THE YEOMANRY OF BUENOS AIRES
"What, Marcelino! are you going too?" asked Doña Constancia the next
morning, as she saw her son, after fully equipping his friend Gordon for
a journey, getting himself ready also.
"Yes, mamita; and I am very glad you have come to ask me, for I want to
tell you why I am going. My uncle Gregorio is going to Las Barrancas to
raise a squadron of cavalry, as you know, and I have been trying to
persuade grandpapa to let me raise a company of infantry among the
slaves on his chacras about the Guardia Chascomus."
"Make slaves into soldiers!"
"Yes, mother. The affair at Perdriel showed me that if we want to beat
the English we must have infantry. The Spanish regiments and the militia
are sufficient to defend Buenos Aires, but we want troops who can meet
the English in the open field. Now the paisanos will not serve on foot,
but I think I could soon drill negroes into very fair foot soldiers. If
grandpapa will set the example plenty more will give me slaves, and I
will raise a large regiment."
"But to put arms into the hands of slaves, that is never done."
"No, and therefore grandpapa says we must keep it secret till we see
whether it can be done. Don Fausto Velasquez is on his estancia now, so
we are going to ride over from the Barrancas to the Pajonales to consult
with him before I do anything."
"I do not like the idea at all, Marcelino. Now that Juan Carlos has
joined the Patricios you are surely exempt from service. If you must
serve, why did you resign your commission?"
"For the sake of peace, mother. Don Isidro Lorea behaved very well on
the 12th August, so now he thinks himself a hero, and wants to have
everything his own way in the regiment. Many think that I know more of
military affairs than he does, and there was danger of disunion, so I
resigned my commission, and I have permission from Liniers to form a
separate command for myself if I can find men."
"And you have not told your father?"
"No, this must be a secret for the present. The Cabildo would put a stop
to the project if they knew of it, but once I get the men together
Liniers will bear me out."
Doña Constancia attempted no more to dissuade him from the idea, and
before the sun was two hours high all were ready for the road except Don
Roderigo, who remained at the quinta, and who had promised to read
"Evelina," and to report upon the book on their return.
The "Casa-teja," and much land lying around, was the property of Don
Gregorio Lopez, and was one of his estancias. Here Don Gregorio and his
party drew rein a little before noon, and in ten minutes they were
seated at breakfast in the principal room.
"You are tired, Don Alejandro," said Don Gregorio to Lieutenant Gordon.
"A little, for I have only been a few times on horseback at the quinta,
but in an hour I shall be quite ready for another gallop."
"Yes, and then to-morrow you will be quite knocked up. No, it is well
that the old and the invalid keep company together. We will remain here
until to-morrow, but my son and Marcelino are in a hurry, so we will let
them go on by themselves."
The word of Don Gregorio was the law of his household, so that matter
was settled without discussion, and Don Gregorio the younger and
Marcelino, after partaking sparingly of the plentiful breakfast which
was spread before them, mounted fresh horses and galloped off, taking a
peon with them and driving a tropilla before them. They travelled fast,
but ere sundown the storm which was brewing on the preceding evening
burst upon them, and they were forced to take refuge in a rancho which
stood by itself surrounded by a forest of thistles, some two squares to
the left of the road. They received the usual frank welcome of a
paisano, and were told to dismount and unsaddle. In ten minutes they
were seated on horse-skulls in a smoky kitchen, sucking mate,[4] and
safe from the storm which now raged furiously, driving clouds of
thistledown before it and laying prostrate acres of the tall thistles
themselves.
Their host was a slim, active man, not so tall as Marcelino, but
apparently some few years his senior. His complexion was a bright yellow
with a ruddy tinge in his smooth cheeks. His hair, jet-black and glossy,
was of very coarse texture, falling down to his shoulders in a scarcely
perceptible wave; had it been cut short it would have appeared quite
straight. A small black moustache graced his thin upper-lip, and a
slight fringe of black hair on his chin did duty as a beard. His eyes,
black also, were very bright and in constant movement.
His wife was a young woman of similar complexion but of stouter build,
with full red lips and with very white teeth, which she was fond of
showing, by smiling whenever she was spoken to, but she spoke very
little herself, leaving that part of their entertainment to her husband.
For some time they talked on indifferent subjects; at last Don Gregorio
said:
"I often pass this way, but I never remember seeing this rancho before."
