then suddenly Valerio slipped from the saddle
-before I could jump down to assist him, and staggered on for a few
-paces towards the door. Running to his side I heard his cry&mdash;"Donata!
-Bruno! let my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> eyes see you! one kiss!" Only then his wife heard, and
-running out to us, saw him sink, and with one last gasp expire in my
-arms.</p>
-
-<p>Strange and terrible scenes have I witnessed, but never a sadder one
-than this! Tell me, señor, are these things told in books,&mdash;does the
-world know them?</p>
-
-<p>Valerio was dead. He who was so brave, so generous even in his poverty,
-of so noble a spirit, yet so gentle; whose words were sweeter than
-honey to me! Of what his loss was to others&mdash;to that poor woman who was
-the mother of his one child, his little Bruno&mdash;I speak not. There are
-things about which we must be silent, or say only, turning our eyes up,
-Has He forgotten us! Does He know? But to me the loss was greater than
-all losses: for he was my friend, the man I loved above all men, who
-was more to me than any other, even than Santos Ugarte, whose face I
-should see no more.</p>
-
-<p>For he, too, was dead.</p>
-
-<p>And now I have once more mentioned the name of that man, who was once
-so great in this district, let me, before proceeding with the history
-of El Ombú, tell you his end. I heard<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> of it by chance long after he
-had been placed under the ground.</p>
-
-<p>It was the old man's custom in that house, on the other side of the
-Rio de la Plata where he was obliged to live, to go down every day to
-the waterside. Long hours would he spend there, sitting on the rocks,
-always with his face towards Buenos Ayres. He was waiting, waiting for
-the pardon which would, perhaps, in God's good time, come to him from
-that forgetful place. He was thinking of El Ombú; for what was life to
-him away from it, in that strange country? And that unsatisfied desire,
-and perhaps remorse, had, they say, made his face terrible to look at,
-for it was like the face of a dead man who had died with wide-open eyes.</p>
-
-<p>One day some boatmen on the beach noticed that he was seated on the
-rocks far out and that when the tide rose he made no movement to escape
-from the water. They saw him sitting waist-deep in the sea, and when
-they rescued him from his perilous position and brought him to the
-shore, he stared at them like a great white owl and talked in a strange
-way.</p>
-
-<p>"It is very cold and very dark," he said, "and I cannot see your faces,
-but perhaps you know<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> me. I am Santos Ugarte, of El Ombú. I have had
-a great misfortune, friends. To-day in my anger I killed a poor youth
-whom I loved like a son&mdash;my poor boy Meliton! Why did he despise my
-warning and put himself in my way! But I will say no more about that.
-After killing him I rode away with the intention of going to Buenos
-Ayres, but on the road I repented of my deed and turned back. I said
-that with my own hands I would take him up and carry him in, and call
-my neighbours together to watch with me by his poor body. But, Sirs,
-the night overtook me and the Sanborombón is swollen with rains, as you
-no doubt know, and in swimming it I lost my horse. I do not know if he
-was drowned. Let me have a fresh horse, friends, and show me the way to
-El Ombú, and God will reward you."</p>
-
-<p>In that delusion he remained till the end, a few days later, when he
-died. May his soul rest in peace!</p>
-
-<h3>VI.</h3>
-
-<p>Señor, when I am here and remember these things, I sometimes say to
-myself: Why, old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> man, do you come to this tree to sit for an hour in
-the shade, since there is not on all these plains a sadder or more
-bitter place? My answer is, To one who has lived long, there is no
-house and no spot of ground, overgrown with grass and weeds, where a
-house once stood and where men have lived, that is not equally sad. For
-this sadness is in us, in a memory of other days which follows us into
-all places. But for the child there is no past: he is born into the
-world light hearted like a bird; for him gladness is everywhere.</p>
-
-<p>That is how it was with little Bruno, too young to feel the loss of a
-father or to remember him long. It was her great love of this child
-which enabled Donata to live through so terrible a calamity. She never
-quitted El Ombú. An embargo had been placed on the estancia so that it
-could not be sold, and she was not disturbed in her possession of the
-house. She now shared it with an old married couple, who, being poor
-and having a few animals, were glad of a place to live in rent free.
-The man, whose name was Pascual, took care of Donata's flock and the
-few cows and horses she owned along with his own. He was a simple,
-good-tempered old man, whose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> only fault was indolence, and a love of
-the bottle, and of play. But that mattered little, for when he gambled
-he invariably lost, through not being sober, so that when he had any
-money it was quickly gone.</p>
-
-<p>Old Pascual first put Bruno on a horse and taught him to ride after the
-flock, and to do a hundred things. The boy was like his father, of a
-beautiful countenance, with black curling hair, and eyes as lively as
-a bird's. It was not strange that Donata loved him as no mother ever
-loved a son, but as he grew up a perpetual anxiety was in her heart
-lest he should hear the story of his father's death and the cause of
-it. For she was wise in this; she knew that the most dangerous of all
-passions is that of revenge, since when it enters into the heart all
-others, good or bad, are driven out, and all ties and interests and all
-the words that can be uttered are powerless to restrain a man; and the
-end is ruin. Many times she spoke of this to me, begging me with tears
-never to speak of my dead friend to Bruno, lest he should discover the
-truth, and that fatal rage should enter into his heart.</p>
-
-<p>It had been Donata's custom, every day since<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> Valerio's death, to take
-a pitcher of water, fresh from the well, and pour it out on the ground,
-on the spot where he had sunk down and expired, without that sight of
-wife and child, that one kiss, for which he had cried. Who can say what
-caused her to do such a thing? A great grief is like a delirium, and
-sometimes gives us strange thoughts, and makes us act like demented
-persons. It may have been because of the appearance of the dead face
-as she first saw it, dry and white as ashes, the baked black lips, the
-look of thirst that would give everything for a drink of cold water;
-and that which she had done in the days of anguish, of delirium, she
-had continued to do.</p>
-
-<p>The spot where the water was poured each day being but a few yards
-from the door of the house was of a dryness and hardness of fire-baked
-bricks, trodden hard by the feet of I know not how many generations of
-men, and by hoofs of horses ridden every day to the door. But after a
-long time of watering a little green began to appear in the one spot;
-and the green was of a creeping plant with small round malva-like
-leaves, and little white flowers like porcelain shirt buttons. It
-spread and thickened, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> was like a soft green carpet about two yards
-long placed on that dry ground, and it was of an emerald greenness all
-the year round, even in the hot weather when the grass was dead and dry
-and the plains were in colour like a faded yellow rag.</p>
-
-<p>When Bruno was a boy of fourteen I went one day to help him in making
-a sheepfold, and when our work was finished in the afternoon we went
-to the house to sip maté. Before going in, on coming to that green
-patch, Bruno cried out, "Have you ever seen so verdant a spot as this,
-Nicandro, so soft and cool a spot to lie down on when one is hot and
-tired?" He then threw himself down full length upon it, and, lying
-at ease on his back, he looked up at Donata, who come out to us, and
-spoke laughingly, "Ah, little mother of my soul! A thousand times have
-I asked you why you poured water every day on this spot and you would
-not tell me. Now I have found out. It was all to make me a soft cool
-spot to lie on when I come back tired and hot from work. Look! is it
-not like a soft bed with a green and white velvet coverlid; bring water
-now, mother mine, and pour it on my hot, dusty face."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>She laughed, too, poor woman, but I could see the tears in her
-eyes&mdash;the tears which she was always so careful to hide from him.</p>
-
-<p>All this I remember as if it had happened yesterday; I can see and
-hear it all&mdash;Donata's laugh and the tears in her eyes which Bruno
-could not see. I remember it so well because this was almost the last
-time I saw her before I was compelled to go away, for my absence was
-long. But before I speak of that change let me tell you of something
-that happened about two years before at El Ombú, which brought a new
-happiness into that poor widow's life.</p>
-
-<p>It happened that among those that had no right to be on the land, but
-came and settled there because there was no one to forbid them, there
-was a man named Sanchez, who had built himself a small rancho about
-half a league from the old house, and kept a flock of sheep. He was
-a widower with one child, a little girl named Monica. This Sanchez,
-although poor, was not a good man, and had no tenderness in his heart.
-He was a gambler, always away from his rancho, leaving the flock to be
-taken care of by poor little Monica. In winter it was cruel, for then
-the sheep travel most, and most of all on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> cold, rough days; and she
-without a dog to help her, barefooted on the thistle-grown land, often
-in terror at the sight of cattle, would be compelled to spend the whole
-day out of doors. More than once on a winter evening in bad weather I
-have found her trying to drive the sheep home in the face of the rain,
-crying with misery. It hurt me all the more because she had a pretty
-face: no person could fail to see its beauty, though she was in rags
-and her black hair in a tangle, like the mane of a horse that has been
-feeding among the burrs. At such times I have taken her up on my saddle
-and driven her flock home for her, and have said to myself: "Poor lamb
-without a mother, if you were mine I would seat you on the horns of the
-moon; but, unhappy one! he whom you call father is without compassion."</p>
-
-<p>At length, Sanchez, finding himself without money, just when strangers
-from all places were coming to Chascomus to witness a great race and
-anxious not to lose this chance of large winnings, sold his sheep,
-having nothing of more value to dispose of. But instead of winning he
-lost, and then leaving Monica in a neighbour's house he went away,
-promising to return for her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> in a few days. But he did not return, and
-it was believed by everybody that he had abandoned the child.</p>
-
-<p>It was then that Donata offered to take her and be a mother to the
-orphan, and I can say, señor, that the poor child's own mother, who
-was dead, could not have treated her more tenderly or loved her more.
-And the pretty one had now been Donata's little daughter and Bruno's
-playmate two years when I was called away, and I saw them not again and
-heard no tidings of them for a space of five years&mdash;the five longest
-years of my life.</p>
-
-<h3>VII.</h3>
-
-<p>I went away because men were wanted for the army, and I was taken.
-I was away, I have said, five years, and the five would have been
-ten, and the ten twenty, supposing that life had lasted, but for a
-lance wound in my thigh, which made me a lame man for the rest of my
-life. That was the reason of my discharge and happy escape from that
-purgatory. Once back in these plains where I first saw heaven's light,
-I said in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> my heart: I can no longer spring light as a bird on to the
-back of an unbroken animal and laugh at his efforts to shake me off;
-nor can I throw a lasso on a running horse or bull and digging my heel
-in the ground, pit my strength against his; nor can I ever be what I
-have been in any work or game on horseback or on foot; nevertheless,
-this lameness, and all I have lost through it, is a small price to pay
-for my deliverance.</p>
-
-<p>But this is not the history of my life; let me remember that I speak
-only of those who have lived at El Ombú in my time, in the old house
-which no longer exists.</p>
-
-<p>There had been no changes when I returned, except that those five
-years had made Bruno almost a man, and more than ever like his father,
-except that he never had that I-know-not-what something to love in the
-eyes which made Valerio different from all men. Donata was the same,
-but older. Grey hair had come to her in her affliction; now her hair
-which should have been black was all white&mdash;but she was more at peace,
-for Bruno was good to her, and as a widow's only son, was exempt from
-military service. There was something else to make her happy. Those
-two, who were everything to her,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> could not grow up under one roof and
-not love; now she could look with confidence to a union between them,
-and there would be no separation. But even so, that old fear she had so
-often spoken of to me in former days was never absent from her heart.</p>
-
-<p>Bruno was now away most of the time, working as a cattle drover,
-his ambition being, Donata informed me, to make money so as to buy
-everything needed for the house.</p>
-
-<p>I had been back, living in that poor rancho, half a league from El
-Ombú, where I first saw the light, for the best part of a year, when
-Bruno, who had been away with his employer buying cattle in the south,
-one day appeared at my place. He had not been to El Ombú, and was
-silent and strange in his manner, and when we were alone together I
-said to him: "What has happened to you, Bruno, that you have the face
-of a stranger and speak in an unaccustomed tone to your friend?"</p>
-
-<p>He answered: "Because you, Nicandro, have treated me like a child,
-concealing from me that which you ought to have told me long ago,
-instead of leaving me to learn it by accident from a stranger."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"It has come," I said to myself, for I knew what he meant: then I spoke
-of his mother.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, yes," he said with bitterness, "I know now why she pours water
-fresh from the well every day on that spot of ground near the door. Do
-you, Nicandro, think that water will ever wash away that old stain and
-memory? A man who is a man, must in such a thing obey, not a mother's
-wish, nor any woman, but that something which speaks in his heart."</p>
-
-<p>"Let no such thought dwell in you to make you mad," I replied. "Look,
-Bruno, my friend's son and my friend, leave it to God who is above us,
-and who considers and remembers all evil deeds that men do, and desires
-not that anyone should take the sword out of his hand."</p>
-
-<p>"Who is he&mdash;this God you talk of?" he answered. "Have you seen or
-spoken with him that you tell me what his mind is in this matter? I
-have only this voice to tell me how a man should act in such a case,"
-and he smote his breast; then overcome with a passion of grief he
-covered his face with his hands and wept.</p>
-
-<p>Vainly I begged him not to lose himself, telling him what the effect of
-his attempt, whether<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> he succeeded or failed, would be on Donata and
-on Monica&mdash;it would break those poor women's hearts. I spoke, too, of
-things I had witnessed in my five years' service; the cruel sentences
-from which there was no appeal, the torments, the horrible deaths so
-often inflicted. For these evils there was no remedy on earth: and
-he, a poor, ignorant boy, what would he do but dash himself to pieces
-against that tower of brass!</p>
-
-<p>He replied that within that brazen tower there was a heart full of
-blood; and with that he went away, only asking me as a favour not to
-tell his mother of this visit to me.</p>
-
-<p>Some ten days later she had a message from him, brought from the
-capitol by a traveller going to the south. Bruno sent word that he was
-going to Las Mulitas, a place fifty leagues west of Buenos Ayres, to
-work on an estancia there, and would be absent some months.</p>
-
-<p>Why had he gone thither? Because he had heard that General Barboza&mdash;for
-that man was now a General&mdash;owned a tract of land at that place, which
-the Government had given him as a reward for his services on the
-southern frontier; and that he had recently returned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> from the northern
-provinces to Buenos Ayres and was now staying at this estancia at Las
-Mulitas.</p>
-
-<p>Donata knew nothing of his secret motives, but his absence filled her
-with anxiety; and when at length she fell ill I resolved to go in
-search of the poor youth and try to persuade him to return to El Ombú.
-But at Las Mulitas I heard that he was no longer there. All strangers
-had been taken for the army in the frontier department, and Bruno, in
-spite of his passport, had been forced to go.</p>
-
-<p>When I returned to El Ombú with this sad news Donata resolved at once
-to go to the capitol and try to obtain his release. She was ill, and it
-was a long journey for her to perform on horseback, but she had friends
-to go with and take care of her. In the end she succeeded in seeing the
-President, and throwing herself on her knees before him, and with tears
-in her eyes, implored him to let her have her son back.</p>
-
-<p>He listened to her, and gave her a paper to take to the War Office.
-There it was found that Bruno had been sent to El Rosario, and an order
-was despatched for his immediate release.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> But when the order reached
-its destination the unhappy boy had deserted.</p>
-
-<p>That was the last that Donata ever heard of her son. She guessed why he
-had gone, and knew as well as if I had told her that he had found out
-the secret so long hidden from him. Still, being his mother, she would
-not abandon hope; she struggled to live. Never did I come into her
-presence but I saw in her face a question which she dared not put in
-words. If, it said, you have heard, if you know, when and how his life
-ended, tell me now before I go. But it also said, If you know, do not
-tell me so that I and Monica may go on hoping together to the end.</p>
-
-<p>"I know, Nicandro," she would say. "That if Bruno returns he will not
-be the same&mdash;the son I have lost. For in that one thing he is not
-like his father. Could another be like Valerio? No misfortune and no
-injustice could change that heart, or turn his sweetness sour. In
-that freshness and gaiety of temper he was like a child, and Bruno as
-a child was like him. My son! my son! where are you? God of my soul,
-grant that he may yet come to me, though his life be now darkened with
-some terrible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> passion&mdash;though his poor hands be stained with blood, so
-that my eyes may see him again before I go!"</p>
-
-<p>But he came not, and she died without seeing him.</p>
-
-<h3>VIII.</h3>
-
-<p>If Monica, left alone in the house with old Pascual and his wife, had
-been disposed to listen to those who were attracted by her face she
-might have found a protector worthy of her. There were men of substance
-among those who came for her. But it mattered nothing to her whether
-they had land and cattle or not, or what their appearance was, and
-how they were dressed. Her's was a faithful heart. And she looked for
-Bruno's return, not with that poor half-despairing hope which had
-been Donata's, and had failed to keep her alive, but with a hope that
-sustained and made her able to support the months and years of waiting.
