[Illustration: Book Cover]
[Illustration: The Fight with the Puma.--_Page 59._]
OUT ON THE PAMPAS
OR
_THE YOUNG SETTLERS_
BY
G. A. HENTY
AUTHOR OF 'THE YOUNG FRANC-TIREURS,' 'THE YOUNG BUGLERS,'
'THE MARCH TO MAGDALA,' ETC. ETC.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY J. B. ZWECKER.
LONDON
GRIFFITH FARRAN & CO.
NEWBERY HOUSE, 39 CHARING CROSS ROAD
[_The Rights of Translation and Reproduction are Reserved._]
Transcriber's Note:
Variations in hyphenation, capitalization, and spelling have been
retained as in the original. Minor printer errors have been amended
without note. Obvious typos have been amended and are listed at the
end of the text. Table of Contents has been added. OE/oe ligatures
have not been retained in this version.
Table of Contents.
CHAPTER I.
Mrs. Hardy's Resolution.
CHAPTER II.
The Start.
CHAPTER III.
A New Life.
CHAPTER IV.
The Pampas.
CHAPTER V.
The Settler's Home.
CHAPTER VI.
A Tale of the Mexican War.
CHAPTER VII.
Seth Continues His Narrative of the Mexican Adventure.
CHAPTER VIII.
Farm Work and Amusements.
CHAPTER IX.
Neighbourly Visits and Advice.
CHAPTER X.
The Lost Cattle.
CHAPTER XI.
Quiet Times.
CHAPTER XII.
A Steady Hand.
CHAPTER XIII.
The Indian Attack.
CHAPTER XIV.
Terrible News.
CHAPTER XV.
The Pampas on Fire.
CHAPTER XVI.
At the Stake.
CHAPTER XVII.
Rescued.
CHAPTER XVIII.
And Last.
OUT ON THE PAMPAS;
OR,
THE YOUNG SETTLERS.
CHAPTER I.
MRS. HARDY'S RESOLUTION.
'What are you thinking of, Frank?' Mrs. Hardy asked her husband one
evening, after an unusually long silence on his part.
'Well, my dear, I was thinking of a good many things. In the first
place, I think, I began with wondering what I should make of the boys;
and that led to such a train of thoughts about ourselves and our
circumstances, that I hardly knew where I was when you spoke to me.'
Mr. Hardy spoke cheerfully, but his wife saw at once that it was with an
effort that he did so. She put down the work upon which she was engaged,
and moved her chair nearer to his by the fire. 'It is a serious
question, Frank, about the boys. Charley is fifteen now, and Hubert
fourteen. I wonder myself sometimes what we shall do with them.'
'There seems no opening here in England for young fellows. The
professions are crowded, even if they were not altogether beyond our
means; and as to a clerkship, they had better have a trade, and stick to
it: they would be far happier, and nearly as well paid. The fact is,
Clara,' and here Mr. Hardy paused a little, as if to gain courage to say
what he feared would be very disagreeable to his wife,--'the fact is, we
are altogether too crowded here. The best thing for the children, by
far, and I think the best thing for ourselves, would be to emigrate.'
Mrs. Hardy gave a little sigh, but said nothing, and sat looking quietly
into the fire, as her husband went on: 'You see, my dear, I am just, and
only just earning enough for us to live upon. Nor is there any strong
probability of an increase of business. The boys, as you say, are
growing up, and I see no prospect of giving them a fair start in life.
Abroad it is altogether different: we can buy land and stock it for next
to nothing. We should live roughly, certainly; but at least there is no
fear for the future, and we should start our boys in life with a fair
certainty of success. Still, Clara, I do not of course mean that I have
made up my mind upon the subject. It is far too serious a matter to
decide upon hastily. I only threw out the suggestion; and if you, after
thinking it over, are against it, there is an end of the matter.'