"I have only been here two months, till then I lived with my father over
there," replied their host with a jerk of his head.
"Are you by chance one of the Vianas?" asked Don Gregorio.
"Just so. I am Venceslao Viana, at your service, Señor, and this is my
wife. When I married, my father gave me some cows, and I have built this
place for myself. We were married at the Guardia, for, as my father said
to me, people of family should marry."
As the man said this he threw back his head proudly, and his wife
smiled at her guests, showing more of her white teeth than ever. They
both evidently thought that they had conferred great distinction upon
themselves by marrying, as was in fact the case, for among the paisanos
in those days marriage was a token of respectability and social
standing.
"I call myself Gregorio Lopez," said Don Gregorio in reply, "and I
congratulate you both."
"Many thanks, Señor. Don Gregorio of the Barrancas, is it not so?"
"Exactly."
"Then we are in some sort relations," answered Venceslao.
"To me, no; to this one yes," replied Don Gregorio coldly, and looking
at Marcelino. "I knew that Viana's land lay somewhere near here, but I
did not know that it reached as far as this."
A brother of the second wife of Don Gregorio Lopez the elder, named
Francisco Viana, had married a mulatta, and had by so doing lost caste
with his own family, and had lived ever since in seclusion on his
estancia, so that his existence was unknown to the younger branches of
the family of Don Gregorio Lopez, and Marcelino looked curiously at
Venceslao, wondering how he could in any way be a relation of his.
"I have seen you before," said Venceslao, as he returned his gaze.
"Have you? Where? I have not been so far as this since I was a boy,"
replied Marcelino.
"When the English----"
"How? Were you with us at Perdriel?"
"Yes. I saw you there every day."
"And after, what became of you?"
"I escaped by a miracle, and came straight back to my father's house."
"Were you with Don Juan Martin?"
"Yes. I followed him right up to the English, but they confounded us
with shot. Caramba! how the bullets went, phiz! phiz! I shall never
forget it. I missed a stroke at one of them with my lance, and before I
knew what had happened my horse reared and fell over with me, and caught
my leg so that I could not get away. Dios! what moments those were! it
appeared a century. Afterwards, when they were coming to finish me,
there was a tall man, one of the city, who spoke to them in their own
Castilian, so they let me go, and he gave me a horse, but I did not feel
safe till I got back here. Dios mio! for days I did not know whether I
was alive or dead. And you, where were you that day? You will excuse me
the question."
"I was in the quinta all the time."
"Jesus!" exclaimed the wife. "Venceslao said they killed all that were
there."
"They killed some of us," replied Marcelino, "when we tried to keep them
out, but when they got inside they let the rest of us go."
"Look you, what an escape you made! You have never seen them again I
feel sure," said Venceslao.
"I did though. I went off to Las Conchas, and had my revenge at the
Reconquest."
"Also you found yourself in that affair? Already you had not enough of
them?"
"A patriot never has enough while an enemy treads the soil of his native
country."
"A patriot! what is that?"
"A patriot is one who is ready to make every sacrifice for the good of
his country, as you did when you risked your life for our country at
Perdriel."
"You are mistaken. They talked to us in the encampment about that; but
excuse me, I am not a patriot, of that I understand nothing. I went to
the war because Julian Sanchez was going, and asked me to go with him.
You see he has done me many favours, he is my brother-in-law, and we
were always great friends, so that I could not do less than go when he
invited me."
"And how did it go with him?" asked Don Gregorio.
"Well. He did not find himself at the fight, he had gone the night
before to visit some friends at San José de Flores."
"And afterwards?"
"He presented himself to Don Juan Martin at Las Conchas, but when he
found I was not with them he came back to tell my family that I was
killed, and here he found me alive."
"The English are coming again," said Don Gregorio.
"You don't say so!"
"True. And there will come more of them this time."
"And all will be to do over again. Look you what heretics they are, that
they will not leave us in peace; for my part I abhor them; why did they
come here at first?"
"They are at war with the Spaniards," replied Marcelino. "Last year they
had a great fight with the Spanish ships on the sea, and the English
were the strongest; so now they go about in their ships where they like,
and wherever they find Spaniards on the land where they can get near in
their ships they come on shore and fight them."
"And that is what they call war?" said Venceslao. "Look you that they
are barbarians."
"The same would the Spaniards do to them if they could," said Marcelino.
"And what does that matter to us?" said Venceslao.