-She looked for his coming as the night-watcher for the dawn. On summer
-afternoons, when the heat of the day was over, she would take her
-sewing outside the gate and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> sit there by the hour, where her sight
-commanded the road to the north. From that side he would certainly
-come. On dark, rainy nights a lantern would be hung on the wall lest
-he, coming at a late hour, should miss the house in the dark. Glad,
-she was not, nor lively; she was pale and thin, and those dark eyes
-that looked too large because of her thinness were the eyes of one who
-had beheld grief. But with it all, there was a serenity, an air of one
-whose tears, held back, would all be shed at the proper time, when he
-returned. And he would, perhaps, come to-day, or, if not to-day, then
-to-morrow, or perhaps the day after, as God willed.</p>
-
-<p>Nearly three years had passed by since Donata's death when, one
-afternoon, I rode to El Ombú, and on approaching the house spied
-a saddled horse, which had got loose going away at a trot. I went
-after, and caught, and led it back, and then saw that its owner was a
-traveller, an old soldier, who with or without the permission of the
-people of the house, was lying down and asleep in the shade of the ombú.</p>
-
-<p>There had lately been a battle in the northern part of the province,
-and the defeated force had broken up, and the men carrying their arms
-had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> scattered themselves all over the country. This veteran was one of
-them.</p>
-
-<p>He did not wake when I led the horse up and shouted to him. He was
-a man about fifty to sixty years old, grey-haired, with many scars
-of sword and lance wounds on his sun-blackened face and hands. His
-carbine was leaning against the tree a yard or two away, but he had not
-unbuckled his sword, and what now attracted my attention as I sat on
-my horse regarding him, was the way in which he clutched the hilt and
-shook the weapon until it rattled in its scabbard. His was an agitated
-sleep; the sweat stood in big drops on his face, he ground his teeth
-and moaned, and muttered words which I could not catch.</p>
-
-<p>At length, dismounting, I called to him again, then shouted in his ear,
-and finally shook him by the shoulder. Then he woke with a start, and
-struggling up to a sitting position, and staring at me one like one
-demented, he exclaimed, "What has happened?"</p>
-
-<p>When I told him about his horse he was silent, and sitting there with
-eyes cast down, passed his hand repeatedly across his forehead. Never
-in any man's face had I seen misery <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>compared to his. "Pardon me,
-friend," he spoke at last. "My ears were so full of sounds you do not
-hear that I paid little attention to what you were saying."</p>
-
-<p>"Perhaps the great heat of the day has overcome you," I said; "Or maybe
-you are suffering from some malady caused by an old wound received in
-fight."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, an incurable malady," he returned, gloomily. "Have you, friend,
-been in the army?"</p>
-
-<p>"Five years had I served when a wound which made me lame for life
-delivered me from that hell."</p>
-
-<p>"I have served thirty," he returned, "Perhaps more. I know that I was
-very young when I was taken, and I remember that a woman I called
-mother wept to see me go. That any eyes should have shed tears for me!
-Shall I now in that place in the South where I was born find one who
-remembers my name? I look not for it! I have no one but this"&mdash;and here
-he touched his sword.</p>
-
-<p>After an interval, he continued, "We say, friend, that in the army
-we can do no wrong, since all responsibility rests with those who
-are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> over us; that our most cruel and sanguinary deeds are no more
-a sin or crime than is the shedding of the blood of cattle, or of
-Indians who are not Christians, and are therefore of no more account
-than cattle in God's sight. We say, too, that once we have become
-accustomed to kill, not men only, but even those who are powerless to
-defend themselves&mdash;the weak and the innocent&mdash;we think nothing of it,
-and have no compunction nor remorse. If this be so, why does He, the
-One who is above, torment me before my time? Is it just? Listen: no
-sooner do I close my eyes than sleep brings to me that most terrible
-experience a man can have&mdash;to be in the midst of a conflict and
-powerless. The bugles call: there is a movement everywhere of masses
-of men, foot and horse, and every face has on it the look of one who
-is doomed. There is a murmur of talking all round me, the officers are
-shouting and waving their swords; I strive in vain to catch the word
-of command; I do not know what is happening; it is all confusion, a
-gloom of smoke and dust, a roar of guns, a great noise and shouting of
-the enemy charging through us. And I am helpless. I wake, and slowly
-the noise and terrible scene fade from my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> mind, only to return when
-sleep again overcomes me. What repose, what refreshment can I know!
-Sleep, they say, is a friend to everyone, and makes all equal, the rich
-and the poor, the guilty and the innocent; they say, too, that this
-forgetfulness is like a draught of cold water to the thirsty man. But
-what shall I say of sleep? Often with this blade would I have delivered
-myself from its torture but for the fear that there may be after death
-something even worse than this dream."</p>
-
-<p>After an interval of silence, seeing that he had recovered from his
-agitation, I invited him to go with me to the house. "I see smoke
-issuing from the kitchen," I said, "let us go in so that you may
-refresh yourself with maté before resuming your journey."</p>
-
-<p>We went in and found the old people boiling the kettle; and in a little
-while Monica came in and sat with us. Never did she greet one without
-that light which was like sunshine in her dark eyes; words were not
-needed to tell me of the gratitude and friendliness she felt toward me,
-for she was not one to forget the past. I remember that she looked well
-that day in her white dress with a red flower. Had not Bruno<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> said that
-he liked to see her in white, and that a flower on her bosom or in her
-hair was an ornament that gave her most grace? And Bruno might arrive
-at any moment. But the sight of that grey-haired veteran in his soiled
-and frayed uniform, and with his clanking sword and his dark scarred
-face, greatly disturbed her. I noticed that she grew paler and could
-scarcely keep her eyes off his face while he talked.</p>
-
-<p>While sipping his maté he told us of fights he had been in, of long
-marches and sufferings in desert places, and of some of the former men
-he had served under. Among them he, by chance, named General Barboza.</p>
-
-<p>Monica, I knew, had never heard of that man, and on this account I
-feared not to speak of him. It had, I said, been reported, I knew not
-whether truthfully or not, that Barboza was dead.</p>
-
-<p>"On that point I can satisfy you," he returned, "since I was serving
-with him, when his life came to an end in the province of San Luis
-about two years ago. He was at the head of nineteen hundred men when it
-happened, and the whole force was filled with amazement at the event.
-Not that they regretted his loss; on the contrary, his own followers
-feared, and were glad to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> be delivered from him. He exceeded most
-commanders in ferocity, and was accustomed to say scoffingly to his
-prisoners that he would not have gunpowder wasted on them. That was
-not a thing to complain of, but he was capable of treating his own
-men as he treated a spy or a prisoner of war. Many a one have I seen
-put to death with a blunted knife, he, Barboza, looking on, smoking a
-cigarette. It was the manner of his death that startled us for never
-had man been seen to perish in such a way.</p>
-
-<p>"It happened on this march, about a month before the end, that a
-soldier named Bracamonte went one day at noon to deliver a letter from
-his captain to the General. Barboza was sitting in his shirt sleeves in
-his tent when the letter was handed to him, but just when he put out
-his hand to take it the man made an attempt to stab him. The General
-throwing himself back escaped the blow, then instantly sprang like a
-tiger upon his assailant, and seizing him by the wrist, wrenched the
-weapon out of his hand only to strike it quick as lightening into the
-poor fool's throat. No sooner was he down than the General bending
-over him, before drawing out the weapon, called to those who had run
-to his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> assistance to get him a tumbler. When, tumbler in hand, he
-lifted himself up and looked upon them, they say that his face was of
-the whiteness of iron made white in the furnace, and that his eyes were
-like two flames. He was mad with rage, and cried out with a loud voice,
-"Thus, in the presence of the army do I serve the wretch who thought to
-shed my blood!" Then with a furious gesture he threw down and shattered
-the reddened glass, and bade them take the dead man outside the camp
-and leave him stripped to the vultures.</p>
-
-<p>"This ended the episode, but from that day it was noticed by those
-about him that a change had come over the General. If, friend you have
-served with, or have even seen him, you know the man he was&mdash;tall and
-well-formed, blue eyed and fair, like an Englishman, endowed with a
-strength, endurance and resolution that was a wonder to every one: he
-was like an eagle among birds,&mdash;that great bird that has no weakness
-and no mercy, whose cry fills all creatures with dismay, whose pleasure
-it is to tear his victim's flesh with his crooked talons. But now
-some secret malady had fallen on him which took away all his mighty
-strength; the colour of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> his face changed to sickly paleness, and he
-bent forward and swayed this way and that in the saddle as he rode like
-a drunken man, and this strange weakness increased day by day. It was
-said in the army that the blood of the man he had killed had poisoned
-him. The doctors who accompanied us in this march could not cure him,
-and their failure so angered him against them that they began to fear
-for their own safety. They now said that he could not be properly
-treated in camp, but must withdraw to some town where a different
-system could be followed; but this he refused to do.</p>
-
-<p>"Now it happened that we had an old soldier with us who was a
-curandero. He was a native of Santa Fé, and was famed for his cures in
-his own department; but having had the misfortune to kill a man, he
-was arrested and condemned to serve ten years in the army. This person
-now informed some of the officers that he would undertake to cure the
-General, and Barboza, hearing of it, sent for and questioned him. The
-curandero informed him that his malady was one which the doctors could
-not cure. It was a failure of a natural heat of the blood, and only by
-means of animal heat, not by drugs, could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> health be recovered. In such
-a grave case the usual remedy of putting the feet and legs in the body
-of some living animal opened for the purpose would not be sufficient.
-Some very large beast should be procured and the patient placed bodily
-in it.</p>
-
-<p>"The General agreed to submit himself to this treatment; the doctors
-dared not interfere, and men were sent out in quest of a large animal.
-We were then encamped on a wide sandy plain in San Luis, and as we
-were without tents we were suffering much from the great heat and the
-dust-laden winds. But at this spot the General had grown worse, so that
-he could no longer sit on his horse, and here we had to wait for his
-improvement.</p>
-
-<p>"In due time a very big bull was brought in and fastened to a stake in
-the middle of the camp. A space, fifty or sixty yards round, was marked
-out and roped round, and ponchos hung on the rope to form a curtain so
-that what was being done should not be witnessed by the army. But a
-great curiosity and anxiety took possession of the entire force, and
-when the bull was thrown down and his agonizing bellowings were heard,
-from all sides officers and men began to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> move toward that fatal spot.
-It had been noised about that the cure would be almost instantaneous,
-and many were prepared to greet the reappearance of the General with a
-loud cheer.</p>
-
-<p>"Then very suddenly, almost before the bellowings had ceased, shrieks
-were heard from the enclosure, and in a moment, while we all stood
-staring and wondering, out rushed the General, stark naked, reddened
-with that bath of warm blood he had been in, a sword which he had
-hastily snatched up in his hand. Leaping over the barrier, he stood
-still for an instant, then catching sight of the great mass of men
-before him he flew at them, yelling and whirling his sword round so
-that it looked like a shining wheel in the sun. The men seeing that he
-was raving mad fled before him, and for a space of a hundred yards or
-more he pursued them; then that superhuman energy was ended; the sword
-flew from his hand, he staggered, and fell prostrate on the earth. For
-some minutes no one ventured to approach him, but he never stirred, and
-at length, when examined, was found to be dead."</p>
-
-<p>The soldier had finished his story, and though I had many questions to
-ask I asked none, for I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> saw Monica's distress, and that she had gone
-white even to the lips at the terrible things the man had related. But
-now he had ended, and would soon depart, for the sun was getting low.</p>
-
-<p>He rolled up and lighted a cigarette, and was about to rise from the
-bench, when he said, "One thing I forgot to mention about the soldier
-Bracamonte, who attempted to assassinate the General. After he had been
-carried out and stripped for the vultures, a paper was found sewn up
-in the lining of his tunic, which proved to be his passport, for it
-contained his right description. It said that he was a native of this
-department of Chascomus, so that you may have heard of him. His name
-was Bruno de la Cueva."</p>
-
-<p>Would that he had not spoken those last words! Never, though I live
-to be a hundred, shall I forget that terrible scream that came from
-Monica's lips before she fell senseless to the floor!</p>
-
-<p>As I raised her in my arms, the soldier turned and said, "She is
-subject to fits?"</p>
-
-<p>"No," I replied, "that Bruno, of whose death we have now heard for the
-first time, was of this house."</p>
-
-<p>"It was destiny that led me to this place," he said, "or perhaps that
-God who is ever against<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> me; but you, friend, are my witness that I
-crossed not this threshold with a drawn weapon in my hand." And with
-these words he took his departure, and from that day to this I have
-never again beheld his face.</p>
-
-<p>She opened her eyes at last, but the wings of my heart drooped when I
-saw them, since it was easy to see that she had lost her reason; but
-whether that calamity or the grief she would have known is greatest who
-can say? Some have died of pure grief&mdash;did it not kill Donata in the
-end?&mdash;but the crazed may live many years. We sometimes think it would
-be better if they were dead; but not in all cases&mdash;not, señor, in this.</p>
-
-<p>She lived on here with the old people, for from the first she was quiet
-and docile as a child. Finally an order came from a person in authority
-at Chascomus for those who were in the house to quit it. It was going
-to be pulled down for the sake of the material which was required for a
-building in the village. Pascual died about that time, and the widow,
-now old and infirm, went to live with some poor relations at Chascomus
-and took Monica with her. When the old woman died Monica remained with
-these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> people: she lives with them to this day. But she is free to come
-and go at will, and is known to all in the village as <i>la loca del
-Ombú</i>. They are kind to her, for her story is known to them, and God
-has put compassion in their hearts.</p>
-
-<p>To see her you would hardly believe that she is the Monica I have told
-you of, whom I knew as a little one, running bare-footed after her
-father's flock. For she has grey hairs and wrinkles now. As you ride
-to Chascomus from this point you will see, on approaching the lake,
-a very high bank on your left hand, covered with a growth of tall
-fennel, hoarhound, and cardoon thistle. There on most days you will
-find her, sitting on the bank in the shade of the tall fennel bushes,
-looking across the water. She watches for the flamingoes. There are
-many of those great birds on the lake, and they go in flocks, and when
-they rise and travel across the water, flying low, their scarlet wings
-may be seen at a great distance. And every time she catches sight of
-a flock moving like a red line across the lake she cries out with
-delight. That is her one happiness&mdash;her life. And she is the last of
-all those who have lived in my time at El Ombú.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>STORY OF A PIEBALD HORSE.</h2>
-
-<p>This is all about a piebald. People there are like birds that come down
-in flocks, hop about chattering, gobble up their seed, then fly away,
-forgetting what they have swallowed. I love not to scatter grain for
-such as these. With you, friend, it is different. Others may laugh if
-they like at the old man of many stories, who puts all things into his
-copper memory. I can laugh, too, knowing that all things are ordered by
-destiny; otherwise I might sit down and cry.</p>
-
-<p>The things I have seen! There was the piebald that died long ago; I
-could take you to the very spot where his bones used to lie bleaching
-in the sun. There is a nettle growing on the spot. I saw it yesterday.
-What important things are these to remember and talk about! Bones of a
-dead horse and a nettle; a young bird that falls from its nest in the
-night and is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> found dead in the morning: puffballs blown about by the
-wind: a little lamb left behind by the flock bleating at night amongst
-the thorns and thistles, where only the fox or wild dog can hear it!
-Small matters are these, and our lives, what are they? And the people
-we have known, the men and women who have spoken to us and touched us
-with warm hands&mdash;the bright eyes and red lips! Can we cast these things
-like dead leaves on the fire? Can we lie down full of heaviness because
-of them, and sleep and rise in the morning without them? Ah, friend!</p>
-
-<p>Let us to the story of the piebald. There was a cattle-marking at
-neighbour Sotelo's estancia, and out of a herd of three thousand head
-we had to part all the yearlings to be branded. After that, dinner
-and a dance. At sunrise we gathered, about thirty of us; all friends
-and neighbours, to do the work. Only with us came one person nobody
-knew. He joined us when we were on our way to the cattle; a young man,
-slender, well-formed, of pleasing countenance and dressed as few could
-dress in those days. His horse also shone with silver trappings. And
-what an animal! Many horses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> have I seen in this life, but never one
-with such a presence as this young stranger's piebald.</p>
-
-<p>Arrived at the herd, we began to separate the young animals, the men
-riding in couples through the cattle, so that each calf when singled
-out could be driven by two horsemen, one on each side, to prevent it
-from doubling back. I happened to be mounted on a demon with a fiery
-mouth&mdash;there was no making him work, so I had to leave the parters and
-stand with little to do, watching the yearlings already parted, to keep
-them from returning to the herd.</p>
-
-<p>Presently neighbour Chapaco rode up to me. He was a good-hearted man,
-well-spoken, half Indian and half Christian; but he also had another
-half, and that was devil.</p>
-
-<p>"What! neighbour Lucero, are you riding on a donkey or a goat, that you
-remain here doing boy's work?"</p>
-
-<p>I began telling him about my horse, but he did not listen; he was
-looking at the parters.</p>
-
-<p>"Who is that young stranger?" he asked.</p>
-
-<p>"I see him to-day," I replied, "and if I see him again to-morrow then I
-shall have seen him twice."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"And in what country of which I have never heard did he learn
-cattle-parting?" said he.</p>
-
-<p>"He rides," I answered, "like one presuming on a good horse. But he is
-safe, his fellow-worker has all the danger."</p>
-
-<p>"I believe you," said Chapaco. "He charges furiously and hurls the
-heifer before his comrade, who has all the work to keep it from
-doubling, and all the danger, for at any moment his horse may go over
-it and fall. This our young stranger does knowingly, thinking that no
-one here will resent it. No, Lucero, he is presuming more on his long
-knife than on his good horse."</p>
-
-<p>Even while we spoke, the two we were watching rode up to us. Chapaco
-saluted the young man, taking off his hat, and said&mdash;"Will you take me
-for a partner, friend?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes; why not, friend?" returned the other; and together the two rode
-back to the herd.</p>
-
-<p>Now I shall watch them, said I to myself, to see what this Indian
-devil intends doing. Soon they came out of the herd driving a very
-small animal. Then I knew what was coming. "May your guardian angel be
-with you to avert a calamity, young stranger!" I <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>exclaimed. Whip and
-spur those two came towards me like men riding a race and not parting
-cattle. Chapaco kept close to the calf, so that he had the advantage,
-for his horse was well trained. At length he got a little ahead, then,
-quick as lightning, he forced the calf round square before the other.
-The piebald struck it full in the middle, and fell because it had to
-fall. But, Saints in Heaven! why did not the rider save himself? Those
-who were watching saw him throw up his feet to tread his horse's neck
-and leap away; nevertheless man, horse, and calf, came down together.
-They ploughed the ground for some distance, so great had been their
-speed, and the man was under. When we picked him up he was senseless,
-the blood flowing from his mouth. Next morning, when the sun rose and
-God's light fell on the earth, he expired.</p>
-
-<p>Of course there was no dancing that night. Some of the people, after
-eating, went away; others remained sitting about all night, talking
-in low tones, waiting for the end. A few of us were at his bedside
-watching his white face and closed eyes. He breathed, and that was all.