Mrs. Hardy was silent for a little, and a tear sparkled on her cheek in
the fire-light; then she said, 'I am not surprised, Frank, at what you
have said. In fact I have expected it for some time. I have observed you
looking over books upon foreign countries, and have seen that you often
sat thoughtful and quiet. I guessed, therefore, what you had in your
mind. Of course, dear, as a woman, I shrink from the thought of leaving
all our friends and going to quite a strange country, but I don't think
that I am afraid of the hardships or discomfort. Thousands of other
women have gone through them, and there is no reason why I should not do
the same. I do think with you that it would be a good thing for the
boys, perhaps for the girls too; and that, when we have got over the
first hardships, we too should be happier and more free from care than
we are now. So you see, Frank, you will meet with no opposition from me;
and if, after deliberation, you really determine that it is the best
thing to do, I shall be ready to agree with you. But it is a hard
thought just at first, so please do not say any more about it to-night.'
Mr. Hardy was an architect, as his father had been before him. He had
not, however, entered the office at the usual age, but when eighteen had
gone out to the United States, to visit an uncle who had settled there.
After spending some time with him, the love of adventure had taken him
to the far west, and there he had hunted and shot for nearly three
years, till a letter, long delayed on the way, entreated him to return
to England, as his father's health was failing. He at once started for
England, and found that his father was in a feeble state of health, but
was still able to carry on the business. Frank saw, however, that he was
unequal to the work, and so entered the office, working hard to make up
for lost time. He was a good draughtsman, and was shortly able to take a
great burden off his father's shoulders.
He had not been long at home, however, before he fell in love with Clara
Aintree, the daughter of a clergyman; and his father making over to him
a share in the business, they were married just as Frank attained his
twenty-fourth year, his wife being about nineteen. Two years after the
marriage Mr. Hardy sen. died, and from that time Frank had carried on
the business alone.
B---- was a large provincial town, but it scarcely afforded remunerative
employment for an architect; and although Mr. Hardy had no competitor in
his business, the income which he derived from it was by no means a
large one, and the increasing expenses of his family rendered the
struggle, to make ends meet, yearly more severe. His father had been
possessed of a small private fortune, but had rashly entered into the
mania of railway speculation, and at his death had left about £3000 to
his son. This sum Frank Hardy had carefully preserved intact, as he had
foreseen that the time might come when it would, for his children's
sake, be advisable to emigrate. He had long looked forward to this, but
had abstained from taking any step until his sons were of an age to be
able to make themselves useful in a life in the bush or upon the
prairies.
Frank Hardy, at the time our story begins, was about forty. He was a
tall, active man, and the life he had led in America when young had
hardened his muscles, and given him the full use of every faculty.
Mrs. Hardy was five years younger than her husband, and scarcely looked
thirty years old. She was a high-spirited woman, well fitted to be her
husband's companion in the dangers and hardships of a settler's life.
The subject of emigration once started, was frequently continued, and
presently books and maps began to be consulted, and the advantages and
disadvantages of the various countries and colonies to be debated.
Finally, Mr. and Mrs. Hardy agreed that the Argentine Republic, in its
magnificent rivers, its boundless extent of fertile land, in its
splendid climate, its cheap labour, and its probable prospects, offered
the greatest advantages.
The decision once arrived at, it was determined to announce it to the
children, who had up to this time no idea of the great change decided
upon. Breakfast was over, and the boys, whose holidays had just begun,
were about to leave the table, when their father said: 'Wait a moment,
boys; there is something we want to talk to you about.'
The boys resumed their seats. 'Your mamma and I have been wondering what
you boys are to become, and we do not see any openings likely to occur
here. Now, what should you say to us all emigrating?'
'What, going abroad, papa!' they both exclaimed joyously.
'Yes, boys, settling in the back woods or in the prairies.'
'Oh that would be jolly,' Charley said, 'I know, papa, having fights
with Indians, and all that sort of thing. Oh it would be glorious!'
'Well, Charley,' his father said, smiling, 'I do not know that we shall
have fights with Indians, nor do I think it would be very jolly if we
did. But we should have to rough it, you know; you boys would have to
work hard, to help me in everything, and to look after the cattle and
sheep.'
'What fun! what fun!' the boys both shouted; 'we should like it of all
things in the world.'
