CHAPTER IV
Continuing my journey through the Durazno district, I forded the prettyRiver Yi and entered the Tacuarembo department, which is immenselylong, extending right away to the Brazilian frontier. I rode over itsnarrowest part, however, where it is only about twenty-five miles wide;then, crossing two very curiously named rivers, Rios Salsipuedes Chicoand Salsipuedes Grande, which mean Get-out-if-you-can Rivers, Little andBig, I at length reached the termination of my journey in theprovince or department of Paysandu. The Estancia de la Virgen delos Desamparados, or, to put it very shortly, Vagabonds' Rest, wasa good-sized, square brick house built on very high ground, whichoverlooked an immense stretch of grassy, undulating country.
There was no plantation about the house, not even a shade tree orcultivated plant of any description, but only some large _corrales_, orenclosures, for the cattle, of which there were six or seven thousandhead on the land. The absence of shade and greenery gave the place adesolate, uninviting aspect, but if I was ever to have any authorityhere this would soon be changed. The Mayordomo, or manager, DonPolicarpo Santierra de Penalosa, which, roughly done into English, meansPolycarp of the Holy Land abounding in Slippery Rocks, proved to be avery pleasant, affable person. He welcomed me with that quiet Orientalpoliteness which is never cold and never effusive, and then perused theletter from Dona Isidora. Finally he said, "I am willing, my friend, tosupply you with all the conveniences procurable at this elevation;and, for the rest, you know, doubtless, what I can say to you. A readyunderstanding requires few words. Nevertheless, there is here no lackof good beef, and, to be short, you will do me a great favour by makingthis house with everything it contains your own, while you honour us byremaining in it."
After delivering himself of these kindly sentiments, which left merather in a mist as to my prospects, he mounted his horse and rode off,probably on some very important affair, for I saw no more of him forseveral days.
I at once proceeded to establish myself in the kitchen. No person inthehouse appeared ever to pay even a casual visit to any other room.This kitchen was vast and barn-like, forty feet long at least, andproportionately wide; the roof was of reeds, and the hearth, placed inthe centre of the floor, was a clay platform, fenced round with cows'shank-bones, half buried and standing upright. Some trivets and ironkettles were scattered about, and from the centre beam, supportingthe roof, a chain and hook were suspended to which a vast iron pot wasfastened. One more article, a spit about six feet long for roastingmeat, completed the list of cooking utensils. There were no chairs,tables, knives, or forks; everyone carried his own knife, and atmeal-time the boiled meat was emptied into a great tin dish, whilst theroast was eaten from the spit, each one laying hold with his fingersand cutting his slice. The seats were logs of wood and horse-skulls.The household was composed of one woman, an ancient, hideously ugly,grey-headed negress, about seventy years old, and eighteen or nineteenmen of all ages and sizes, and of all colours from parchment-white tovery old oak. There was a _capatas,_ or overseer, and seven oreight paid _peones,_ the others being all _agregados_--that is,supernumeraries without pay, or, to put it plainly, vagabonds who attachthemselves like vagrant dogs to establishments of this kind, lured bythe abundance of flesh, and who occasionally assist the regular _peones_at their work, and also do a little gambling and stealing to keepthemselves in small change. At break of day everyone was up sitting bythe hearth sipping bitter _mate_ and smoking cigarettes; before sunriseall were mounted and away over the surrounding country to gather up theherds; at midday they were back again to breakfast. The consumption andwaste of meat was something frightful. Frequently, after breakfast, asmuch as twenty or thirty pounds of boiled and roast meat would be throwninto a wheelbarrow and carried out to the dust-heap, where it served tofeed scores of hawks, gulls, and vultures, besides the dogs.
Of course, I was only an _agregado_, having no salary or regularoccupation yet. Thinking, however, that this would only be for a time, Iwas quite willing to make the best of things, and very soon becamefast friends with my fellow _agregados_, joining heartily in all theiramusements and voluntary labours.