-When the sunlight came over the world he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> opened his eyes, and Sotelo
-asked him how he did. He took no notice, but presently his lips began
-to move, though they seemed to utter no sound. Sotelo bent his ear down
-to listen. "Where does she live?" he asked. He could not answer&mdash;he was
-dead.</p>
-
-<p>"He seemed to be saying many things," Sotelo told us, "but I understood
-only this&mdash;'Tell her to forgive me.... I was wrong. She loved him from
-the first.... I was jealous, and hated him.... Tell Elaria not to
-grieve&mdash;Anacleto will be good to her.' Alas! my friends, where shall I
-find his relations to deliver this dying message to them?"</p>
-
-<p>The Alcalde came that day and made a list of the dead man's
-possessions, and bade Sotelo take charge of them till the relations
-could be found. Then, calling all the people together, he bade each
-person cut on his whip-handle and on the sheath of his knife the
-mark branded on the flank of the piebald, which was in shape like
-a horse-shoe with a cross inside, so that it might be shown to all
-strangers, and made known through the country until the dead man's
-relations should hear of it.</p>
-
-<p>When a year had gone by, the Alcalde told<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> Sotelo that, all inquiries
-having failed, he could now take the piebald and the silver trappings
-for himself. Sotelo would not listen to this, for he was a devout man
-and coveted no person's property, dead or alive. The horse and things,
-however, still remained in his charge.</p>
-
-<p>Three years later I was one afternoon sitting with Sotelo, taking maté,
-when his herd of dun mares were driven up. They came galloping and
-neighing to the corral and ahead of them, looking like a wild horse,
-was the piebald, for no person ever mounted him.</p>
-
-<p>"Never do I look on that horse," I remarked, "without remembering the
-fatal marking, when its master met his death."</p>
-
-<p>"Now you speak of it," said he, "let me inform you that I am about
-to try a new plan. That noble piebald and all those silver trappings
-hanging in my room are always reproaching my conscience. Let us not
-forget the young stranger we put under ground. I have had many masses
-said for his soul's repose, but that does not quite satisfy me.
-Somewhere there is a place where he is not forgotten. Hands there are,
-perhaps, that gather wild flowers to place them with lighted candles
-before the image of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> the Blessed Virgin; eyes there are that weep and
-watch for his coming. You know how many travellers and cattle-drovers
-going to Buenos Ayres from the south call for refreshment at the
-<i>pulperia</i>. I intend taking the piebald and tying him every day at the
-gate there. No person calling will fail to notice the horse, and some
-day perhaps some traveller will recognise the brand on its flank and
-will be able to tell us what department and what estancia it comes
-from."</p>
-
-<p>I did not believe anything would result from this, but said nothing,
-not wishing to discourage him.</p>
-
-<p>Next morning the piebald was tied up at the gate of the <i>pulperia</i>, at
-the road side, only to be released again when night came, and this was
-repeated every day for a long time. So fine an animal did not fail to
-attract the attention of all strangers passing that way, still several
-weeks went by and nothing was discovered. At length, one evening, just
-when the sun was setting, there appeared a troop of cattle driven by
-eight men. It had come a great distance, for the troop was a large
-one&mdash;about nine hundred head&mdash;and they moved slowly, like cattle
-that had been many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> days on the road. Some of the men came in for
-refreshments; then the store-keeper noticed that one remained outside
-leaning on the gate.</p>
-
-<p>"What is the capatas doing that he remains outside?" said one of the
-men.</p>
-
-<p>"Evidently he has fallen in love with that piebald," said another, "for
-he cannot take his eyes off it."</p>
-
-<p>At length the capatas, a young man of good presence, came in and sat
-down on a bench. The others were talking and laughing about the strange
-things they had all been doing the day before; for they had been many
-days and nights on the road, only nodding a little in their saddles,
-and at length becoming delirious from want of sleep, they had begun to
-act like men that are half-crazed.</p>
-
-<p>"Enough of the delusions of yesterday," said the capatas, who had
-been silently listening to them, "but tell me, boys, am I in the same
-condition to-day?"</p>
-
-<p>"Surely not!" they replied. "Thanks to those horned devils being so
-tired and footsore, we all had some sleep last night."</p>
-
-<p>"Very well then," said he, "now you have finished eating and drinking,
-go back to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> troop, but before you leave look well at that piebald
-tied at the gate. He that is not a cattle-drover may ask, 'How can
-my eyes deceive me?' but I know that a crazy brain makes us see many
-strange things when the drowsy eyes can only be held open with the
-fingers."</p>
-
-<p>The men did as they were told, and when they had looked well at the
-piebald, they all shouted out, "He has the brand of the estancia de
-Silva on his flank, and no counter-brand&mdash;claim the horse, capatas, for
-he is yours." And after that they rode away to the herd.</p>
-
-<p>"My friend," said the capatas to the store-keeper, "will you explain
-how you came possessed of this piebald horse?"</p>
-
-<p>Then the other told him everything, even the dying words of the young
-stranger, for he knew all.</p>
-
-<p>The capatas bent down his head, and covering his face shed tears. Then
-he said, "And you died thus, Torcuato, amongst strangers! From my
-heart I have forgiven you the wrong you did me. Heaven rest your soul,
-Torcuato; I cannot forget that we were once brothers. I, friend, am
-that Anacleto of whom he spoke with his last breath."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Sotelo was then sent for, and when he arrived and the <i>pulperia</i> was
-closed for the night, the capatas told his story, which I will give you
-in his own words, for I was also present to hear him. This is what he
-told us:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>I was born on the southern frontier. My parents died when I was very
-small, but Heaven had compassion on me and raised up one to shelter
-me in my orphanhood. Don Loreto Silva took me to his estancia on the
-Sarandi, a stream half a day's journey from Tandil, towards the setting
-sun. He treated me like one of his own children, and I took the name of
-Silva. He had two other children, Torcuato, who was about the same age
-as myself, and his daughter, Elaria, who was younger. He was a widower
-when he took charge of me, and died when I was still a youth. After
-his death we moved to Tandil, where we had a house close to the little
-town; for we were all minors, and the property had been left to be
-equally divided between us when we should be of age. For four years we
-lived happily together; then when we were of age we preferred to keep
-the property undivided. I proposed that we should go and live on the
-estancia,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> but Torcuato would not consent, liking the place where we
-were living best. Finally, not being able to persuade him, I resolved
-to go and attend to the estancia myself. He said that I could please
-myself and that he should stay where he was with Elaria. It was only
-when I told Elaria of these things that I knew how much I loved her.
-She wept and implored me not to leave her.</p>
-
-<p>"Why do you shed tears, Elaria?" I said; "is it because you love me?
-Know, then, that I also love you with all my heart, and if you will be
-mine, nothing can ever make us unhappy. Do not think that my absence
-at the estancia will deprive me of this feeling which has ever been
-growing up in me."</p>
-
-<p>"I do love you, Anacleto," she replied, "and I have also known of your
-love for a long time. But there is something in my heart which I cannot
-impart to you; only I ask you, for the love you bear me, do not leave
-me, and do not ask me why I say this to you."</p>
-
-<p>After this appeal I could not leave her, nor did I ask her to tell me
-her secret. Torcuato and I were friendly, but not as we had been before
-this difference. I had no evil thoughts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> of him; I loved him and was
-with him continually; but from the moment I announced to him that I
-had changed my mind about going to the estancia, and was silent when
-he demanded the reason, there was a something in him which made it
-different between us. I could not open my heart to him about Elaria,
-and sometimes I thought that he also had a secret which he had no
-intention of sharing with me. This coldness did not, however, distress
-me very much, so great was the happiness I now experienced, knowing
-that I possessed Elaria's love. He was much away from the house, being
-fond of amusements, and he had also begun to gamble. About three months
-passed in this way, when one morning Torcuato, who was saddling his
-horse to go out, said, "Will you come with me, to-day, Anacleto?"</p>
-
-<p>"I do not care to go," I answered.</p>
-
-<p>"Look, Anacleto," said he; "once you were always ready to accompany
-me to a race or dance or cattle-marking. Why have you ceased to care
-for these things? Are you growing devout before your time, or does my
-company no longer please you?"</p>
-
-<p>"It is best to tell him everything and have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> done with secrets," said I
-to myself, and so replied&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Since you ask me, Torcuato, I will answer you frankly. It is true that
-I now take less pleasure than formerly in these pastimes; but you have
-not guessed the reason rightly."</p>
-
-<p>"What then is this reason of which you speak?"</p>
-
-<p>"Since you cannot guess it," I replied, "know that it is love."</p>
-
-<p>"Love for whom?" he asked quickly, and turning very pale.</p>
-
-<p>"Do you need ask? Elaria," I replied.</p>
-
-<p>I had scarcely uttered the name before he turned on me full of rage.</p>
-
-<p>"Elaria!" he exclaimed. "Do you dare tell me of love for Elaria! But
-you are only a blind fool, and do not know that I am going to marry her
-myself."</p>
-
-<p>"Are you mad, Torcuato, to talk of marrying your sister?"</p>
-
-<p>"She is no more my sister than you are my brother," he returned. "I,"
-he continued, striking his breast passionately, "am the only child of
-my father, Loreto Silva. Elaria, whose mother died in giving her birth,
-was adopted by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> my parents. And because she is going to be my wife, I
-am willing that she should have a share of the property; but you, a
-miserable foundling, why were you lifted up so high? Was it not enough
-that you were clothed and fed till you came to man's estate? Not a
-hand's-breadth of the estancia land should be yours by right, and now
-you presume to speak of love for Elaria."</p>
-
-<p>My blood was on fire with so many insults, but I remembered all the
-benefits I had received from his father, and did not raise my hand
-against him. Without more words he left me. I then hastened to Elaria
-and told her what had passed.</p>
-
-<p>"This," I said, "is the secret you would not impart to me. Why, when
-you knew these things, was I kept in ignorance?"</p>
-
-<p>"Have pity on me, Anacleto," she replied, crying. "Did I not see that
-you two were no longer friends and brothers, and this without knowing
-of each other's love? I dared not open my lips to you or to him. It is
-always a woman's part to suffer in silence. God intended us to be poor,
-Anacleto, for we were both born of poor parents, and had this property
-never come to us, how happy we might have been!"</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Why do you say such things, Elaria? Since we love each other, we
-cannot be unhappy, rich or poor."</p>
-
-<p>"Is it a little matter," she replied, "that Torcuato must be our bitter
-enemy? But you do not know every thing. Before Torcuato's father died,
-he said he wished his son to marry me when we came of age. When he
-spoke about it we were sitting together by his bed."</p>
-
-<p>"And what did you say, Elaria?" I asked, full of concern.</p>
-
-<p>"Torcuato promised to marry me. I only covered my face, and was silent,
-for I loved you best even then, though I was almost a child, and my
-heart was filled with grief at his words. After we came here, Torcuato
-reminded me of his father's words. I answered that I did not wish to
-marry him, that he was only a brother to me. Then he said that we were
-young and he could wait until I was of another mind. This is all I have
-to say; but how shall we three live together any longer? I cannot bear
-to part from you, and every moment I tremble to think what may happen
-when you two are together."</p>
-
-<p>"Fear nothing," I said. "To-morrow morning you can go to spend a week
-at some friend's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> house in the town; then I will speak to Torcuato, and
-tell him that since we cannot live in peace together we must separate.
-Even if he answers with insults I shall do nothing to grieve you, and
-if he refuses to listen to me, I shall send some person we both respect
-to arrange all things between us."</p>
-
-<p>This satisfied her, but as evening approached she grew paler, and I
-knew she feared Torcuato's return. He did not, however, come back that
-night. Early next morning she was ready to leave. It was an easy walk
-to the town, but the dew was heavy on the grass, and I saddled a horse
-for her to ride. I had just lifted her to the saddle when Torcuato
-appeared. He came at great speed, and throwing himself off his horse,
-advanced to us. Elaria trembled and seemed ready to sink upon the earth
-to hide herself like a partridge that has seen the hawk. I prepared
-myself for insults and perhaps violence. He never looked at me; he only
-spoke to her.</p>
-
-<p>"Elaria," he said, "something has happened&mdash;something that obliges me
-to leave this house and neighbourhood at once. Remember when I am away
-that my father, who cherished you and enriched you with his bounty, and
-who also<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> cherished and enriched this ingrate, spoke to us from his
-dying bed and made me promise to marry you. Think what his love was; do
-not forget that his last wish is sacred, and that Anacleto has acted a
-base, treacherous part in trying to steal you from me. He was lifted
-out of the mire to be my brother and equal in everything except this.
-He has got a third part of my inheritance&mdash;let that satisfy him; your
-own heart, Elaria, will tell you that a marriage with him would be a
-crime before God and man. Look not for my return to-morrow nor for many
-days. But if you two begin to laugh at my father's dying wishes, look
-for me, for then I shall not delay to come back to you, Elaria, and to
-you, Anacleto. I have spoken."</p>
-
-<p>He then mounted his horse and rode away. Very soon we learned the cause
-of his sudden departure. He had quarrelled over his cards and in a
-struggle that followed had stabbed his adversary to the heart. He had
-fled to escape the penalty. We did not believe that he would remain
-long absent; for Torcuato was very young, well off, and much liked,
-and this was, moreover, his first offence against the law. But time
-went on and he did not return, nor did any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> message from him reach us,
-and we at last concluded that he had left the country. Only now after
-four years have I accidentally discovered his fate through seeing his
-piebald horse.</p>
-
-<p>After he had been absent over a year, I asked Elaria to become my wife.
-"We cannot marry till Torcuato returns," she said. "For if we take the
-property that ought to have been all his, and at the same time disobey
-his father's dying wish, we shall be doing an evil thing. Let us take
-care of the property till he returns to receive it all back from us;
-then, Anacleto, we shall be free to marry."</p>
-
-<p>I consented, for she was more to me than lands and cattle. I put
-the estancia in order and leaving a trustworthy person in charge of
-everything I invested my money in fat bullocks to resell in Buenos
-Ayres, and in this business I have been employed ever since. From the
-estancia I have taken nothing, and now it must all come back to us&mdash;his
-inheritance and ours. This is a bitter thing and will give Elaria great
-grief.</p>
-
-<p class="space-above">Thus ended Anacleto's story, and when he had finished speaking and
-still seemed greatly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> troubled in his mind, Sotelo said to him,
-"Friend, let me advise you what to do. You will now shortly be married
-to the woman you love and probably some day a son will be born to you.
-Let him be named Torcuato, and let Torcuato's inheritance be kept
-for him. And if God gives you no son, remember what was done for you
-and for the girl you are going to marry, when you were orphans and
-friendless, and look out for some unhappy child in the same condition,
-to protect and enrich him as you were enriched."</p>
-
-<p>"You have spoken well," said Anacleto. "I will report your words to
-Elaria, and whatever she wishes done that will I do."</p>
-
-<p class="space-above">So ends my story, friend. The cattle-drover left us that night and
-we saw no more of him. Only before going he gave the piebald and the
-silver trappings to Sotelo. Six months after his visit, Sotelo also
-received a letter from him to say that his marriage with Elaria had
-taken place; and the letter was accompanied with a present of seven
-cream-coloured horses with black manes and hoofs.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>NIÑO DIABLO.</h2>
-
-<p>The wide pampa rough with long grass; a vast level disc now growing
-dark, the horizon encircling it with a ring as faultless as that
-made by a pebble dropped into smooth water; above it the clear sky
-of June, wintry and pale, still showing in the west the saffron hues
-of the afterglow tinged with vapoury violet and grey. In the centre
-of the disc a large low rancho thatched with yellow rushes, a few
-stunted trees and cattle enclosures grouped about it; and dimly seen
-in the shadows, cattle and sheep reposing. At the gate stands Gregory
-Gorostiaga, lord of house, lands and ruminating herds, leisurely
-unsaddling his horse; for whatsoever Gregory does is done leisurely.
-Although no person is within earshot he talks much over his task, now
-rebuking his restive animal, and now cursing his benumbed fingers and
-the hard knots in his gear. A curse falls readily and not without a
-certain natural<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> grace from Gregory's lips; it is the oiled feather
-with which he touches every difficult knot encountered in life. From
-time to time he glances towards the open kitchen door, from which issue
-the far-flaring light of the fire and familiar voices, with savoury
-smells of cookery that come to his nostrils like pleasant messengers.</p>
-
-<p>The unsaddling over at last the freed horse gallops away, neighing
-joyfully, to seek his fellows; but Gregory is not a four-footed thing
-to hurry himself; and so, stepping slowly and pausing frequently to
-look about him as if reluctant to quit the cold night air, he turns
-towards the house.</p>
-
-<p>The spacious kitchen was lighted by two or three wicks in cups of
-melted fat, and by a great fire in the middle of the clay floor that
-cast crowds of dancing shadows on the walls and filled the whole room
-with grateful warmth. On the walls were fastened many deers' heads,
-and on their convenient prongs were hung bridles and lassos, ropes of
-onions and garlics, bunches of dried herbs, and various other objects.