'And what do you think of it, Maud and Ethel?' their mamma asked the
two little girls, who were looking very surprised, but rather doubtful
as to the pleasure of the fights with Indians which their brothers had
spoken so delightedly about. 'You will have to be two very useful little
women, and will have to help me just as the boys will have to help your
papa. Very likely we may not be able to get a servant there, and then we
shall have to do everything.'
'That will be fine, mamma,' said Maud, who was rather over twelve, while
her sister was just eleven. 'I don't think I could cook, but you should
cook, and I could scrub and do all the hard work, and Ethel could wash
up, and lay the table, and that sort of thing. That would be fine,
mamma.'
Ethel, who almost always agreed with her elder sister, did so now, and
the four young ones became quite uproarious in their plans for making
themselves useful. At last Mr. Hardy called for order.
'Now silence all, and listen to me. This affair is a serious business;
and although I hope and believe that we shall all enjoy our life very
much, still we must prepare for it, and look upon it in earnest, and not
as a sort of game. I have business here which I cannot finish before
another eight or nine months. Let us all make the most of our time
before we start. In the first place, the language of the people among
whom we are going is Spanish, and we must all learn to speak it well
before we leave. For the next three months we will work together at
grammar and exercises, and then I will try and get some Spanish teacher
to live in the house, and speak the language with us until we go. In the
next place, it will be well that you should all four learn to ride. I
have hired the paddock next to our garden, and have bought a pony, which
will be here to-day, for the girls. You boys have already ridden a
little, and I shall now have you taught in the riding school. I went
yesterday to Mr. Sarls, and asked him if he would allow me to make an
arrangement with his head gardener for you to go there to learn
gardening. He at once agreed; and I have arranged with the gardener that
you are both to be there every morning at six o'clock, and are to work
until nine. At nine you will come in to breakfast. From breakfast to
dinner you will have to yourselves, except upon the days you take riding
lessons; and I should wish you to spend this time at your usual studies,
except Latin, which will be of no use to you. From two till half-past
four you are to learn carpentering. I have made an agreement with Mr.
Jones to pay him so much to take you as a sort of apprentices for the
next nine months. In the evening we will all work together at Spanish.
It will be hard work; but if you want to be of any real use to me, it
is absolutely necessary that you should be able to use a spade and to do
rough carpentering. As the time draws on, too, I shall ask one of the
farmers near to let you go out with his men and get some notion of
ploughing. Well, what do you say to all that?'
Hubert looked a little downcast at this recital of the preparatory work
to be gone through, but Charley said at once, 'It sounds rather hard,
papa, but, as you say, we shall have to work hard out there, and it is
much better to accustom one's self to it at once; besides, of course, we
should be of no use at all to you unless we knew something about work.'
'And what are we to learn, mamma?' Maud asked.
'Not a very great deal, my dear,' Mrs. Hardy said. 'Spanish to begin
with, then cooking. I shall teach you, at any rate, to make simple
dishes and puddings, and to boil vegetables properly. I shall myself
practise until I am perfect, and then I shall teach you. Besides that,
it will be as well for you to learn to attend to poultry; and that is
all I know of at present, except that you must both take pains to
improve yourselves at sewing. We shall have to make everything for
ourselves out there.'
'I suppose we shan't do any more regular lessons, mamma?'
'Indeed you will, Maud. You do not imagine that your education is
finished, do you? and you cannot wish to grow almost as ignorant as the
poor Indians of the country. You will give up the piano, and learn
Spanish instead of French, but that will be all the difference; and I
shall expect you both to make as much progress as possible, because,
although I shall take you both out there, and shall teach you whenever I
find time, your lessons must of necessity be short and irregular. And
now you can all go out into the garden and talk the matter over.'
'But you have not told us yet where we are going to, papa,' Charley
said.
'We are going to farm upon the banks of one of the great South American
rivers,--probably the Parana, in the Argentine Republic.'