In a few days I got very tired of living exclusively on flesh, for noteven a biscuit was "procurable at this elevation"; and as for a potato,one might as well have asked for a plum-pudding. It occurred to my mindat last that, with so many cows, it might be possible to procure somemilk and introduce a little change into our diet. In the evening Ibroached the subject, proposing that on the following day we shouldcapture a cow and tame her. Some of the men approved of the suggestion,remarking that they had never thought of it themselves; but the oldnegress, who, being the only representative of the fair sex present,was always listened to with all the deference due to her position, threwherself with immense zeal into the opposition. She affirmed that nocow had been milked at that establishment since its owner had paid ita visit with his young wife twelve years before. A milch-cow was thenkept, and on the senora partaking of a large quantity of milk "beforebreaking her fast," it produced such an indigestion in her that theywere obliged to give her powdered ostrich stomach, and finally to conveyher, with great trouble, in an ox-cart to Paysandu, and thence by waterto Montevideo. The owner ordered the cow to be released, and never, toher certain knowledge, had cow been milked since at La Virgen de losDesamparados.
These ominous croakings produced no effect on me, and the next day Ireturned to the subject. I did not possess a lasso, and so could notundertake to capture a half-wild cow without assistance. One of myfellow _agregados_ at length volunteered to help me, observing that hehad not tasted milk for several years, and was inclined to renew hisacquaintance with that singular beverage. This new-found friend in needmerits being formally introduced to the reader. His name was EpifanioClaro. He was tall and thin, and had an idiotic expression on his long,sallow face. His cheeks were innocent of whiskers, and his lank, blackhair, parted in the middle, fell to his shoulders, enclosing his narrowface between a pair of raven's wings. He had very large, light-coloured,sheepish-looking eyes, and his eyebrows bent up like a couple of Gothicarches, leaving a narrow strip above them that formed the merest apologyfor a forehead. This facial peculiarity had won for him the nickname ofCejas (Eyebrows), by which he was known to his intimates. He spent mostof his time strumming on a wretched old cracked guitar, and singingamorous ballads in a lugubrious, whining falsetto, which reminded me nota little of that hungry, complaining gull I had met at the _estancia_ inDurazno. For, though poor Epifanio had an absorbing passion for music,Nature had unkindly withheld from him the power to express it in amanner pleasing to others. I must, however, in justice to him, allowthat he gave a preference to ballads or compositions of a thoughtful,not to say metaphysical, character. I took the trouble of translatingthe words of one literally, and here they are:
Yesterday my senses opened, At a rap-a-tap from Reason, Inspiring in me an intention Which I never had before, Seeing that through all my days My life has been just what it is. Therefore when I rose I said, To-day shall be as yesterday, Since Reason tells me I have been From day to day the self-same thing.
This is very little to judge from, being only a fourth part of the song;but it is a fair specimen, and the rest is no clearer. Of course it isnot to be supposed that Epifanio Claro, an illiterate person, took inthe whole philosophy of these lines; still, it is probable that a subtleray or two of their deep meaning touched his intellect, to make him awiser and a sadder man.
Accompanied by this strange individual, and with the grave permissionof the _capatas_, who declined, however, in words of many syllables, all_responsabilidad_ in the matter, we went out to the grazing grounds inquest of a promising-looking cow. Very soon we found one to our liking.She was followed by a small calf, not more than a week old, and herdistended udder promised a generous supply of milk; but unfortunatelyshe was fierce-tempered, and had horns as sharp as needles.
"We will cut them by and by," shouted Eyebrows.
