the drivers were at hand, and after three or four hours’ hard galloping we got them back, all except one who never reappeared; and late in the evening reached Don Guillermo’s house and let our horses into a paddock fenced with strong posts of ñandubay or Tala and bound together with pieces of raw hide.

p. 18

So for a week or two we passed our lives, collecting horses of every shade and hue, wild, tame and bagualon, that is, neither quite wild nor tame, and then, before starting, had to go to “La Justicia” to get a passport with their attributes and marks.

I found the Alcalde, one Quintin Perez, sitting at his door, softening a piece of hide by beating on it with a heavy mallet of ñandubay. He could not read, but was so far advanced towards culture as to be able to sign his name and rubricate. His rubric was most elaborate, and he informed me that a signature was good, but that he thought a rubric more authentic. Though he could not decipher p. 19the document I brought for signature, he scrutinized the horses’ marks, all neatly painted in the margin, discussed each one of them, and found out instantly some were from distant “pagos,” and on this account, before the signature or rubric was appended, in addition to the usual fee, I was obliged to “speak a little English to him,” which in the River Plate is used to signify the taking and receiving of that conscience money which causes the affairs of justice to move pleasantly for all concerned. Meanwhile my partner had gone to town (Durazno) to arrange about the revision of the passport with the chief authorities. Nothing moved quickly at that time in Uruguay; so after waiting one or two days in town, without a word, he quietly let loose his horse in a by-street at night to save his keep, and casting about where he should leave his saddle, thought that the cloak-room of the railway-station might be safe, because the station-master was an Englishman. The saddle, having silver stirrups and good saddle-cloths and silver-mounted reins and bit, was worth more than the horse, which, being a stray, he had bought for a couple of dollars, and was not anxious to retain.

p. 19

After a day or two of talk, and “speaking English,” he wanted his saddle, and going to the station found it gone. Not being up at that time in the ways of the Republic, he informed the police, waited a day, then two days, and found nothing done. Luckily, just at that time, I came to town p. 20and asked him if he had offered a reward. Hearing he had not, we went down to see the Commissary of Police, and found him 

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