Peña, was but a matter of pure faith, and going to mass a work of supererogation; and conduct such as the eschewal of the China ladies at the pass, with abstinence from all excess in square-faced gin, dislike to monté, even with “Sota en la puerta,” and the adversary with all his money staked upon another card, seemed to him bigotry; for bigotry is after all not so much mere excess of faith or want of tolerance, but a neglect to fall into the vices of our friends. So, mounted on our two “agenos,” one a jibber, the other a kicker at the stirrup, and extremely hard to mount, we scoured the land. Gauchos, Brazilians, negroes, troperos, cattle-farmers, each man in the whole “pago” had at least a horse to sell. Singly, driven, led, pulled unwillingly along in raw-hide ropes, and sitting back like lapdogs walking in the park, the horses came. We bought them all after much bargaining, and then began to hunt about at farms, estancias, and potreros, and to inquire on every side where horses could be got. All the “dead beats,” “sancochos,” buck-jumpers, wall-eyed and broken-backed, we passed in a review. An English sailor rode up to the place, dressed as a Gaucho, speaking but little English, with a west-country twang. He, too, had horses, which we bought, and the deal over, launched into the story of his life.

p. 13

It seemed that he had left a man-of-war some fifteen years ago, married a native girl and settled down, and for ten years had never met p. 14an Englishman. In English, still a sailor, but in Spanish, a gentleman, courteous and civil, and fit to take his place with any one; full of fine compliments, and yet a horse-coper; selling us three good horses, and one, that the first time I mounted him kicked like a zebra, although our friend had warranted him quite free from vice, well bitted, and the one horse he had which he reserved in general for the saddle of his wife.

p. 14

In a few days we had collected sixty or seventy, and to make all complete, a man arrived, saying that specially on our account, thirteen wild horses, or horses that had run wild, had been enclosed. He offered them on special terms, and we, saddling at once, rode twelve or thirteen leagues to see them; and after crossing a river, wading through a swamp, and winding in and out through a thick wood for several miles, we reached his house. There, in a strong corral, the horses were, wild-eyed and furious, tails sweeping to the ground, manes to their knees, sweating with fear, and trembling if any one came near. One was a piebald dun, about eight years of age, curly all over like a poodle; one Pampa, that is, black 

 Prev. P 12/122 next