He then lassoed the co
w, and I captured the calf, and lifting it intothe saddle before me, started homewards. The cow followed me at afurious pace, and behind came Claro at a swinging gallop. Possibly hewas a little too confident, and carelessly let his captive pull the linethat held her; anyhow, she turned suddenly on him, charged with amazingfury, and sent one of her horrid horns deep into the belly of his horse.He was, however, equal to the occasion, first dealing her a smart blowon the nose, which made her recoil for a moment; he then severed thelasso with his knife, and, shouting to me to drop the calf, made hisescape. We pulled up as soon as we had reached a safe distance, Clarodrily remarking that the lasso had been borrowed, and that the horsebelonged to the _estancia_, so that we had lost nothing. He alighted,and stitched up the great gash in the poor brute's belly, using for athread a few hairs plucked from its tail. It was a difficult task, orwould have been so to me, as he had to bore holes in the animal'shide with his knife-point, but it seemed quite easy to him. Taking theremaining portion of the severed lasso, he drew it round the hind andone of the fore feet of his horse, and threw him to the ground with adexterous jerk; then, binding him there, performed the operations ofsewing up the wound in about two minutes.
"Will he live?" I asked.
"How can I tell?" he answered indifferently. "I only know that nowhe will be able to carry me home; if he dies afterwards, what will itmatter?"
We then mounted and rode quietly home. Of course, we were chaffedwithout mercy, especially by the old negress, who had foreseen allalong, she told us, just how it would be. One would have imagined, tohear this old black creature talk, that she looked on milk-drinking asone of the greatest moral offences man could be guilty of, and thatin this case Providence had miraculously interposed to prevent us fromgratifying our depraved appetites.
Eyebrows took it all very coolly.
"Do not notice them," he said to me. "The lasso was not ours, the horsewas not ours, what does it matter what they say?"
The owner of the lasso, who had good-naturedly lent it to us, rousedhimself on hearing this. He was a very big, rough-looking man, hisface covered with an immense shaggy black beard. I had taken him for agood-humoured specimen of the giant kind before, but I now changed myopinion of him when his angry passions began to rise. Blas, or Barbudo,as we called the giant, was seated on a log sipping _mate_.
"Perhaps you take me for a sheep, sirs, because you see me wrapped inskins," he observed; "but let me tell you this, the lasso I lent youmust be returned to me."
"These words are not for us," remarked Eyebrows, addressing me, "but forthe cow that carried away his lasso on her horns--curse them for beingso sharp!"
"No, sir," returned Barbudo, "do not deceive yourself; they are notfor the cow, but for the fool that lassoed the cow. And I promise you,Epifanio, that if it is not restored to me, this thatch over our headswill not be broad enough to shelter us both."
"I am pleased to hear it," said the other, "for we are short of seats;and when you leave us, the one you now encumber with your carcass willbe occupied by some more meritorious person."
"You can say what you like, for no one has yet put a padlock on yourlips," said Barbudo, raising his voice to a shout; "but you are notgoing to plunder me; and if my lasso is not restored to me, then I swearI will make myself a new one out of a human hide."
"Then," said Eyebrows, "the sooner you provide yourself with a hide forthe purpose, the better, for I will never return the lasso to you; forwho am I to fight against Providence, that took it out of my hands?"
To this Barbudo replied furiously:
"Then I will have it from this miserable starved foreigner, who comeshere to learn to eat meat and put himself on an equality with men.Evidently he was weaned too soon; but if the starveling hungers forinfant's food, let him in future milk the cats that warm themselvesbeside the fire, and can be caught without a lasso, even by aFrenchman!"
I could not endure the brute's insults, and sprang up from my seat. Ihappened to have a large knife in my hand, for we were just preparing tomake an assault on the roasted ribs of a cow, and my first impulsewas to throw down the knife and give him a blow with my fist. Had Iattempted it I should most probably have paid dearly for my rashness.The instant I rose Barbudo was on me, knife in hand. He aimed a furiousblow, which luckily missed me, and at the same moment I struck him, andhe reeled back with a dreadful gash on his face. It was all done in asecond of time, and before the others could interpose; in another momentthey disarmed us, and set about bathing the barbarian's wound. Duringthe operation, which I daresay was very painful, for the old negressinsisted on having the wound bathed with rum instead of water, the bruteblasphemed outrageously, vowing that he would cut out my heart and eatit stewed with onions and seasoned with cummin seed and various othercondiments.