-At the fire a piece of beef was roasting on a spit; and in a large pot
-suspended by hook and chain from the smoke-blackened central beam,
-boiled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> and bubbled an ocean of mutton broth, puffing out white clouds
-of steam redolent of herbs and cummin-seed. Close to the fire, skimmer
-in hand, sat Magdalen, Gregory's fat and florid wife, engaged in frying
-pies in a second smaller pot. There also, on a high, straight-backed
-chair, sat Ascension, her sister-in-law, a wrinkled spinster; also, in
-a low rush-bottomed seat, her mother-in-law, an ancient white-headed
-dame, staring vacantly into the flames. On the other side of the fire
-were Gregory's two eldest daughters, occupied just now in serving maté
-to their elders&mdash;that harmless bitter decoction the sipping of which
-fills up all vacant moments from dawn to bed-time&mdash;pretty dove-eyed
-girls of sixteen, both also named Magdalen, but not after their mother
-nor because confusion was loved by the family for its own sake; they
-were twins, and born on the day sacred to Santa Magdalena. Slumbering
-dogs and cats were disposed about the floor, also four children. The
-eldest, a boy, sitting with legs outstretched before him, was cutting
-threads from a slip of colt's hide looped over his great toe. The two
-next, boy and girl, were playing a simple game called nines, once known
-to English children as nine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> men's morrice; the lines were rudely
-scratched on the clay floor, and the men they played with were bits
-of hardened clay, nine red and as many white. The youngest, a girl of
-five, sat on the floor nursing a kitten that purred contentedly on her
-lap and drowsily winked its blue eyes at the fire; and as she swayed
-herself from side to side she lisped out the old lullaby in her baby
-voice:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<div><i>A-ro-ró mi niño</i></div>
-<div class="i1"><i>A-ro-ró mi sol,</i></div>
-<div><i>A-ro-ró pedazos</i></div>
-<div class="i1"><i>De mi corazon.</i></div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>Gregory stood on the threshold surveying this domestic scene with
-manifest pleasure.</p>
-
-<p>"Papa mine, what have you brought me?" cried the child with the kitten.</p>
-
-<p>"Brought you, interested? Stiff whiskers and cold hands to pinch your
-dirty little cheeks. How is your cold to-night, mother?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, son, it is very cold to-night; we knew that before you came in,"
-replied the old dame testily as she drew her chair a little closer to
-the fire.</p>
-
-<p>"It is useless speaking to her," remarked Ascension. "With her to be
-out of temper is to be deaf."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"What has happened to put her out?" he asked.</p>
-
-<p>"I can tell you, papa," cried one of the twins. "She wouldn't let
-me make your cigars to-day, and sat down out of doors to make them
-herself. It was after breakfast when the sun was warm."</p>
-
-<p>"And of course she fell asleep," chimed in Ascension.</p>
-
-<p>"Let me tell it, auntie!" exclaimed the other. "And she fell asleep,
-and in a moment Rosita's lamb came and ate up the whole of the
-tobacco-leaf in her lap."</p>
-
-<p>"It didn't!" cried Rosita, looking up from her game. "I opened its
-mouth and looked with all my eyes, and there was no tobacco-leaf in it."</p>
-
-<p>"That lamb! that lamb!" said Gregory slily. "Is it to be wondered at
-that we are turning grey before our time&mdash;all except Rosita! Remind me
-to-morrow, wife, to take it to the flock; or if it has grown fat on all
-the tobacco-leaf, aprons and old shoes it has eaten&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh no, no, no!" screamed Rosita, starting up and throwing the game
-into confusion, just when her little brother had made a row and was in
-the act of seizing on one of her pieces in triumph.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Hush, silly child, he will not harm your lamb," said the mother,
-pausing from her task and raising eyes that were tearful with the smoke
-of the fire and of the cigarette she held between her good-humoured
-lips. "And now, if these children have finished speaking of their
-important affairs, tell me, Gregory, what news do you bring?"</p>
-
-<p>"They say," he returned, sitting down and taking the maté-cup from
-his daughter's hand, "that the invading Indians bring seven hundred
-lances, and that those that first opposed them were all slain. Some say
-they are now retreating with the cattle they have taken; while others
-maintain that they are waiting to fight our men."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, my sons, my sons, what will happen to them!" cried Magdalen,
-bursting into tears.</p>
-
-<p>"Why do you cry, wife, before God gives you cause?" returned her
-husband. "Are not all men born to fight the infidel? Our boys are not
-alone&mdash;all their friends and neighbours are with them."</p>
-
-<p>"Say not this to me, Gregory, for I am not a fool nor blind. All their
-friends indeed! And this very day I have seen the Niño Diablo; he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>
-galloped past the house, whistling like a partridge that knows no
-care. Why must my two sons be called away, while he, a youth without
-occupation and with no mother to cry for him, remains behind?"</p>
-
-<p>"You talk folly, Magdalen," replied her lord. "Complain that the
-ostrich and puma are more favoured than your sons, since no man calls
-on them to serve the state; but mention not the Niño, for he is freer
-than the wild things which Heaven has made, and fights not on this side
-nor on that."</p>
-
-<p>"Coward! Miserable!" murmured the incensed mother.</p>
-
-<p>Whereupon one of the twins flushed scarlet, and retorted, "He is not a
-coward, mother!"</p>
-
-<p>"And if not a coward why does he sit on the hearth among women and
-old men in times like these? Grieved am I to hear a daughter of mine
-speak in defence of one who is a vagabond and a stealer of other men's
-horses!"</p>
-
-<p>The girl's eyes flashed angrily, but she answered not a word.</p>
-
-<p>"Hold your tongue, woman, and accuse no man of crimes," spoke Gregory.
-"Let every Christian take proper care of his animals; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> as for
-the infidel's horses, he is a virtuous man that steals them. The
-girl speaks truth; the Niño is no coward, but he fights not with our
-weapons. The web of the spider is coarse and ill-made compared with
-the snare he spreads to entangle his prey." Thus fixing his eyes on
-the face of the girl who had spoken, he added; "therefore be warned in
-season, my daughter, and fall not into the snare of the Niño Diablo."</p>
-
-<p>Again the girl blushed and hung her head.</p>
-
-<p>At this moment a clatter of hoofs, the jangling of a bell, and shouts
-of a traveller to the horses driven before him, came in at the open
-door. The dogs roused themselves, almost overturning the children
-in their hurry to rush out; and up rose Gregory to find out who was
-approaching with so much noise.</p>
-
-<p>"I know, <i>papita</i>," cried one of the children. "It is Uncle Polycarp."</p>
-
-<p>"You are right, child," said her father. "Cousin Polycarp always
-arrives at night, shouting to his animals like a troop of Indians." And
-with that he went out to welcome his boisterous relative.</p>
-
-<p>The traveller soon arrived, spurring his horse, scared at the light and
-snorting loudly, to within<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> two yards o£ the door. In a few minutes the
-saddle was thrown off, the fore feet of the bell-mare fettered, and the
-horses allowed to wander away in quest of pasturage; then the two men
-turned into the kitchen.</p>
-
-<p>A short, burly man aged about fifty, wearing a soft hat thrust
-far back on his head, with truculent greenish eyes beneath arched
-bushy eyebrows, and a thick shapeless nose surmounting a bristly
-moustache&mdash;such was Cousin Polycarp. From neck to feet he was covered
-with a blue cloth poncho, and on his heels he wore enormous silver
-spurs that clanked and jangled over the floor like the fetters of a
-convict. After greeting the women and bestowing the avuncular blessing
-on the children, who had clamoured for it as for some inestimable
-boon&mdash;he sat down, and flinging back his poncho displayed at his waist
-a huge silver-hilted knife and a heavy brass-barelled horse-pistol.</p>
-
-<p>"Heaven be praised for its goodness, Cousin Magdalen," he said. "What
-with pies and spices your kitchen is more fragrant than a garden of
-flowers. That's as it should be, for nothing but rum have I tasted this
-bleak day. And the boys are away fighting, Gregory tells<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> me. Good!
-When the eaglets have found out their wings let them try their talons.
-What, Cousin Magdalen, crying for the boys! Would you have had them
-girls?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, a thousand times," she replied, drying her wet eyes on her apron.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, Magdalen, daughters can't be always young and sweet-tempered,
-like your brace of pretty partridges yonder. They grow old, Cousin
-Magdalen&mdash;old and ugly and spiteful; and are more bitter and worthless
-than the wild pumpkin. But I speak not of those who are present, for I
-would say nothing to offend my respected Cousin Ascension, whom may God
-preserve, though she never married."</p>
-
-<p>"Listen to me, Cousin Polycarp," returned the insulted dame so
-pointedly alluded to. "Say nothing to me nor of me, and I will also
-hold my peace concerning you; for you know very well that if I were
-disposed to open my lips I could say a thousand things."</p>
-
-<p>"Enough, enough, you have already said them a thousand times," he
-interrupted. "I know all that, cousin; let us say no more."</p>
-
-<p>"That is only what I ask," she retorted, "for I have never loved to
-bandy words with you;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> and you know already, therefore I need not
-recall it to your mind, that if I am single it is not because some men
-whose names I could mention if I felt disposed&mdash;and they are the names
-not of dead but of living men&mdash;would not have been glad to marry me;
-but because I preferred my liberty and the goods I inherited from my
-father; and I see not what advantage there is in being the wife of one
-who is a brawler and a drunkard and spender of other people's money,
-and I know not what besides."</p>
-
-<p>"There it is!" said Polycarp, appealing to the fire. "I knew that I had
-thrust my foot into a red ant's nest&mdash;careless that I am! But in truth,
-Ascension, it was fortunate for you in those distant days you mention
-that you hardened your heart against all lovers. For wives, like cattle
-that must be branded with their owner's mark, are first of all taught
-submission to their husbands; and consider, cousin, what tears! what
-sufferings!" And having ended thus abruptly, he planted his elbows on
-his knees and busied himself with the cigarette he had been trying to
-roll up with his cold drunken fingers for the last five minutes.</p>
-
-<p>Ascension gave a nervous twitch at the red<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> cotton kerchief on her
-head, and cleared her throat with a sound "sharp and short like the
-shrill swallow's cry," when&mdash;&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Madre del Cielo</i>, how you frightened me!" screamed one of the twins,
-giving a great start.</p>
-
-<p>The cause of this sudden outcry was discovered in the presence of
-a young man quietly seated on the bench at the girl's side. He had
-not been there a minute before, and no person had seen him enter the
-room&mdash;what wonder that the girl was startled! He was slender in form,
-and had small hands and feet, and oval olive face, smooth as a girl's
-except for the incipient moustache on his lip. In place of a hat he
-wore only a scarlet ribbon bound about his head, to keep back the
-glossy black hair that fell to his shoulders; and he was wrapped in a
-white woollen Indian poncho, while his lower limbs were cased in white
-colt-skin coverings, shaped like stockings to his feet, with the red
-tassels of his embroidered garters falling to the ankles.</p>
-
-<p>"The Niño Diablo!" all cried in a breath, the children manifesting the
-greatest joy at his appearance. But old Gregory spoke with affected
-anger. "Why do you always drop on us in this treacherous way, like rain
-through a leaky<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> thatch?" he exclaimed. "Keep these strange arts for
-your visits in the infidel country; here we are all Christians, and
-praise God on the threshold when we visit a neighbour's house. And now,
-Niño Diablo, what news of the Indians?"</p>
-
-<p>"Nothing do I know and little do I concern myself about specks on the
-horizon," returned the visitor with a light laugh. And at once all the
-children gathered round him, for the Niño they considered to belong
-to them when he came, and not to their elders with their solemn talk
-about Indian warfare and lost horses. And now, now he would finish that
-wonderful story, long in the telling, of the little girl alone and lost
-in the great desert, and surrounded by all the wild animals met to
-discuss what they should do with her. It was a grand story, even mother
-Magdalen listened, though she pretended all the time to be thinking
-only of her pies&mdash;and the teller, like the grand old historians of
-other days, put most eloquent speeches, all made out of his own head,
-into the lips (and beaks) of the various actors&mdash;puma, ostrich, deer,
-cavy, and the rest.</p>
-
-<p>In the midst of this performance supper was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> announced, and all
-gathered willingly round a dish of Magdalen's pies, filled with
-minced meat, hard-boiled eggs chopped small, raisins, and plenty of
-spice. After the pies came roast beef; and, finally, great basins of
-mutton broth fragrant with herbs and cummin-seed. The rage of hunger
-satisfied, each one said a prayer, the elders murmuring with bowed
-heads, the children on their knees uplifting shrill voices. Then
-followed the concluding semi-religious ceremony of the day, when each
-child in its turn asked a blessing of father, mother, grandmother,
-uncle, aunt, and not omitting the stranger within the gates, even the
-Niño Diablo of evil-sounding name.</p>
-
-<p>The men drew forth their pouches, and began making their cigarettes,
-when once more the children gathered round the story-teller, their
-faces glowing with expectation.</p>
-
-<p>"No, no," cried their mother. "No more stories to-night&mdash;to bed, to
-bed!"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, mother, mother!" cried Rosita pleadingly, and struggling to
-free herself; for the good woman had dashed in among them to enforce
-obedience. "Oh, let me stay till the story ends! The reed-cat has said
-such things!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> Oh, what will they do with the poor little girl?"</p>
-
-<p>"And oh, mother mine!" drowsily sobbed her little sister; "the
-armadillo that said&mdash;that said nothing because it had nothing to say,
-and the partridge that whistled and said,&mdash;" and here she broke into
-a prolonged wail. The boys also added their voices until the hubbub
-was no longer to be borne, and Gregory rose up in his wrath and called
-on some one to lend him a big whip; only then they yielded, and still
-sobbing and casting many a lingering look behind, were led from the
-kitchen.</p>
-
-<p>During this scene the Niño had been carrying on a whispered
-conversation with the pretty Magdalen of his choice, heedless of the
-uproar of which he had been the indirect cause; deaf also to the bitter
-remarks of Ascension concerning some people who, having no homes of
-their own, were fond of coming uninvited into other people's houses,
-only to repay the hospitality extended to them by stealing their silly
-daughters affections, and teaching their children to rebel against
-their authority.</p>
-
-<p>But the noise and confusion had served to arouse Polycarp from a drowsy
-fit; for like a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> boa constrictor, he had dined largely after his long
-fast, and dinner had made him dull; bending towards his cousin he
-whispered earnestly: "Who is this young stranger, Gregory?"</p>
-
-<p>"In what corner of the earth have you been hiding to ask who the Niño
-Diablo is?" returned the other.</p>
-
-<p>"Must I know the history of every cat and dog?"</p>
-
-<p>"The Niño is not cat nor dog, cousin, but a man among men, like a
-falcon among birds. When a child of six the Indians killed all his
-relations and carried him into captivity. After five years he escaped
-out of their hands, and, guided by sun and stars and signs on the
-earth, he found his way back to the Christian's country, bringing many
-beautiful horses stolen from his captors; also the name of Niño Diablo
-first given to him by the infidel. We know him by no other."</p>
-
-<p>"This is a good story; in truth I like it well&mdash;it pleases me
-mightily," said Polycarp. "And what more, cousin Gregory?"</p>
-
-<p>"More than I can tell, cousin. When he comes the dogs bark not&mdash;who
-knows why? his tread is softer than the cat's; the untamed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> horse is
-tame for him. Always in the midst of dangers, yet no harm, no scratch.
-Why? Because he stoops like the falcon, makes his stroke and is
-gone&mdash;Heaven knows where!"</p>
-
-<p>"What strange things are you telling me? Wonderful! And what more
-cousin, Gregory?"</p>
-
-<p>"He often goes into the Indian country, and lives freely with the
-infidel, disguised, for they do not know him who was once their
-captive. They speak of the Niño Diablo to him, saying that when they
-catch that thief they will flay him alive. He listens to their strange
-stories, then leaves them, taking their finest ponchos and silver
-ornaments, and the flower of their horses."</p>
-
-<p>"A brave youth, one after my own heart, cousin Gregory. Heaven defend
-and prosper him in all his journeys into the Indian territory! Before
-we part I shall embrace him and offer him my friendship, which is worth
-something. More, tell me more, cousin Gregory?"</p>
-
-<p>"These things I tell you to put you on your guard; look well to your
-horses, cousin."</p>
-
-<p>"What!" shouted the other, lifting himself up from his stooping
-posture, and staring at his relation with astonishment and kindling
-anger in his countenance.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The conversation had been carried on in a low tone, and the sudden
-loud exclamation startled them all&mdash;all except the Niño, who continued
-smoking and chatting pleasantly to the twins.</p>
-
-<p>"Lightning and pestilence, what is this you say to me, Gregory
-Gorostiaga!" continued Polycarp, violently slapping his thigh and
-thrusting his hat farther back on his head.</p>
-
-<p>"Prudence!" whispered Gregory. "Say nothing to offend the Niño, he
-never forgives an enemy&mdash;with horses."</p>
-
-<p>"Talk not to me of prudence!" bawled the other. "You hit me on the
-apple of the eye and counsel me not to cry out. What! have not I, whom
-men call Polycarp of the South, wrestled with tigers in the desert,
-and must I hold my peace because of a boy&mdash;even a boy devil? Talk of
-what you like, cousin, and I am a meek man&mdash;meek as a sucking babe; but
-touch not on my horses, for then I am a whirlwind, a conflagration, a
-river flooded in winter, and all wrath and destruction like an invasion
-of Indians! Who can stand before me? Ribs of steel are no protection!