Mr. and Mrs. Hardy watched their children from the window. They went out
in a group to the summer-house in the corner of the garden, all talking
excitedly. Then Maud ran back again to the house, and in a minute or two
returned with the schoolroom atlas, and opening it upon the table, they
all clustered over it in eager consultation.
Mrs. Hardy turned to her husband with a smile. 'You will have to get up
the subject, Frank, so as to be able to answer the innumerable questions
you will be asked.'
'I shall always refer them to you.'
There was quite a talk in B---- when it was known that Mr. Hardy was
going to emigrate with his wife and family. He, and his father before
him, had been so long established in the town, that there were few
people who did not know him, more or less.
Emigration in the year 1851 was far less common than it is now, and the
interest was proportionately greater. Charley and Hubert became quite
popular characters among their late schoolfellows, who, whenever they
met them, would always stop to have a talk about the distant country to
which they were going. The boys, however, had now but little time for
talking; for upon the week after their father had first told them of his
intention, they had set-to regularly at the work he had laid down for
them. They rose every morning at five, had a slice of bread and a cup of
milk, and were off to the gardener's, where they worked hard until
half-past eight. Mr. Hardy had requested that they should be specially
instructed in the raising of vegetables, and in the planting and pruning
of fruit-trees. The culture of flowers could be of no utility. The
digging made the boys' backs ache at first, and blistered their hands,
but they stuck to it manfully, and soon became accustomed to the work,
returning to breakfast with glowing cheeks and tremendous appetites.
In the afternoon they might be seen in the carpenter's shop with their
coats and waistcoats off, working away with saw or plane.
Although both made good progress in both pursuits, yet their tastes
differed; Charley preferring the carpentering, while Hubert was the
gardener's most promising pupil. The former was therefore christened the
head carpenter by his sisters, while the latter was promoted to the post
of chief gardener.
Four or five months of this work made a visible difference in the boys'
appearance. They both widened out across the shoulders, their arms
became strong and muscular, and they looked altogether more healthy and
robust. Nor did their appearance belie them; for once when spending a
holiday in the cricket-field with their former schoolfellows, wrestling
matches being proposed after the game was over, they found that they
were able to overcome with ease boys whom they had formerly considered
their superiors in strength.
In the meantime Mr. Hardy had succeeded in obtaining the services of a
young Spanish lady, who had come to England to learn the language, as
governess; and of an evening the whole family worked at Spanish, and
made such progress that they were soon able to establish the rule that
no other language should be spoken at meal-times. The girls here soon
surpassed their brothers, as they had the advantage of morning lessons
in the language, besides which young children can always pick up a
language sooner than their elders; and they had many a hearty laugh at
the ridiculous mistakes Charley and Hubert made in their efforts to get
through a long sentence. In six months, however, all could speak with
tolerable fluency.
Maud and Ethel were as amused and as diligent at learning household work
as their brothers were in their departments, and might have been seen
every afternoon in the kitchen, in their little white pinafores, engaged
in learning the mysteries of cooking.
One day, after they had been so engaged for about four months, Mrs.
Hardy said at breakfast: 'I am going to try an experiment. I have given
the cook leave to go out for the day. Mr. and Mrs. Partridge are coming
to dinner, and I intend handing over the kitchen to the girls, and
letting them make their first essay. We are going to have soup, a leg of
mutton with potatoes and spinach, a dish of fried cutlets, and a cabinet
pudding. I shall tell Sarah to lift any saucepan you may want on or off
the fire, but all the rest I shall leave in your hands. The boys will
dine with us. The hour will be half-past five, punctually.'
The little girls' eyes flashed with pleasure, and they quite coloured up
at the thought of the importance and difficulty of the task before them.
At lunch the boys pretended to eat an extra quantity, saying that they
felt very doubtful about their dinner. In the afternoon Mrs. Hardy felt
strongly tempted to go into the kitchen to see how things were getting
on; but she restrained herself, resolving to let Maud and Ethel have
entirely their own way.