I have often since thought of that sublime culinary conception of Blasthe barbarian. There must have been a spark of wild Oriental genius inhis bovine brains.
When the exhaustion caused by rage, pain, and loss of blood had atlength reduced him to silence, the old negress turned on him, exclaimingthat he had been rightly punished, for had he not, in spite of hertimely warnings, lent his lasso to enable these two heretics (for thatis what she called us) to capture a cow? Well, his lasso was lost; thenhis friends, with the gratitude only to be expected from milk-drinkers,had turned round and well-nigh killed him.
After supper the _capatas_ got me alone, and with excessive friendlinessof manner, and an abundance of circumlocutory phrases, advised meto leave the _estancia_, as it would not be safe for me to remain. Ireplied that I was not to blame, having struck the man in self-defence;also, that I had been sent to the _estancia_ by a friend of theMayordomo, and was determined to see him and give him my version of theaffair.
The _capatas_ shrugged his shoulders and lit a cigarette.
At length Don Policarpo returned, and when I told him my story helaughed slightly, but said nothing. In the evening I reminded him of thesubject of the letter I had brought from Montevideo, asking him whetherit was his intention to give me some employment on the _estancia_.
"You see, my friend," he replied, "to employ you now would beuseless, however valuable your services might be, for by this time theauthorities will have information of your fight with Blas. In the courseof a few days you may expect them here to make inquiries into thataffair, and it is probable that you and Blas will both be taken intocustody."
"What then would you advise me to do?" I asked.
His answer was, that when the ostrich asked the deer what he wouldadvise him to do when the hunters appeared, the deer's reply was, "Runaway."
I laughed at his pretty apologue, and answered that I did not think theauthorities would trouble themselves about me--also that I was not fondof running away.
Eyebrows, who had hitherto been rather inclined to patronise me and takeme under his protection, now became very warm in his friendship,which was, however, dashed with an air of deference when we were alonetogether, but in company he was fond of parading his familiarity withme. I did not quite understand this change of manner at first, but byand by he took me mysteriously aside and became extremely confidential.
"Do not distress yourself about Barbudo," he said. "He will never againpresume to lift his hand against you; and if you will only condescend tospeak kindly to him, he will be your humble slave and proud to haveyou wipe your greasy fingers on his beard. Take no notice of what theMayordomo says, he also is afraid of you. If the authorities take you,it will only be to see what you can give them: they will not keep youlong, for you are a foreigner, and cannot be made to serve in the army.But when you are again at liberty it will be necessary for you to killsomeone." Very much amazed, I asked him why. "You see," he replied,"your reputation as a fighter is now established in this department,and there is nothing men envy more. It is the same as in our old game of_pato,_ where the man that carries the duck away is pursued by all theothers, and before they give up chasing him he must prove that he cankeep what he has taken. There are s
everal fighters you do not know, whohave resolved to pick quarrels with you in order to try your strength.In your next fight you must not wound, but kill, or you will have nopeace." I was greatly disturbed at this result of my accidental victoryover Bias the Bearded, and did not at all appreciate the kind ofgreatness my officious friend Claro seemed so determined to thrust uponme. It was certainly flattering to hear that I had already establishedmy reputation as a good fighter in so warlike a department as Paysandu,but then the consequences entailed were disagreeable, to say the leastof it; and so, while thanking Eyebrows for his friendly hint, Iresolved to quit the _estancia_ at once. I would not run away from theauthorities, since I was not an evil-doer, but from the necessity ofkilling people for the sake of peace and quietness I certainly woulddepart. And early next morning, to my friend's intense disgust, andwithout telling my plans to anyone, I mounted my horse and quittedVagabond's Rest to pursue my adventures elsewhere.