-Look at my knife; do you ask why there are stains on the blade? Listen;
-because it has gone straight to the robber's heart!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> And with that he
-drew out his great knife and flourished it wildly, and made stabs and
-slashes at an imaginary foe suspended above the fire.</p>
-
-<p>The pretty girls grew silent and pale and trembled like poplar leaves;
-the old grandmother rose up, and clutching at her shawl toddled
-hurriedly away, while Ascension uttered a snort of disdain. But the
-Niño still talked and smiled, blowing thin smoke-clouds from his lips,
-careless of that tempest of wrath gathering before him; till, seeing
-the other so calm, the man of war returned his weapon to its sheath,
-and glancing round and lowering his voice to a conversational tone,
-informed his hearers that his name was Polycarp, one known and feared
-by all men,&mdash;especially in the south; that he was disposed to live in
-peace and amity with the entire human race, and he therefore considered
-it unreasonable of some men to follow him about the world asking him to
-kill them. "Perhaps," he concluded, with a touch of irony, "they think
-I gain something by putting them to death. A mistake, good friends; I
-gain nothing by it! I am not a vulture, and their dead bodies can be of
-no use to me."</p>
-
-<p>Just after this sanguinary protest and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>disclaimer the Niño all at once
-made a gesture as if to impose silence, and turning his face towards
-the door, his nostrils dilating, and his eyes appearing to grow large
-and luminous like those of a cat.</p>
-
-<p>"What do you hear, Niño?" asked Gregory.</p>
-
-<p>"I hear lapwings screaming," he replied.</p>
-
-<p>"Only at a fox perhaps," said the other. "But go to the door, Niño, and
-listen."</p>
-
-<p>"No need," he returned, dropping his hand, the light of a sudden
-excitement passing from his face. "'Tis only a single horseman riding
-this way at a fast gallop."</p>
-
-<p>Polycarp got up and went to the door, saying that when a man was among
-robbers it behoved him to look well after his cattle. Then he came
-back and sat down again. "Perhaps," he remarked, with a side glance at
-the Niño, "a better plan would be to watch the thief. A lie, cousin
-Gregory; no lapwings are screaming; no single horseman approaching at a
-fast gallop. The night is serene, and earth as silent as the sepulchre."</p>
-
-<p>"Prudence!" whispered Gregory again. "Ah, cousin, always playful like
-a kitten; when will you grow old and wise? Can you not see a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> sleeping
-snake without turning aside to stir it up with your naked foot?"</p>
-
-<p>Strange to say, Polycarp made no reply. A long experience in getting up
-quarrels had taught him that these impassive men were, in truth, often
-enough like venomous snakes, quick and deadly when roused. He became
-secret and watchful in his manner.</p>
-
-<p>All now were intently listening. Then said Gregory, "Tell us, Niño,
-what voices, fine as the trumpet of the smallest fly, do you hear
-coming from that great silence? Has the mother skunk put her little
-ones to sleep in their kennel and gone out to seek for the pipit's
-nest? Have fox and armadillo met to challenge each other to fresh
-trials of strength and cunning? What is the owl saying this moment to
-his mistress in praise of her big green eyes?"</p>
-
-<p>The young man smiled slightly but answered not; and for full five
-minutes more all listened, then sounds of approaching hoofs became
-audible. Dogs began to bark, horses to snort in alarm, and Gregory rose
-and went forth to receive the late night-wanderer. Soon he appeared,
-beating the angry barking dogs off with his whip, a white-faced,
-wild-haired man, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>furiously spurring his horse like a person demented
-or flying from robbers.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Ave Maria!</i>" he shouted aloud; and when the answer was given in
-suitable pious words, the scared-looking stranger drew near, and
-bending down said, "Tell me, good friend, is one whom men call Niño
-Diablo with you; for to this house I have been directed in my search
-for him?"</p>
-
-<p>"He is within, friend," answered Gregory. "Follow me and you shall see
-him with your own eyes. Only first unsaddle, so that your horse may
-roll before the sweat dries on him."</p>
-
-<p>"How many horses have I ridden their last journey on this quest!" said
-the stranger, hurriedly pulling off the saddle and rugs. "But tell
-me one thing more; is he well&mdash;no indisposition? Has he met with no
-accident&mdash;a broken bone, a sprained ankle?"</p>
-
-<p>"Friend," said Gregory, "I have heard that once in past times the moon
-met with an accident, but of the Niño no such thing has been reported
-to me."</p>
-
-<p>With this assurance the stranger followed his host into the kitchen,
-made his salutation, and sat down by the fire. He was about thirty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>
-years old, a good-looking man, but his face was haggard, his eyes
-bloodshot, his manner restless, and he appeared like one half-crazed
-by some great calamity. The hospitable Magdalen placed food before him
-and pressed him to eat. He complied, although reluctantly, despatched
-his supper in a few moments, and murmured a prayer; then, glancing
-curiously at the two men seated near him, he addressed himself to
-the burly, well-armed, and dangerous-looking Polycarp. "Friend," he
-said, his agitation increasing as he spoke, "four days have I been
-seeking you, taking neither food nor rest, so great was my need of your
-assistance. You alone, after God, can help me. Help me in this strait,
-and half of all I possess in land and cattle and gold shall be freely
-given to you, and the angels above will applaud your deed!"</p>
-
-<p>"Drunk or mad?" was the only reply vouchsafed to this appeal.</p>
-
-<p>"Sir," said the stranger with dignity, "I have not tasted wine these
-many days, nor has my great grief crazed me."</p>
-
-<p>"Then what ails the man?" said Polycarp. "Fear perhaps, for he is white
-in the face like one who has seen the Indians."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"In truth I have seen them. I was one of those unfortunates who first
-opposed them, and most of the friends who were with me are now food for
-wild dogs. Where our houses stood there are only ashes and a stain of
-blood on the ground. Oh, friend, can you not guess why you alone were
-in my thoughts when this trouble came to me&mdash;why I have ridden day and
-night to find you?"</p>
-
-<p>"Demons!" exclaimed Polycarp, "into what quagmires would this man lead
-me? Once for all I understand you not! Leave me in peace, strange man,
-or we shall quarrel." And here he tapped his weapon significantly.</p>
-
-<p>At this juncture, Gregory, who took his time about everything, thought
-proper to interpose. "You are mistaken, friend," said he. "The young
-man sitting on your right is the Niño Diablo, for whom you inquired a
-little while ago."</p>
-
-<p>A look of astonishment, followed by one of intense relief, came over
-the stranger's face. Turning to the young man he said, "My friend,
-forgive me this mistake. Grief has perhaps dimmed my sight; but
-sometimes the iron blade and the blade of finest temper are not easily
-distinguished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> by the eye. When we try them we know which is the brute
-metal, and cast it aside to take up the other, and trust our life to
-it. The words I have spoken were meant for you, and you have heard
-them."</p>
-
-<p>"What can I do for you, friend?" said the Niño.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, sir, the greatest service! You can restore my lost wife to me.
-The savages have taken her away into captivity. What can I do to save
-her&mdash;I who cannot make myself invisible, and fly like the wind, and
-compass all things!" And here he bowed his head, and covering his face
-gave way to over-mastering grief.</p>
-
-<p>"Be comforted, friend," said the other, touching him lightly on the
-arm. "I will restore her to you."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, friend, how shall I thank you for these words!" cried the unhappy
-man, seizing and pressing the Niño's hand.</p>
-
-<p>"Tell me her name&mdash;describe her to me."</p>
-
-<p>"Torcuata is her name&mdash;Torcuata de la Rosa. She is one finger's width
-taller than this young woman," indicating one of the twins who was
-standing. "But not dark; her cheeks are rosy&mdash;no, no, I forget, they
-will be pale now, white<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> than the grass plumes, with stains of dark
-colour under the eyes. Brown hair and blue eyes, but very deep blue.
-Look well, friend lest you think them black and leave her to perish."</p>
-
-<p>"Never!" remarked Gregory, shaking his head.</p>
-
-<p>"Enough&mdash;you have told me enough, friend," said the Niño, rolling up a
-cigarette.</p>
-
-<p>"Enough!" repeated the other, surprised. "But you do not know; she is
-my life; my life is in your hands. How can I persuade you to be with
-me? Cattle I have. I had gone to pay the herdsmen their wages when the
-Indians came unexpectedly; and my house at La Chilca, on the banks of
-the Langueyú, was burnt, and my wife taken away during my absence.
-Eight hundred head of cattle have escaped the savages, and half of them
-shall be yours; and half of all I possess in money and land."</p>
-
-<p>"Cattle!" returned the Niño smiling, and holding a lighted stick to his
-cigarette. "I have enough to eat without molesting myself with the care
-of cattle."</p>
-
-<p>"But I told you that I had other things," said the stranger full of
-distress.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The young man laughed, and rose from his seat.</p>
-
-<p>"Listen to me," he said. "I go now to follow the Indians&mdash;to mix with
-them, perhaps. They are retreating slowly, burdened with much spoil. In
-fifteen days go to the little town of Tandil, and wait for me there.
-As for land, if God has given so much of it to the ostrich it is not
-a thing for a man to set a great value on." Then he bent down to
-whisper a few words in the ear of the girl at his side; and immediately
-afterwards, with a simple "good-night" to the others, stepped lightly
-from the kitchen. By another door the girl also hurriedly left the
-room, to hide her tears from the watchful censuring eyes of mother and
-aunt.</p>
-
-<p>Then the stranger, recovering from his astonishment at the abrupt
-ending of the conversation, started up, and crying aloud, "Stay! stay
-one moment&mdash;one word more!" rushed out after the young man. At some
-distance from the house he caught sight of the Niño, sitting motionless
-on his horse, as if waiting to speak to him.</p>
-
-<p>"This is what I have to say to you," spoke the Niño, bending down to
-the other. "Go back to Langueyú, and rebuild your house, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> expect
-me there with your wife in about thirty days. When I bade you go to
-the Tandil in fifteen days, I spoke only to mislead that man Polycarp,
-who has an evil mind. Can I ride a hundred leagues and back in fifteen
-days? Say no word of this to any man. And fear not. If I fail to
-return with your wife at the appointed time take some of that money
-you have offered me, and bid a priest say a mass for my soul's repose;
-for eye of man shall never see me again, and the brown hawks will be
-complaining that there is no more flesh to be picked from my bones."</p>
-
-<p>During this brief colloquy, and afterwards, when Gregory and his
-women-folk went off to bed, leaving the stranger to sleep in his rugs
-beside the kitchen fire, Polycarp, who had sworn a mighty oath not to
-close his eyes that night, busied himself making his horses secure.
-Driving them home, he tied them to the posts of the gate within
-twenty-five yards of the kitchen door. Then he sat down by the fire and
-smoked and dozed, and cursed his dry mouth and drowsy eyes that were so
-hard to keep open. At intervals of about fifteen minutes he would get
-up and go out to satisfy himself that his precious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> horses were still
-safe. At length in rising, some time after midnight, his foot kicked
-against some loud-sounding metal object lying beside him on the floor,
-which on examination, proved to be a copper bell of a peculiar shape,
-and curiously like the one fastened to the neck of his bell-mare.
-Bell in hand, he stepped to the door and put out his head, and lo!
-his horses were no longer at the gate! Eight horses: seven iron-grey
-geldings, every one of them swift and sure-footed, sound as the bell in
-his hand, and as like each other as seven claret coloured eggs in the
-tinamou's nest; and the eighth the gentle piebald mare&mdash;the <i>madrina</i>
-his horses loved and would follow to the world's end, now, alas! with a
-thief on her back! Gone&mdash;gone!</p>
-
-<p>He rushed out, uttering a succession of frantic howls and imprecations;
-and finally, to wind up the performance, dashed the now useless bell
-with all his energy against the gate, shattering it into a hundred
-pieces. Oh, that bell, how often and how often in how many a wayside
-public-house had he boasted, in his cups and when sober, of its mellow,
-far-reaching tone,&mdash;the sweet sound that assured him in the silent
-watches of the night that his beloved steeds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> were safe! Now he danced
-on the broken fragments, digging them into the earth with his heel; now
-in his frenzy, he could have dug them up again to grind them to powder
-with his teeth!</p>
-
-<p>The children turned restlessly in bed, dreaming of the lost little
-girl in the desert; and the stranger half awoke, muttering, "Courage,
-O Torcuata&mdash;let not your heart break.... Soul of my life, he gives you
-back to me&mdash;on my bosom, <i>rosa fresca, rosa fresca</i>!" Then the hands
-unclenched themselves again, and the muttering died away. But Gregory
-woke fully, and instantly divined the cause of the clamour. "Magdalen!
-Wife!" he said. "Listen to Polycarp; the Niño has paid him out for
-his insolence! Oh, fool, I warned him, and he would not listen!" But
-Magdalen refused to wake; and so, hiding his head under the coverlet,
-he made the bed shake with suppressed laughter, so pleased was he at
-the clever trick played on his blustering cousin. All at once his
-laughter ceased, and out popped his head again, showing in the dim
-light a somewhat long and solemn face. For he had suddenly thought of
-his pretty daughter asleep in the adjoining room. Asleep! Wide awake,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>
-more likely, thinking of her sweet lover, brushing the dews from the
-hoary pampas grass in his southward flight, speeding away into the
-heart of the vast mysterious wilderness. Listening also to her uncle,
-the desperado, apostrophizing the midnight stars; while with his knife
-he excavates two deep trenches, three yards long and intersecting
-each other at right angles&mdash;a sacred symbol on which he intends, when
-finished, to swear a most horrible vengeance. "Perhaps," muttered
-Gregory, "the Niño has still other pranks to play in this house."</p>
-
-<p>When the stranger heard next morning what had happened, he was better
-able to understand the Niño's motive in giving him that caution
-overnight; nor was he greatly put out, but thought it better that an
-evil-minded man should lose his horses than that the Niño should set
-out badly mounted on such an adventure.</p>
-
-<p>"Let me not forget," said the robbed man, as he rode away on a horse
-borrowed from his cousin, "to be at the Tandil this day fortnight, with
-a sharp knife and a blunderbuss charged with a handful of powder and
-not fewer than twenty-three slugs."</p>
-
-<p>Terribly in earnest was Polycarp of the South!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> He was there at the
-appointed time, slugs and all; but the smooth-cheeked, mysterious,
-child-devil came not; nor, stranger still, did the scared-looking de la
-Rosa come clattering in to look for his lost Torcuata. At the end of
-the fifteenth day de la Rosa was at Langueyú, seventy-five miles from
-the Tandil, alone in his new rancho, which had just been rebuilt with
-the aid of a few neighbours. Through all that night he sat alone by the
-fire, pondering many things. If he could only recover his lost wife,
-then he would bid a long farewell to that wild frontier and take her
-across the great sea, and to that old tree-shaded stone farm-house in
-Andalusia, which he had left a boy, and where his aged parents still
-lived, thinking no more to see their wandering son. His resolution was
-taken; he would sell all he possessed, all except a portion of land
-in the Langueyú with the house he had just rebuilt; and to the Niño
-Diablo, the deliverer, he would say, "Friend, though you despise the
-things that others value, take this land and poor house for the sake of
-the girl Magdalen you love; for then perhaps her parents will no longer
-deny her to you."</p>
-
-<p>He was still thinking of these things, when a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> dozen or twenty
-military starlings&mdash;that cheerful scarlet-breasted songster of the
-lonely pampas&mdash;alighted on the thatch outside, and warbling their gay,
-careless winter-music told him that it was day. And all day long, on
-foot and on horseback, his thoughts were of his lost Torcuata; and
-when evening once more drew near his heart was sick with suspense and
-longing; and climbing the ladder placed against the gable of his rancho
-he stood on the roof gazing westwards into the blue distance. The sun,
-crimson and large, sunk into the great green sea of grass, and from all
-the plain rose the tender fluting notes of the tinamou-partridges, bird
-answering bird. "Oh, that I could pierce the haze with my vision," he
-murmured, "that I could see across a hundred leagues of level plain,
-and look this moment on your sweet face, Torcuata!"</p>
-
-<p class="space-above">And Torcuata was in truth a hundred leagues distant from him at that
-moment; and if the miraculous sight he wished for had been given, this
-was what he would have seen. A wide barren plain scantily clothed with
-yellow tufts of grass and thorny shrubs, and at its southern extremity,
-shutting out the view on that side, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> low range of dune-like hills.
-Over this level ground, towards the range, moves a vast herd of cattle
-and horses&mdash;fifteen or twenty thousand head&mdash;followed by a scattered
-horde of savages armed with their long lances. In a small compact body
-in the centre ride the captives, women and children. Just as the red
-orb touches the horizon the hills are passed, and lo! a wide grassy
-valley beyond, with flocks and herds pasturing, and scattered trees,
-and the blue gleam of water from a chain of small lakes! There full in
-sight, is the Indian settlement, the smoke rising peacefully up from
-the clustered huts. At the sight of home the savages burst into loud
-cries of joy and triumph, answered, as they drew near, with piercing
-screams of welcome from the village population, chiefly composed of
-women, children and old men.</p>
-
-<p class="space-above">It is past midnight; the young moon has set; the last fires are dying
-down; the shouts and loud noise of excited talk and laughter have
-ceased, and the weary warriors, after feasting on sweet mare's flesh to
-repletion, have fallen asleep in their huts, or lying out of doors on
-the ground. Only the dogs are excited still and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> keep up an incessant
-barking. Even the captive women, huddled together in one hut in the
-middle of the settlement, fatigued with their long rough journey, have
-cried themselves to sleep at last.</p>
-
-<p>At length one of the sad sleepers wakes, or half wakes, dreaming that
-some one has called her name. How could such a thing be? Yet her own
-name still seems ringing in her brain, and at length, fully awake,
-she finds herself intently listening. Again it sounded&mdash;"Torcuata"&mdash;a
-voice fine as the pipe of a mosquito, yet so sharp and distinct that
-it tingled in her ear. She sat up and listened again, and once more it
-sounded "Torcuata!" "Who speaks?" she returned in a fearful whisper.
-The voice, still fine and small, replied, "Come out from among the
-others until you touch the wall." Trembling she obeyed, creeping out
-from among the sleepers until she came into contact with the side of
-the hut. Then the voice sounded again, "Creep round the wall until you
-come to a small crack of light on the other side." Again she obeyed,
-and when she reached the line of faint light it widened quickly to an
-aperture, through which a shadowy arm was passed round<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> her waist;
-and in a moment she was lifted up, and saw the stars above her, and
-at her feet dark forms of men wrapped in their ponchos lying asleep.
-But no one woke, no alarm was given; and in a very few minutes she was
-mounted, man-fashion, on a bare-backed horse, speeding swiftly over
-the dim plains, with the shadowy form of her mysterious deliverer some
-yards in advance, driving before him a score or so of horses. He had
-only spoken half-a-dozen words to her since their escape from the hut,
-but she knew by those words that he was taking her to Langueyú.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>MARTA RIQUELME.</h2>
-
-<p class="center">(<i>From the Sepulvida MSS.</i>)</p>
-
-<h3>I.</h3>
-
-<p>Far away from the paths of those who wander to and fro on the earth,
-sleeps Jujuy in the heart of this continent. It is the remotest of our
-provinces, and divided from the countries of the Pacific by the giant
-range of the Cordillera; a region of mountains and forest, torrid heats
-and great storms; and although in itself a country half as large as the
-Spanish peninsula, it possesses, as its only means of communication
-with the outside world, a few insignificant roads which are scarcely
-more than mule-paths.</p>
-
-<p>The people of this region have few wants; they aspire not after
-progress, and have never changed their ancient manner of life. The
-Spanish were long in conquering them: and now, after three centuries
-of Christian dominion,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> they still speak the Quichua, and subsist in
-a great measure on patay, a sweet paste made from the pod of the wild
-algarroba tree; while they still retain as a beast of burden the llama,
-a gift of their old masters the Peruvian Incas.</p>
-
-<p>This much is common knowledge, but of the peculiar character of the
-country, or of the nature of the things which happen within its
-borders, nothing is known to those without; Jujuy being to them only a
-country lying over against the Andes, far removed from and unaffected
-by the progress of the world. It has pleased Providence to give me a
-more intimate knowledge, and this has been a sore affliction and great
-burden now for many years. But I have not taken up my pen to complain
-that all the years of my life are consumed in a region where the
-great spiritual enemy of mankind is still permitted to challenge the
-supremacy of our Master, waging an equal war against his followers:
-my sole object is to warn, perhaps also to comfort, others who will
-be my successors in this place, and who will come to the church of
-Yala ignorant of the means which will be used for the destruction of
-their souls. And if I set down anything in this narrative which might
-be <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>injurious to our holy religion, owing to the darkness of our
-understandings and the little faith that is in us, I pray that the sin
-I now ignorantly commit may be forgiven me, and that this manuscript
-may perish miraculously unread by any person.</p>
-
-<p>I was educated for the priesthood, in the city of Cordova, that famous
-seminary of learning and religion; and in 1838, being then in my
-twenty-seventh year, I was appointed priest to a small settlement in
-the distant province of which I have spoken. The habit of obedience,
-early instilled in me by my Jesuit masters, enabled me to accept this
-command unmurmuringly, and even with an outward show of cheerfulness.