The dinner was a great success, although the soup was rather hot, from
Ethel, in her anxiety, having let too much pepper slip in; and the
cabinet pudding came up all over the dish, instead of preserving its
shape, it having stuck to the mould, and Maud having shaken it so
violently that it had come out with a burst and broken up into pieces,
which had caused a flood of tears on the part of the little cook. It did
not taste any the worse, however. And when the little girls came in to
dessert in their white frocks, looking rather shy, and very scorched in
the face, from their anxious peeping into pots to see that all was going
on well, they were received with a cheer by the boys; and their friends
were not a little astonished to hear that the dinner they had partaken
of had been entirely prepared and cooked by these little women.
After four months' gardening, Mr. Hardy placed the boys with a farmer
who lived a mile distant, and made an arrangement for them to breakfast
there, so that they now remained at work from six in the morning until
twelve. Here they obtained some idea of harnessing and driving horses,
of ploughing, and of the other farming operations.
They now only went four days a week to the carpenter's, for their papa
had one day said to them when they were alone with him before dinner:
'Do not put on your working clothes this afternoon, boys; I am going to
take you out with me, but do not say anything about it at dinner. I will
tell you why afterwards.'
Rather surprised, they did as he told them, wondering where they could
be going. Their father said nothing on the subject until they reached
the town, which was a quarter of a mile distant from their house. Then
he said: 'Now, boys, you know we are going out to a country of which a
great portion is still unsettled; and as land is a good deal cheaper at
a short distance from the inhabited parts, we shall perhaps have no one
within many miles of us. Now it is just possible that at first the
Indians may be disposed to be troublesome. I do not suppose that they
will, but it is just as well to be prepared for everything. There is no
reason why you boys should not be able to shoot as straightly as a man,
and I have therefore bought two carbines. They are the invention of an
American named Colt, and have a revolving breach, so that they fire six
shots each. There is a spare chamber to each, which is very quickly
shifted in place of the one discharged; so that each of you could fire
twelve shots in a very short time. They will carry up to five hundred
yards. They are a new invention, but all accounts agree that they are
an excellent one. I have obtained leave from Mr. Harcourt, who lives
three miles from here, to put up a target at the foot of some bare hills
on his property, and we will walk over there twice a week to practise. I
used to be considered a first-rate shot with a rifle when I was a young
man in America, and I have got down a rifle for my own use. I do not
want you to speak about what we are doing to your mamma, or indeed to
any one. We shall keep our rifles at a cottage near where we shoot, and
no one need know anything about it. It is not likely that we shall have
any trouble with the Indians, and it is of no use making your mamma
uncomfortable by the thought of the probability of such a thing.'
As Mr. Hardy spoke, the boys were ready to dance with delight, and this
was increased when they turned into the gunsmith's shop, and were shown
the arms which their father had bought for this expedition.
Mr. Hardy had already an excellent double-barrelled gun, and he had now
purchased a long and heavy rifle carrying a conical ball. In addition to
the boys' carbines, he had bought them each a light double-barrelled
gun. Besides these were two brace of Colt's revolving pistols. These
were all new; but there were in addition two or three second-hand
double-barrelled guns for the use of his servants, in case of necessity,
and three light rifles of the sort used for rook-shooting. Altogether,
it was quite an armoury. The carbines were in neat cases; and the boys
carried these and a box of cartridges, while Mr. Hardy took his rifle;
and so they started off to their shooting ground.
Here their father instructed them in the use of their revolving
carbines, and then, after some practice with caps only, allowed them to
fire a few shots each. The firing was certainly rather wild, owing to
the difficulty they felt at first of firing without shutting their eyes;
but after a few weeks' practice they became very steady, and in three or
four months could make pretty certain of a bull's-eye at three hundred
yards. Of all this Mrs. Hardy and the girls knew nothing; but there was
not the same secrecy observed with reference to their shot-guns. These
they took home with them, and Mr. Hardy said that he understood that the
plains of South America swarmed with game, and that, therefore, it was
well that the boys should learn how to shoot. He insisted, however, that
only one gun should be taken out at a time, to diminish the danger of
accidents. After that the boys took out their guns by turns when they
went to work of a morning, and many a dead blackbird soon attested to
their improving skill.