-Nevertheless it filled me with grief, although I might have suspected
-that some such hard fate had been designed for me, since I had been
-made to study the Quichua language, which is now only spoken in the
-Andean provinces. With secret bitter repinings I tore myself from all
-that made life pleasant and desirable&mdash;the society of innumerable
-friends, the libraries, the beautiful church where I had worshipped,
-and that renowned University which has shed on the troubled annals
-of our unhappy country<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> whatever lustre of learning and poetry they
-possess.</p>
-
-<p>My first impressions of Jujuy did not serve to raise my spirits. After
-a trying journey of four week's duration&mdash;the roads being difficult and
-the country greatly disturbed at the time&mdash;I reached the capital of the
-province, also called Jujuy, a town of about two thousand inhabitants.
-Thence I journeyed to my destination, a settlement called Yala,
-situated on the north-western border of the province, where the river
-Yala takes its rise, at the foot of that range of mountains which,
-branching eastwards from the Andes, divides Jujuy from Bolivia. I was
-wholly unprepared for the character of the place I had come to live in.
-Yala was a scattered village of about ninety souls&mdash;ignorant, apathetic
-people, chiefly Indians. To my unaccustomed sight the country appeared
-a rude, desolate chaos of rocks and gigantic mountains, compared with
-which the famous sierras of Cordova sunk into mere hillocks, and of
-vast gloomy forests, whose death-like stillness was broken only by the
-savage screams of some strange fowl, or by the hoarse thunders of a
-distant waterfall.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>As soon as I had made myself known to the people of the village, I set
-myself to acquire a knowledge of the surrounding country; but before
-long I began to despair of ever finding the limits of my parish in
-any direction. The country was wild, being only tenanted by a few
-widely-separated families, and like all deserts it was distasteful
-to me in an eminent degree; but as I would frequently be called upon
-to perform long journeys, I resolved to learn as much as possible of
-its geography. Always striving to overcome my own inclinations, which
-made a studious, sedentary life most congenial, I aimed at being very
-active; and having procured a good mule I began taking long rides every
-day, without a guide and with only a pocket compass to prevent me from
-losing myself. I could never altogether overcome my natural aversion
-to silent deserts, and in my long rides I avoided the thick forest and
-deep valleys, keeping as much as possible to the open plain.</p>
-
-<p>One day having ridden about twelve or fourteen miles from Yala, I
-discovered a tree of noble proportions growing by itself in the open,
-and feeling much oppressed by the heat I alighted from my mule and
-stretched myself on the ground<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> under the grateful shade. There was a
-continuous murmur of lecheguanas&mdash;a small honey wasp&mdash;in the foliage
-above me, for the tree was in flower, and this soothing sound soon
-brought that restful feeling to my mind which insensibly leads to
-slumber. I was, however, still far from sleep, but reclining with eyes
-half closed, thinking of nothing, when suddenly, from the depths of the
-dense leafage above me, rang forth a shriek, the most terrible it has
-ever fallen to the lot of any human being to hear. In sound it was a
-human cry, yet expressing a degree of agony and despair surpassing the
-power of any human soul to feel, and my impression was that it could
-only have been uttered by some tortured spirit allowed to wander for
-a season on the earth. Shriek after shriek, each more powerful and
-terrible to hear than the last, succeeded, and I sprang to my feet, the
-hair standing erect on my head, a profuse sweat of terror breaking out
-all over me. The cause of all these maddening sounds remained invisible
-to my eyes; and finally running to my mule I climbed hastily on to its
-back and never ceased flogging the poor beast all the way back to Yala.</p>
-
-<p>On reaching my house I sent for one Osuna,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> a man of substance, able to
-converse in Spanish, and much respected in the village. In the evening
-he came to see me, and I then gave an account of the extraordinary
-experience I had encountered that day.</p>
-
-<p>"Do not distress yourself, Father&mdash;you have only heard the Kakué," he
-replied. I then learnt from him that the Kakué is a fowl frequenting
-the most gloomy and sequestered forests and known to every one in the
-country for its terrible voice. Kakué, he also informed me, was the
-ancient name of the country, but the word was misspelt Jujuy by the
-early explorers, and this corrupted name was eventually retained. All
-this, which I now heard for the first time, is historical; but when he
-proceeded to inform me that the Kakué is a metamorphosed human being,
-that women and sometimes men, whose lives have been darkened with great
-suffering and calamities, are changed by compassionate spirits into
-these lugubrious birds, I asked him somewhat contemptuously whether he,
-an enlightened man, believed a thing so absurd.</p>
-
-<p>"There is not in all Jujuy," he replied, "a person who disbelieves it."</p>
-
-<p>"That is a mere assertion," cried I, "but it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> shows which way your
-mind inclines. No doubt the superstition concerning the Kakué is very
-ancient, and has come down to us together with the Quichua language
-from the aborigines. Transformations of men into animals are common
-in all the primitive religions of South America. Thus, the Guaranies
-relate that flying from a conflagration caused by the descent of the
-sun to the earth many people cast themselves into the river Paraguay,
-and were incontinently changed into capybaras and caymans; while others
-who took refuge in trees were blackened and scorched by the heat and
-became monkeys. But to go no further than the traditions of the Incas
-who once ruled over this region, it is related that after the first
-creation the entire human family, inhabiting the slopes of the Andes,
-were changed into crickets by a demon at enmity with man's first
-creator. Throughout the continent these ancient beliefs are at present
-either dead or dying out; and if the Kakué legend still maintains its
-hold on the vulgar here it is owing to the isolated position of the
-country, hemmed in by vast mountains and having no intercourse with
-neighbouring states."</p>
-
-<p>Perceiving that my arguments had entirely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> failed to produce any effect
-I began to lose my temper, and demanded whether he, a Christian, dared
-to profess belief in a fable born of the corrupt imagination of the
-heathen?</p>
-
-<p>He shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I have only stated what we, in
-Jujuy, know to be a fact. What is, is; and if you talk until to-morrow
-you cannot make it different, although you may prove yourself a very
-learned person."</p>
-
-<p>His answer produced a strange effect on me. For the first time in my
-life I experienced the sensation of anger in all its power. Rising to
-my feet I paced the floor excitedly, and using many gestures, smiting
-the table with my hands and shaking my clenched fist close to his face
-in a threatening manner, and with a violence of language unbecoming
-in a follower of Christ, I denounced the degrading ignorance and
-heathenish condition of mind of the people I had come to live with; and
-more particularly of the person before me, who had some pretensions to
-education and should have been free from the gross delusions of the
-vulgar. While addressing him in this tone he sat smoking a cigarette,
-blowing rings from his lips and placidly watching them rise towards the
-ceiling, and with his studied<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> supercilious indifference aggravated
-my rage to such a degree that I could scarcely restrain myself from
-flying at his throat or striking him to the earth with one of the
-cane-bottomed chairs in the room.</p>
-
-<p>As soon as he left me, however, I was overwhelmed with remorse at
-having behaved in a manner so unseemly. I spent the night in penitent
-tears and prayers, and resolved in future to keep a strict watch over
-myself, now that the secret enemy of my soul had revealed itself to
-me. Nor did I make this resolution a moment too soon. I had hitherto
-regarded myself as a person of a somewhat mild and placid disposition;
-the sudden change to new influences, and, perhaps also, the secret
-disgust I felt at my lot, had quickly developed my true character,
-which now become impatient to a degree and prone to sudden violent
-outbursts of passion during which I had little control over my tongue.
-The perpetual watch over myself and struggle against my evil nature
-which had now become necessary was the cause of but half my trouble. I
-discovered that my parishioners, with scarcely an exception, possessed
-that dull apathetic temper of mind concerning spiritual things, which
-had so greatly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> exasperated me in the man Osuna, and which obstructed
-all my efforts to benefit them. These people, or rather their ancestors
-centuries ago, had accepted Christianity, but it had never properly
-filtered down into their hearts. It was on the surface still; and if
-their half-heathen minds were deeply stirred it was not by the story
-of the Passion of our Lord, but by some superstitious belief inherited
-from their progenitors. During all the years I have spent in Yala I
-never said a Mass, never preached a sermon, never attempted to speak of
-the consolations of faith, without having the thought thrust on to me
-that my words were useless, that I was watering the rock where no seed
-could germinate, and wasting my life in vain efforts to impart religion
-to souls that were proof against it. Often have I been reminded of
-our holy and learned Father Guevara's words, when he complains of the
-difficulties encountered by the earlier Jesuit missionaries. He relates
-how one endeavoured to impress the Chiriguanos with the danger they
-incurred by refusing baptism, picturing to them their future condition
-when they would be condemned to everlasting fire. To which they only
-replied that they were not disturbed by what he told<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> them, but were,
-on the contrary, greatly pleased to hear that the flames of the future
-would be unquenchable, for that would save them infinite trouble,
-and if they found the fire too hot they would remove themselves to a
-proper distance from it. So hard it was for their heathen intellects to
-comprehend the solemn doctrines of our faith!</p>
-
-<h3>II.</h3>
-
-<p>My knowledge of the Quichua language, acquired solely by the study
-of the vocabularies, was at first of little advantage to me. I found
-myself unable to converse on familiar topics with the people of Yala;
-and this was a great difficulty in my way, and a cause of distress for
-more reasons than one. I was unprovided with books, or other means of
-profit and recreation, and therefore eagerly sought out the few people
-in the place able to converse in Spanish, for I have always been fond
-of social intercourse. There were only four: one very old man, who
-died shortly after my arrival; another was Osuna, a man for whom I had
-conceived an <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>unconquerable aversion; the other two were women, the
-widow Riquelme and her daughter. About this girl I must speak at some
-length, since it is with her fortunes that this narrative is chiefly
-concerned. The widow Riquelme was poor, having only a house in Yala,
-but with a garden sufficiently large to grow a plentiful provision of
-fruit and vegetables, and to feed a few goats, so that these women had
-enough to live on, without ostentation, from their plot of ground. They
-were of pure Spanish blood; the mother was prematurely old and faded;
-Marta, who was a little over fifteen when I arrived at Yala, was the
-loveliest being I had ever beheld; though in this matter my opinion
-may be biased, for I only saw her side by side with the dark-skinned
-coarse-haired Indian women, and compared with their faces of ignoble
-type Marta's was like that of an angel. Her features were regular;
-her skin white, but with that pale darkness in it seen in some whose
-families have lived for generations in tropical countries. Her eyes,
-shaded by long lashes, were of that violet tint seen sometimes in
-people of Spanish blood&mdash;eyes which appear black until looked at
-closely. Her hair was, however, the crown of her beauty and chief<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>
-glory, for it was of great length and a dark shining gold colour&mdash;a
-thing wonderful to see!</p>
-
-<p>The society of these two women, who were full of sympathy and
-sweetness, promised to be a great boon to me, and I was often with
-them; but very soon I discovered that, on the contrary, it was only
-about to add a fresh bitterness to my existence. The Christian
-affection I felt for this beautiful child insensibly degenerated into
-a mundane passion of such overmastering strength that all my efforts
-to pluck it out of my heart proved ineffectual. I cannot describe my
-unhappy condition during the long months when I vainly wrestled with
-this sinful emotion, and when I often thought in the bitterness of my
-heart that my God had forsaken me. The fear that the time would come
-when my feelings would betray themselves increased on me until at
-length, to avoid so great an evil, I was compelled to cease visiting
-the only house in Yala where it was a pleasure for me to enter. What
-had I done to be thus cruelly persecuted by Satan? was the constant cry
-of my soul. Now I know that this temptation was only a part of that
-long and desperate struggle in which the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> servants of the prince of the
-power of the air had engaged to overthrow me.</p>
-
-<p>Not for five years did this conflict with myself cease to be a constant
-danger&mdash;a period which seemed to my mind not less than half a century.
-Nevertheless, knowing that idleness is the parent of evil, I was
-incessantly occupied; for when there was nothing to call me abroad,
-I laboured with my pen at home, filling in this way many volumes,
-which in the end may serve to throw some light on the great historical
-question of the Incas' Cis-Andine dominion, and its effect on the
-conquered nations.</p>
-
-<p>When Marta was twenty years old it became known in Yala that she had
-promised her hand in marriage to one Cosme Luna, and of this person a
-few words must be said. Like many young men, possessing no property
-or occupation, and having no disposition to work, he was a confirmed
-gambler, spending all his time going about from town to town to attend
-horse-races and cock-fights. I had for a long time regarded him as an
-abominable pest in Yala, a wretch possessing a hundred vices under a
-pleasing exterior, and not one redeeming virtue, and it was therefore
-with the deepest pain that I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> heard of his success with Marta. The
-widow, who was naturally disappointed at her daughter's choice, came to
-me with tears and complaints, begging me to assist her in persuading
-her beloved child to break off an engagement which promised only to
-make her unhappy for life. But with that secret feeling in my heart,
-ever-striving to drag me down to my ruin, I dared not help her, albeit,
-I would gladly have given my right hand to save Marta from the calamity
-of marrying such a man.</p>
-
-<p>The tempest which these tidings had raised in my heart never abated
-while the preparations for the marriage were going on. I was forced
-now to abandon my work, for I was incapable of thought; nor did all my
-religious exercises avail to banish for one moment the strange, sullen
-rage which had taken complete possession of me. Night after night I
-would rise from my bed and pace the floor of my room for hours, vainly
-trying to shut out the promptings of some fiend perpetually urging
-me to take some desperate course against this young man. A thousand
-schemes for his destruction suggested themselves to my mind, and when
-I had resolutely dismissed them all and prayed that my sinful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> temper
-might be forgiven, I would rise from my knees still cursing him a
-thousand times more than ever.</p>
-
-<p>In the meantime, Marta herself saw nothing wrong in Cosme, for love had
-blinded her. He was young, good looking, could play on the guitar and
-sing, and was master of that easy, playful tone in conversation which
-is always pleasing to women. Moreover, he dressed well and was generous
-with his money, with which he was apparently well provided.</p>
-
-<p>In due time they were married, and Cosme, having no house of his own,
-came to live with his mother-in-law in Yala. Then, at length, what I
-had foreseen also happened. He ran out of money, and his new relations
-had nothing he could lay his hands on to sell. He was too proud to
-gamble for coppers, and the poor people of Yala had no silver to risk;
-he could not or would not work, and the vacant life he was living began
-to grow wearisome. Once more he took to his old courses, and it soon
-grew to be a common thing for him to be absent from home for a month or
-six weeks at a time. Marta looked unhappy, but would not complain or
-listen to a word against Cosme; for whenever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> he returned to Yala then
-his wife's great beauty was like a new thing to him, bringing him to
-her feet, and making him again for a brief season her devoted lover and
-slave.</p>
-
-<p>She at length became a mother. For her sake I was glad; for now with
-her infant boy to occupy her mind Cosme's neglect would seem more
-endurable. He was away when the child was born; he had gone, it was
-reported, into Catamarca, and for three months nothing was heard of
-him. This was a season of political troubles, and men being required to
-recruit the forces, all persons found wandering about the country not
-engaged in any lawful occupation, were taken for military service. And
-this had happened to Cosme. A letter from him reached Marta at last,
-informing her that he had been carried away to San Luis, and asking her
-to send him two hundred pesos, as with that amount he would be able to
-purchase his release. But it was impossible for her to raise the money;
-nor could she leave Yala to go to him, for her mother's strength was
-now rapidly failing, and Marta could not abandon her to the care of
-strangers. All this she was obliged to tell Cosme in the letter she
-wrote to him, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> which perhaps never reached his hands, for no reply
-to it ever came.</p>
-
-<p>At length, the widow Riquelme died; then Marta sold the house and
-garden and all she possessed, and taking her child with her, went out
-to seek her husband. Travelling first to the town of Jujuy, she there,
-with other women, attached herself to a convoy about to start on a
-journey to the southern provinces. Several months went by, and then
-came the disastrous tidings to Yala that the convoy had been surprised
-by Indians in a lonely place and all the people slain.</p>
-
-<p>I will not here dwell on the anguish of mind I endured on learning
-Marta's sad end: for I tried hard to believe that her troubled life was
-indeed over, although I was often assured by my neighbours that the
-Indians invariably spare the women and children.</p>
-
-<p>Every blow dealt by a cruel destiny against this most unhappy woman
-had pierced my heart; and during the years that followed, and when the
-villagers had long ceased to speak of her, often in the dead of the
-night I rose and sought the house where she had lived, and walking
-under the trees in that garden where I had so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> often held intercourse
-with her, indulged a grief which time seemed powerless to mitigate.</p>
-
-<h3>III.</h3>
-
-<p>Marta was not dead; but what happened to her after her departure from
-Yala was this. When the convoy with which she journeyed was attacked
-the men only were slain, while the women and children were carried away
-into captivity. When the victors divided the spoil among themselves,
-the child, which even in that long painful journey into the desert,
-with the prospect of a life of cruel slavery before her, had been a
-comfort to Marta, was taken forcibly from her arms to be conveyed
-to some distant place, and from that moment she utterly lost sight
-of it. She herself was bought by an Indian able to pay for a pretty
-white captive, and who presently made her his wife. She, a Christian,
-the wife of a man loved only too well, could not endure this horrible
-fate which had overtaken her. She was also mad with grief at the loss
-of her child, and stealing out one dark stormy night<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> she fled from
-the Indian settlement. For several days and nights she wandered about
-the desert, suffering every hardship and in constant fear of jaguars,
-and was at length found by the savages in a half-starved condition
-and unable longer to fly from them. Her owner, when she was restored
-to him, had no mercy on her: he bound her to a tree growing beside
-his hovel, and there every day he cruelly scourged her naked flesh to
-satisfy his barbarous resentment, until she was ready to perish with
-excessive suffering. He also cut off her hair, and braiding it into a
-belt wore it always round his waist,&mdash;a golden trophy which doubtless
-won him great honour and distinction amongst his fellow savages. When
-he had by these means utterly broken her spirit and reduced her to the
-last condition of weakness, he released her from the tree, but at the
-same time fastened a log of wood to her ankle, so that only with great
-labour, and drawing herself along with the aid of her hands, could
-she perform the daily tasks her master imposed on her. Only after a
-whole year of captivity, and when she had given birth to a child, was
-the punishment over and her foot released from the log. The natural
-affection which she felt for this child of a father<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> so cruel was now
-poor Marta's only comfort. In this hard servitude five years of her
-miserable existence were consumed; and only those who know the stern,
-sullen, pitiless character of the Indian can imagine what this period
-was for Marta, without sympathy from her fellow-creatures, with no hope
-and no pleasure beyond the pleasure of loving and caressing her own
-infant savages. Of these she was now the mother of three.</p>
-
-<p>When her youngest was not many months old Marta had one day wandered
-some distance in search of sticks for firewood, when a woman, one of
-her fellow-captives from Jujuy, came running to her, for she had been
-watching for an opportunity of speaking with Marta. It happened that
-this woman had succeeded in persuading her Indian husband to take her
-back to her home in the Christian country, and she had at the same
-time won his consent to take Marta with them, having conceived a great
-affection for her. The prospect of escape filled poor Marta's heart
-with joy, but when she was told that her children could on no account
-be taken, then a cruel struggle commenced in her breast. Bitterly she
-pleaded for permission to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> take her babes, and at last overcome by her
-importunity her fellow-captive consented to her taking the youngest of
-the three; though this concession was made very reluctantly.</p>
-
-<p>In a short time the day appointed for the flight arrived, and Marta
-carrying her infant met her friends in the wood. They were quickly
-mounted, and the journey began which was to last for many days, and
-during which they were to suffer much from hunger, thirst and fatigue.
-One dark night as they journeyed through a hilly and wooded country,
-Marta being overcome with fatigue so that she could scarcely keep her
-seat, the Indian with affected kindness relieved her of the child she
-always carried in her arms. An hour passed, and then pressing forward
-to his side and asking for her child she was told that it had been
-dropped into a deep, swift stream over which they had swam their horses
-some time before. Of what happened after that she was unable to give
-any very clear account. She only dimly remembered that through many
-days of scorching heat and many nights of weary travel she was always
-piteously pleading for her lost child&mdash;always seeming to hear it crying
-to her to save it from destruction. The long journey<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> ended at last.
-She was left by the others at the first Christian settlement they
-reached, after which travelling slowly from village to village she made
-her way to Yala. Her old neighbours and friends did not know her at
-first, but when they were at length convinced that it was indeed Marta
-Riquelme that stood before them she was welcomed like one returned from
-the grave. I heard of her arrival, and hastening forth to greet her
-found her seated before a neighbour's house already surrounded by half
-the people of the village.</p>
-
-<p>Was this woman indeed Marta, once the pride of Yala! It was hard to
-believe it, so darkened with the burning suns and winds of years was
-her face, once so fair; so wasted and furrowed with grief and the many
-hardships she had undergone! Her figure, worn almost to a skeleton, was
-clothed with ragged garments, while her head, bowed down with sorrow
-and despair, was divested of that golden crown which had been her chief
-ornament. Seeing me arrive she cast herself on her knees before me and
-taking my hand in hers covered it with tears and kisses. The grief I
-felt at the sight of her forlorn condition mingled with joy for her
-deliverance from death<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> and captivity overcame me; I was shaken like a
-reed in the wind, and covering my face with my robe I sobbed aloud in
-the presence of all the people.</p>
-
-<h3>IV.</h3>
-
-<p>Everything that charity could dictate was done to alleviate her misery.
-A merciful woman of Yala received her into her house and provided
-her with decent garments. But a for time nothing served to raise her
-desponding spirits; she still grieved for her lost babe, and seemed
-ever in fancy listening to its piteous cries for help. When assured
-that Cosme would return in due time that alone gave her comfort. She
-believed what they told her, for it agreed with her wish, and by
-degrees the effects of her terrible experience began to wear off,
-giving place to a feeling of feverish impatience with which she looked
-forward to her husband's return. With this feeling, which I did all
-I could to encourage, perceiving it to be the only remedy against
-despair, came also a new anxiety about her personal appearance. She
-grew <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>careful in her dress, and made the most of her short and sunburnt
-hair. Beauty she could never recover; but she possessed good features
-which could not be altered; her eyes also retained their violet colour,
-and hope brought back to her something of the vanished expression of
-other years.</p>
-
-<p>At length, when she had been with us over a year, one day there came a
-report that Cosme had arrived, that he had been seen in Yala, and had
-alighted at Andrada's door&mdash;the store in the main road. She heard it
-and rose up with a great cry of joy. He had come to her at last&mdash;he
-would comfort her! She could not wait for his arrival: what wonder!
-Hurrying forth she flew like the wind through the village, and in
-a few moments stood on Andrada's threshold, panting from her race,
-her cheeks glowing, all the hope and life and fire of her girlhood
-rushing back to her heart. There she beheld Cosme, changed but little,
-surrounded by his old companions, listening in silence and with a
-dismayed countenance to the story of Marta's sufferings in the great
-desert, of her escape and return to Yala, where she had been received
-like one come back from the sepulchre. Presently they caught sight of
-her standing there. "Here is Marta<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> herself arrived in good time," they
-cried. "Behold your wife!"</p>
-
-<p>He shook himself from them with a strange laugh. "What, that woman
-my wife&mdash;Marta Riquelme!" he replied. "No, no, my friends, be not
-deceived; Marta perished long ago in the desert, where I have been to
-seek for her. Of her death I have no doubt; let me pass."</p>
-
-<p>He pushed by her, left her standing there motionless as a statue,
-unable to utter a word, and was quickly on his horse riding away from
-Yala.</p>
-
-<p>Then suddenly she recovered possession of her faculties, and with a
-cry of anguish hurried after him, imploring him to return to her; but
-finding that he would not listen to her she was overcome with despair
-and fell upon the earth insensible. She was taken up by the people who
-had followed her out and carried back into the house. Unhappily she was
-not dead, and when she recovered consciousness it was pitiful to hear
-the excuses she invented for the remorseless wretch who had abandoned
-her. She was altered, she said, greatly altered&mdash;it was not strange
-that Cosme had refused to believe that she could be the Marta of six
-years ago! In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> her heart she knew that nobody was deceived: to all Yala
-it was patent that she had been deserted. She could not endure it, and
-when she met people in the street she lowered her eyes and passed on,
-pretending not to see them. Most of her time was spent indoors, and
-there she would sit for hours without speaking or stirring, her cheeks
-resting on her hands, her eyes fixed on vacancy. My heart bled for her;
-morning and evening I remembered her in my prayers; by every argument I
-sought to cheer her drooping spirit, even telling her that the beauty
-and freshness of her youth would return to her in time, and that her
-husband would repent and come back to her.</p>
-
-<p>These efforts were fruitless. Before many days she disappeared from
-Yala, and though diligent search was made in the adjacent mountains
-she could not be found. Knowing how empty and desolate her life had
-been, deprived of every object of affection, I formed the opinion that
-she had gone back to the desert to seek the tribe where she had been a
-captive in the hope of once more seeing her lost children. At length,
-when all expectation of ever seeing her again had been abandoned, a
-person named<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> Montero came to me with tidings of her. He was a poor
-man, a charcoal-burner, and lived with his wife and children in the
-forest about two hour's journey from Yala, at a distance from any other
-habitation. Finding Marta wandering lost in the woods he had taken
-her to his rancho, and she had been pleased to find this shelter,
-away from the people of Yala who knew her history; and it was at
-Marta's own request that this good man had ridden to the village to
-inform me of her safety. I was greatly relieved to hear all this, and
-thought that Marta had acted wisely in escaping from the villagers,
-who were always pointing her out and repeating her wonderful history.
-In that sequestered spot where she had taken refuge, removed from sad
-associations and gossiping tongues, the wounds in her heart would
-perhaps gradually heal and peace return to her perturbed spirit.</p>
-
-<p>Before many weeks had elapsed, however, Montero's wife came to me with
-a very sad account of Marta. She had grown day by day more silent and
-solitary in her habits, spending most of her time in some secluded spot
-among the trees, where she would sit motionless, brooding over her
-memories for hours at a time. Nor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> was this the worst. Occasionally
-she would make an effort to assist in the household work, preparing
-the patay or maize for the supper, or going out with Montero's wife to
-gather firewood in the forest. But suddenly, in the middle of her task,
-she would drop her bundle of sticks and, casting herself on the earth,
-break forth into the most heart-rending cries and lamentations, loudly
-exclaiming that God had unjustly persecuted her, that He was a being
-filled with malevolence, and speaking many things against Him very
-dreadful to hear. Deeply distressed at these tidings I called for my
-mule and accompanied the poor woman back to her own house; but when we
-arrived there Marta could nowhere be found.</p>
-
-<p>Most willingly would I have remained to see her, and try once more to
-win her back from these desponding moods, but I was compelled to return
-to Yala. For it happened that a fever epidemic had recently broken out
-and spread over the country, so that hardly a day passed without its
-long journey to perform and deathbed to attend. Often during those
-days, worn out with fatigue and want of sleep, I would dismount from my
-mule and rest for a season<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> against a rock or tree, wishing for death
-to come and release me from so sad an existence.</p>
-
-<p>When I left Montero's house I charged him to send me news of Marta as
-soon as they should find her; but for several days I heard nothing.
-At length word came that they had discovered her hiding-place in the
-forest, but could not induce her to leave it, or even to speak to them;
-and they implored me to go to them, for they were greatly troubled at
-her state, and knew not what to do.</p>
-
-<p>Once more I went out to seek her; and this was the saddest journey
-of all, for even the elements were charged with unusual gloom, as if
-to prepare my mind for some unimaginable calamity. Rain, accompanied
-by terrific thunder and lightning, had been falling in torrents for
-several days, so that the country was all but impassable: the swollen
-streams roared between the hills, dragging down rocks and trees, and
-threatening, whenever we were compelled to ford them, to carry us away
-to destruction. The rain had ceased, but the whole sky was covered
-by a dark motionless cloud, unpierced by a single ray of sunshine.
-The mountains, wrapped in blue vapours, loomed before us, vast and
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>desolate; and the trees, in that still, thick atmosphere, were like
-figures of trees hewn out of solid ink-black rock and set up in some
-shadowy subterranean region to mock its inhabitants with an imitation
-of the upper world.</p>
-
-<p>At length we reached Montero's hut, and, followed by all the family,
-went to look for Marta. The place where she had concealed herself was
-in a dense wood half a league from the house, and the ascent to it
-being steep and difficult Montero was compelled to walk before, leading
-my mule by the bridle. At length we came to the spot where they had
-discovered her, and there, in the shadow of the woods, we found Marta
-still in the same place, seated on the trunk of a fallen tree, which
-was sodden with the rain and half buried under great creepers and
-masses of dead and rotting foliage. She was in a crouching attitude,
-her feet gathered under her garments, which were now torn to rags and
-fouled with clay; her elbows were planted on her drawn-up knees, and
-her long bony fingers thrust into her hair, which fell in tangled
-disorder over her face. To this pitiable condition had she been brought
-by great and unmerited sufferings.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Seeing her, a cry of compassion escaped my lips, and casting myself off
-my mule I advanced towards her. As I approached she raised her eyes
-to mine, and then I stood still, transfixed with amazement and horror
-at what I saw; for they were no longer those soft violet orbs which
-had retained until recently their sweet pathetic expression; now they
-were round and wild-looking, opened to thrice their ordinary size, and
-filled with a lurid yellow fire, giving them a resemblance to the eyes
-of some hunted savage animal.</p>
-
-<p>"Great God, she has lost her reason!" I cried; then falling on my
-knees I disengaged the crucifix from my neck with trembling hands, and
-endeavoured to hold it up before her sight. This movement appeared
-to infuriate her; the insane, desolate eyes, from which all human
-expression had vanished, became like two burning balls, which seemed to
-shoot out sparks of fire; her short hair rose up until it stood like an
-immense crest on her head; and suddenly bringing down her skeleton-like
-hands she thrust the crucifix violently from her, uttering at the same
-time a succession of moans and cries that pierced my heart with pain to
-hear.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> And presently flinging up her arms, she burst forth into shrieks
-so terrible in the depth of agony they expressed that overcome by the
-sound I sank upon the earth and hid my face. The others, who were close
-behind me, did likewise, for no human soul could endure those cries,
-the remembrance of which, even now after many years, causes the blood
-to run cold in my veins.</p>
-
-<p>"The Kakué! The Kakué!" exclaimed Montero, who was close behind me.</p>
-
-<p>Recalled to myself by these words I raised my eyes only to discover
-that Marta was no longer before me. For even in that moment, when those
-terrible cries were ringing through my heart, waking the echoes of the
-mountain solitudes, the awful change had come, and she had looked her
-last with human eyes on earth and on man! In another form&mdash;that strange
-form of the Kakué&mdash;she had fled out of our sight for ever to hide in
-those gloomy woods which were henceforth to be her dwelling place.
-And I&mdash;most miserable of men, what had I done that all my prayers and
-strivings had been thus frustrated, that out of my very hands the
-spirit of the power of darkness had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> thus been permitted to wrest this
-unhappy soul from me!</p>
-
-<p>I rose up trembling from the earth, the tears pouring unchecked down
-my cheeks, while the members of Montero's family gathered round me
-and clung to my garments. Night closed on us, black as despair and
-death, and with the greatest difficulty we made our way back through
-the woods. But I would not remain at the rancho; at the risk of my
-life I returned to Yala, and all through that dark solitary ride I was
-incessantly crying out to God to have mercy on me. Towards midnight I
-reached the village in safety, but the horror with which that unheard
-of tragedy infected me, the fears and the doubts which dared not yet
-shape themselves into words, remained in my breast to torture me.
-For days I could neither eat nor sleep. I was reduced to a skeleton
-and my hair began to turn white before its time. Being now incapable
-of performing my duties, and believing that death was approaching I
-yearned once more for the city of my birth. I escaped at length from
-Yala, and with great difficulty reached the town of Jujuy, and from
-thence by slow stages I journeyed back to Cordova.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p>
-
-<h3>V.</h3>
-
-<p>"Once more do I behold thee, O Cordova, beautiful to my eyes as the
-new Jerusalem coming down from Heaven to those who have witnessed the
-resurrection! Here, where my life began, may I now be allowed to lie
-down in peace, like a tired child that falls asleep on its mother's
-breast."</p>
-
-<p>Thus did I apostrophize my natal city, when, looking from the height
-above, I at last saw it before me, girdled with purple hills and bright
-with the sunshine, the white towers of the many churches springing out
-of the green mist of groves and gardens.</p>
-
-<p>Nevertheless Providence ordained that in Cordova I was to find life and
-not death. Surrounded by old beloved friends, worshipping in the old
-church I knew so well, health returned to me, and I was like one who
-rises after a night of evil dreams and goes forth to feel the sunshine
-and fresh wind on his face. I told the strange story of Marta to one
-person only; this was Father Irala, a learned and discreet man of
-great piety, and one high in authority in the church at Cordova. I was
-astonished that he was able to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> listen calmly to the things I related;
-he spoke some consoling words, but made no attempt then or afterwards
-to throw any light on the mystery. In Cordova a great cloud seemed to
-be lifted from my mind which left my faith unimpaired; I was once more
-cheerful and happy&mdash;happier than I had ever been since leaving it.
-Three months went by; then Irala told me one day that it was time for
-me to return to Yala, for my health being restored there was nothing to
-keep me longer from my flock.</p>
-
-<p>O that flock, that flock, in which for me there had been only one
-precious lamb!</p>
-
-<p>I was greatly disquieted; all those nameless doubts and fears which
-had left me now seemed returning; I begged him to spare me, to send
-some younger man, ignorant of the matters I had imparted to him,
-to take my place. He replied that for the very reason that I was
-acquainted with those matters I was the only fit person to go to Yala.
-Then in my agitation I unburdened my heart to him. I spoke of that
-heathenish apathy of the people I had struggled in vain to overcome,
-of the temptations I had encountered&mdash;the passion of anger and earthly
-love, the impulse to commit some terrible crime.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> Then had come the
-tragedy of Marta Riquelme, and the spiritual world had seemed to
-resolve itself into a chaos where Christ was powerless to save; in my
-misery and despair my reason had almost forsaken me and I had fled
-from the country. In Cordova hope had revived, my prayers had brought
-an immediate response, and the Author of salvation seemed to be near
-to me. Here in Cordova, I said in conclusion, was life, but in the
-soul-destroying atmosphere of Yala death eternal.</p>
-
-<p>"Brother Sepulvida," he answered, "we know all your sufferings and
-suffer with you; nevertheless you must return to Yala. Though there in
-the enemy's country, in the midst of the fight, when hard pressed and
-wounded, you have perhaps doubted God's omnipotence, He calls you to
-the front again, where He will be with you and fight at your side. It
-is for you, not for us, to find the solution of those mysteries which
-have troubled you; and that you have already come near to the solution
-your own words seem to show. Remember that we are here not for our own
-pleasure, but to do our Master's work; that the highest reward will
-not be for those who sit in the cool shade, book in hand, but for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> the
-toilers in the field who are suffering the burden and heat of the day.
-Return to Yala and be of good heart, and in due time all things will be
-made clear to your understanding."</p>
-
-<p>These words gave me some comfort, and meditating much on them I took my
-departure from Cordova, and in due time arrived at my destination.</p>
-
-<p>I had, on quitting Yala, forbidden Montero and his wife to speak of the
-manner of Marta's disappearance, believing that it would be better for
-my people to remain in ignorance of such a matter; but now, when going
-about in the village on my return I found that it was known to every
-one. That "Marta had become a Kakué," was mentioned on all sides; yet
-it did not affect them with astonishment and dismay that this should
-be so, it was merely an event for idle women to chatter about, like
-Quiteria's elopement or Maxima's quarrel with her mother-in-law.</p>
-
-<p>It was now the hottest season of the year, when it was impossible to
-be very active, or much out of doors. During those days the feeling of
-despondence began again to weigh heavily on my heart. I pondered on
-Irala's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> words, and prayed continually, but the illumination he had
-prophesied came not. When I preached, my voice was like the buzzing
-of summer flies to the people: they came or sat or knelt on the floor
-of the church, and heard me with stolid unmoved countenances, then
-went forth again unchanged in heart. After the morning Mass I would
-return to my house, and, sitting alone in my room, pass the sultry
-hours, immersed in melancholy thoughts, having no inclination to work.
-At such times the image of Marta, in all the beauty of her girlhood,
-crowned with her shining golden hair, would rise before me, until the
-tears gathering in my eyes would trickle through my fingers. Then too
-I often recalled that terrible scene in the wood&mdash;the crouching figure
-in its sordid rags, the glaring furious eyes,&mdash;again those piercing
-shrieks seemed to ring through me, and fill the dark mountain's forest
-with echoes, and I would start up half maddened with the sensations of
-horror renewed within me.</p>
-
-<p>And one day, while sitting in my room, with these memories for only
-company, all at once a voice in my soul told me that the end was
-approaching, that the crisis was come, and that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> to whichever side I
-fell, there I should remain through all eternity. I rose up from my
-seat staring straight before me, like one who sees an assassin enter
-his apartment dagger in hand and who nerves himself for the coming
-struggle. Instantly all my doubts, my fears, my unshapen thoughts found
-expression, and with a million tongues shrieked out in my soul against
-my Redeemer. I called aloud on Him to save me, but He came not; and
-the spirits of darkness, enraged at my long resistance, had violently
-seized on my soul, and were dragging it down perdition. I reached forth
-my hands and took hold of the crucifix standing near me, and clung to
-it as a drowning mariner does to a floating spar. "Cast it down!" cried
-out a hundred devils in my ear. "Trample under foot this symbol of a
-slavery which has darkened your life and made earth a hell! He that
-died on the cross is powerless now; miserably do they perish who put
-their trust in Him! Remember Marta Riquelme, and save yourself from her
-fate while there is time."</p>
-
-<p>My hands relaxed their hold on the cross, and falling on the stones,
-I cried aloud to the Lord to slay me and take my soul, for by death<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>
-only could I escape from that great crime my enemies were urging me to
-commit.</p>
-
-<p>Scarcely had I pronounced these words before I felt that the fiends had
-left me, like ravening wolves scared from their quarry. I rose up and
-washed the blood from my bruised forehead, and praised God; for now
-there was a great calm in my heart, and I knew that He who died to save
-the world was with me, and that His grace had enabled me to conquer and
-deliver my own soul from perdition.</p>
-
-<p>From that time I began to see the meaning of Irala's words, that it was
-for me and not for him to find the solution of the mysteries which had
-troubled me, and that I had already come near to finding it. I also saw
-the reason of that sullen resistance to religion in the minds of the
-people of Yala; of the temptations which had assailed me&mdash;the strange
-tempests of anger and the carnal passions, never experienced elsewhere,
-and which had blown upon my heart like hot blighting winds; and even
-of all the events of Marta Riquelme's tragic life; for all these
-things had been ordered with devilish cunning to drive my soul into
-rebellion. I no longer dwelt persistently on that isolated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> event of
-her transformation, for now the whole action of that tremendous warfare
-in which the powers of darkness are arrayed against the messengers of
-the Gospel began to unfold itself before me.</p>
-
-<p>In thought I went back to the time, centuries ago, when as yet not one
-ray of heavenly light had fallen upon this continent; when men bowed
-down in worship to gods, which they called in their several languages
-Pachacamac, Viracocho, and many others; names which being translated
-mean, The All-powerful, Ruler of Men, The Strong Comer, Lord of the
-Dead, The Avenger. These were not mythical beings; they were mighty
-spiritual entities, differing from each other in character, some
-taking delight in wars and destruction, while others regarded their
-human worshippers with tolerant and even kindly feelings. And because
-of this belief in powerful benevolent beings some learned Christian
-writers have held that the aborigines possessed a knowledge of the
-true God, albeit obscured by many false notions. This is a manifest
-error; for if in the material world light and darkness cannot mingle,
-much less can the Supreme Ruler stoop to share His <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>sovereignty with
-Belial and Moloch, or in this continent, with Tupa and Viracocho:
-but all these demons, great and small, and known by various names,
-were angels of darkness who had divided amongst themselves this new
-world and the nations dwelling in it. Nor need we be astonished at
-finding here resemblance to the true religion&mdash;majestic and graceful
-touches suggesting the Divine Artist; for Satan himself is clothed
-as an angel of light, and scruples not to borrow the things invented
-by the Divine Intelligence. These spirits possessed unlimited power
-and authority; their service was the one great business of all men's
-lives; individual character and natural feelings were crushed out by
-an implacable despotism, and no person dreamed of disobedience to
-their decrees, interpreted by their high priests; but all men were
-engaged in raising colossal temples, enriched with gold and precious
-stones, to their honour, and priests and virgins in tens of thousands
-conducted their worship with a pomp and magnificence surpassing those
-of ancient Egypt or Babylon. Nor can we doubt that these beings often
-made use of their power to suspend the order of nature, transforming
-men into birds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> and beasts, causing the trembling of the earth which
-ruins whole cities, and performing many other stupendous miracles to
-demonstrate their authority or satisfy their malignant natures. The
-time came when it pleased the Ruler of the world to overthrow this evil
-empire, using for that end the ancient, feeble instruments despised of
-men, the missionary priests, and chiefly those of the often persecuted
-Brotherhood founded by Loyola, whose zeal and holiness have always been
-an offence to the proud and carnal-minded. Country after country, tribe
-after tribe, the old gods were deprived of their kingdom, fighting
-always with all their weapons to keep back the tide of conquest.
-And at length, defeated at all points, and like an army fighting in
-defence of its territory, and gradually retiring before the invader to
-concentrate itself in some apparently inaccessible region and there
-stubbornly resist to the end; so have all the old gods and demons
-retired into this secluded country, where, if they cannot keep out the
-seeds of truth they have at least succeeded in rendering the soil it
-falls upon barren as stone. Nor does it seem altogether strange that
-these once potent beings should be satisfied to remain in comparative
-obscurity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> and inaction when the entire globe is open to them, offering
-fields worthy of their evil ambition. For great as their power and
-intelligence must be they are, nevertheless, finite beings, possessing
-like man, individual characteristics, capabilities and limitations;
-and after reigning where they have lost a continent, they may possibly
-be unfit or unwilling to serve elsewhere. For we know that even in the
-strong places of Christianity there are spirits enough for the evil
-work of leading men astray; whole nations are given up to damnable
-heresies, and all religion is trodden under foot by many whose portion
-will be where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.</p>
-
-<p>From the moment of my last struggle, when this revelation began to
-dawn upon my mind, I have been safe from their persecutions. No angry
-passions, no sinful motions, no doubts and despondence disturb the
-peace of my soul. I was filled with fresh zeal, and in the pulpit felt
-that it was not my voice, but the voice of some mighty spirit speaking
-with my lips and preaching to the people with an eloquence of which I
-was not capable. So far, however, it has been powerless to win their
-souls. The old gods,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> although no longer worshipped openly, are their
-gods still, and could a new Tupac Amaru arise to pluck down the symbols
-of Christianity, and proclaim once more the Empire of the Sun, men
-would everywhere bow down to worship his rising beams and joyfully
-rebuild temples to the Lightning and the Rainbow.</p>
-
-<p>Although the lost spirits cannot harm they are always near me,
-watching all my movements, ever striving to frustrate my designs. Nor
-am I unmindful of their presence. Even here, sitting in my study and
-looking out on the mountains, rising like stupendous stairs towards
-heaven and losing their summits in the gathering clouds, I seem to
-discern the awful shadowy form of Pachacamac, supreme among the old
-gods. Though his temples are in ruins, where the Pharaohs of the Andes
-and their millions of slaves worshipped him for a thousand years, he
-is awful still in his majesty and wrath that plays like lightning on
-his furrowed brows, kindling his stern countenance, and the beard
-which rolls downward like an immense white cloud to his knees. Around
-him gather other tremendous forms in their cloudy vestments&mdash;the
-Strongcomer, the Lord of the Dead, the Avenger, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> Ruler of men, and
-many others whose names were once mighty throughout the continent.
-They have met to take counsel together; I hear their voices in the
-thunder hoarsely rolling from the hills, and in the wind stirring the
-forest before the coming tempest. Their faces are towards me, they are
-pointing to me with their cloudy hands, they are speaking of me&mdash;even
-of me, an old, feeble, worn-out man! But I do not quail before them; my
-soul is firm though my flesh is weak; though my knees tremble while I
-gaze, I dare look forward even to win another victory over them before
-I depart.</p>
-
-<p>Day and night I pray for that soul still wandering lost in the great
-wilderness; and no voice rebukes my hope or tells me that my prayer is
-unlawful. I strain my eyes gazing out towards the forest; but I know
-not whether Marta Riquelme will return to me with the tidings of her
-salvation in a dream of the night, or clothed in the garments of the
-flesh, in the full light of day. For her salvation I wait, and when I
-have seen it I shall be ready to depart; for as the traveller, whose
-lips are baked with hot winds, and who thirsts for a cooling draught<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>
-and swallows sand, strains his eyeballs to see the end of his journey
-in some great desert, so do I look forward to the goal of this life,
-when I shall go to Thee, O my Master, and be at rest!</p>
-
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>APPENDIX TO EL OMBÚ.</h2>
-
-<p class="bold"><span class="smcap">The English invasion and the Game of El Pato.</span></p>
-
-<p>I must say at once that El Ombú is mostly a true story, although the
-events did not occur exactly in the order given. The incidents relating
-to the English invasion of June and July, 1807, is told pretty much as
-I had it from the old gaucho called Nicandro in the narrative. That
-was in the sixties. The undated notes which I made of my talks with
-the old man, containing numerous anecdotes of Santos Ugarte and the
-whole history of El Ombú, were written, I think, in 1868&mdash;the year of
-the great dust storm. These ancient notes are now before me, and look
-very strange, both as to the writing and the quality of the paper;
-also as to the dirtiness of the same, which makes me think that the
-old manuscript must have been out in that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>memorable storm, which, I
-remember, ended with rain&mdash;the rain coming down as liquid mud.</p>
-
-<p>There were other old men living in that part of the country who, as
-boys, had witnessed the march of an English army on Buenos Ayres, and
-one of these confirmed the story of the blankets thrown away by the
-army, and of the chaff between some of the British soldiers and the
-natives.</p>
-
-<p>I confess I had some doubts as to the truth of this blanket story when
-I came to read over my old notes; but in referring to the proceedings
-of the court-martial on Lieutenant-General Whitelocke, published in
-London in 1808, I find that the incident is referred to. On page 57 of
-the first volume occurs the following statement, made by General Gower
-in his evidence. "The men, particularly of Brigadier-General Lumley's
-brigade, were very much exhausted, and Lieutenant-General Whitelocke,
-to give them a chance of getting on with tolerable rapidity, ordered
-all the blankets of the army to be thrown down."</p>
-
-<p>There is nothing, however, in the evidence about the blankets having
-been used to make a firmer bottom for the army to cross a river, nor is
-the name of the river mentioned.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Another point in the old gaucho's story may strike the English reader
-as very strange and almost incredible; this is, that within a very
-few miles of the army of the hated foreign invader, during its march
-on the capital, where the greatest excitement prevailed and every
-preparation for defence was being made, a large number of men were
-amusing themselves at the game of El Pato. To those who are acquainted
-with the character of the gaucho there is nothing incredible in such a
-fact; for the gaucho is, or was, absolutely devoid of the sentiment of
-patriotism, and regarded all rulers, all in authority from the highest
-to the lowest, as his chief enemies, and the worst kind of robbers,
-since they robbed him not only of his goods but of his liberty.</p>
-
-<p>It mattered not to him whether his country paid tribute to Spain or to
-England, whether a man appointed by someone at a distance as Governor
-or Viceroy had black or blue eyes. It was seen that when the Spanish
-dominion came to an end his hatred was transferred to the ruling
-cliques of a so-called Republic. When the gauchos attached themselves
-to Rosas, and assisted him to climb into power, they were <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>under the
-delusion that he was one of themselves, and would give them that
-perfect liberty to live their own lives in their own way, which is
-their only desire. They found out their mistake when it was too late.</p>
-
-<p>It was Rosas who abolished the game of El Pato, but before saying more
-on that point it would be best to describe the game. I have never
-seen an account of it in print, but for a very long period, and down
-to probably about 1840, it was the most popular out-door game on the
-Argentine pampas. Doubtless it originated there; it was certainly
-admirably suited to the habits and disposition of the horsemen of the
-plains; and unlike most out-door games it retained its original simple,
-rude character to the end.</p>
-
-<p>Pato means duck; and to play the game a duck or fowl, or, as was
-usually the case, some larger domestic bird&mdash;turkey, gosling, or
-muscovy duck&mdash;was killed and sewn up in a piece of stout raw hide,
-forming a somewhat shapeless ball, twice as big as a football, and
-provided with four loops or handles of strong twisted raw hide made of
-a convenient size to be grasped by a man's hand. A great point was to
-have the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> ball and handles so strongly made that three or four powerful
-men could take hold and tug until they dragged each other to the ground
-without anything giving way.</p>
-
-<p>Whenever it was resolved at any place to have a game, and someone
-had offered to provide the bird, and the meeting place had been
-settled, notice would be sent round among the neighbours; and at the
-appointed time all the men and youths living within a circle of several
-leagues would appear on the spot, mounted on their best horses. On
-the appearance of the man on the ground carrying the duck the others
-would give chase; and by-and-by he would be overtaken, and the ball
-wrested from his hand; the victor in his turn would be pursued, and
-when overtaken there would perhaps be a scuffle or scrimmage, as in
-football, only the strugglers would be first on horseback before
-dragging each other to the earth. Occasionally when this happened a
-couple of hot-headed players, angry at being hurt or worsted, would
-draw their weapons against each other in order to find who was in the
-right, or to prove which was the better man. But fight or no fight,
-someone would get the duck and carry it away to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> chased again.
-Leagues of ground would be gone over by the players in this way, and
-at last some one, luckier or better mounted than his fellows, would
-get the duck and successfully run the gauntlet of the people scattered
-about on the plain, and make good his escape. He was the victor, and
-it was his right to carry the bird home and have it for his dinner.
-This was, however, a mere fiction; the man who carried off the duck
-made for the nearest house, followed by all the others, and there not
-only the duck was cooked, but a vast amount of meat to feed the whole
-of the players. While the dinner was in preparation, messengers would
-be despatched to neighbouring houses to invite the women; and on their
-arrival dancing would be started and kept up all night.</p>
-
-<p>To the gauchos of the great plains, who took to the back of a horse
-from childhood, almost as spontaneously as a parasite to the animal on
-which it feeds, the pato was the game of games, and in their country
-as much as cricket and football and golf together to the inhabitants
-of this island. Nor could there have been any better game for men
-whose existence, or whose success in life, depended so much on their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>
-horsemanship; and whose chief glory it was to be able to stick on
-under difficulties, and, when sticking on was impossible, to fall off
-gracefully and like a cat, on their feet. To this game the people of
-the pampa were devoted up to a time when it came into the head of a
-president of the republic to have no more of it, and with a stroke of
-the pen it was abolished for ever.</p>
-
-<p>It would take a strong man in this country to put down any out-door
-game to which the people are attached; and he was assuredly a very
-strong man who did away with El Pato in that land. If any other man
-who has occupied the position of head of the State at any time during
-the last ninety years, had attempted such a thing a universal shout of
-derision would have been the result, and wherever such an absurd decree
-had appeared pasted up on the walls and doors of churches, shops, and
-other public places, the gauchos would have been seen filling their
-mouths with water to squirt it over the despised paper. But this man
-was more than a president; he was that Rosas, called by his enemies
-the 'Nero of America.' Though by birth a member of a distinguished
-family, he was by predilection<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> a gaucho, and early in life took
-to the semi-barbarous life of the plains. Among his fellows Rosas
-distinguished himself as a dare-devil, one who was not afraid to throw
-himself from the back of his own horse on to that of a wild horse in
-the midst of a flying herd into which he had charged. He had all the
-gaucho's native ferocity, his fierce hates and prejudices; and it was
-in fact his intimate knowledge of the people he lived with, his oneness
-in mind with them, that gave him his wonderful influence over them, and
-enabled him to carry out his ambitious schemes. But why, when he had
-succeeded in making himself all-powerful by means of their help, when
-he owed them so much, and the ties uniting him to them were so close,
-did he deprive them of their beloved pastime? The reason, which will
-sound almost ridiculous after what I have said of the man's character,
-was that he considered the game too rough. It is true that it had
-(for him) its advantages, since it made the men of the plains hardy,
-daring, resourceful fighters on horseback&mdash;the kind of men he most
-needed for his wars; on the other hand, it caused so much injury to the
-players, and resulted in so many bloody fights and fierce feuds between
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>neighbours that he considered he lost more than he gained by it.</p>
-
-<p>There were not men enough in the country for his wants; even boys of
-twelve and fourteen were sometimes torn from the arms of their weeping
-mothers to be made soldiers of; he could not afford to have full-grown
-strong men injuring and killing each other for their own amusement.
-They must, like good citizens, sacrifice their pleasure for their
-country's sake. And at length, when his twenty years' reign was over,
-when people were again free to follow their own inclinations without
-fear of bullet and cold steel&mdash;it was generally cold steel in those
-days&mdash;those who had previously played the game had had roughness enough
-in their lives, and now only wanted rest and ease; while the young men
-and youths who had not taken part in El Pato nor seen it played, had
-never come under its fascination, and had no wish to see it revived.</p>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
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