"Nothing, until they come to our country; but if they come here, then it
is our duty to help the Spaniards to turn them out."
"It may be, but I don't see why. If they only come to fight the
Spaniards, why should we meddle? Let them fight themselves alone."
"But if the English beat the Spaniards then they will take our country
for themselves."
"In every way that may not be. They would put laws after their fashion,
and we should have to talk their Castilian, I could never accustom
myself to that."
* * * * *
Beyond the Guardia Chascomus, which was at that time a frontier town
held by a small garrison of Spanish troops, there stretches a chain of
lakes, running in a southerly direction till they join the Rio Salado.
In some places the land around these lakes slopes gently down to the
water's edge, so that when they overflow during heavy rains, their
waters spread themselves for a considerable distance over the plain. At
other places the surrounding land rises abruptly, forming perpendicular
cliffs, which are called "barrancas"; probably the highest of these
barrancas is not more than forty feet above the general level of the
lake; but forty feet is a considerable elevation where the chief feature
of the country is one uniform flatness. About half-way between the
Guardia and the Rio Salado, the east side of this chain of lakes was for
nearly two leagues one continuous line of barrancas; all the land about
there, contiguous to the lakes and stretching far inland, was the
property of Don Gregorio Lopez the younger, who had inherited it from
his mother whom he had never seen. He had placed there an estancia
called "Las Barrancas," where he and his father had immense herds of
cattle and troops of mares, and a few flocks of long-legged sheep.
The estancia itself consisted of a group of ranchos, in front of which
two ombues shaded the palenque, where horses were tied. Behind them was
an enclosure of considerable size, part of which was planted with trees,
and the rest carefully cultivated by slaves. Some slaves were also
employed as herdsmen, but the majority of these mounted peons were
freemen, who worked hard for small wages, and who mostly lived in
ranchos of their own on different parts of the estate, at great
distances from each other. All these freemen provided their own horses,
and were skilled from their earliest youth in the use of the lasso and
bolas. They almost lived on horseback, and had the greatest dislike to
any labour which could only be performed on foot, deeming such work
below the dignity of a man, and only fit for slaves.
Many other estancias similarly organised lay scattered about the Pampa,
within a day's gallop of the Estancia de Las Barrancas. The limits of
these different estancias were ill defined, their title-deeds being
merely a grant of some certain number of leagues of land from the
Viceregal Government of Buenos Aires or of Peru. There was yet much land
not allotted at all, so that any of these freemen who worked on the
estancias, who could get together a few cows and horses, and wished to
settle down quietly, could easily find land on which to build himself a
rancho and to pasture his animals. These freemen were of a roving
nature, seldom working more than a few months at a time on one estancia;
but hundreds of them had thus made homes for themselves; to some of them
at times government gave grants of the land on which they had settled,
and they became proprietors. They were a hardy, simple race of yeomen,
who held the dwellers in cities in great contempt, and considered that
man's first necessity in life was a good horse. Their amusements
consisted of feats of horsemanship, in which horse-racing naturally held
a prominent place, in hunting deer and ostrich with their boleadores, or
in listening to the long monotonous songs of some "cantor" of their own
class, who generally invented his songs for himself, and not
unfrequently improvised a fresh one when some incident of the day
provided him with a subject. Government was to them a mysterious power,
which gave grants of land and imposed taxes. Religion to them consisted
in the baptism of children, and in the burial of the dead in consecrated
ground; yet they had an unwritten law among them which they observed
most strictly, and they had a sort of natural religion, which told them
that there was a God and a life beyond the grave.
Among these men, peons or small proprietors, Don Gregorio Lopez proposed
to raise a squadron of cavalry, and Marcelino Ponce de Leon proposed to
help him in his work by instilling into them the first principles of
patriotism.
Don Gregorio met with very fair success, his recruits being left at
liberty all the week and meeting every Sunday at the Estancia de Las
Barrancas for drill, which to them was a novel amusement. Their chief
did not purpose to embody them permanently until the near approach of
the English should render their services necessary, but contented
himself for the present with selecting his officers and instructing them
in their duties, in all which he showed considerable skill. But his
nephew instead of being any assistance to him was rather a hindrance.
The sturdy yeomen were accustomed to obey their superiors and to ask no
questions, the summons of Don Gregorio they looked upon as a command, to
serve under him if they were wanted they considered a duty from which
they might ask exemption as a favour, but to which they could not refuse
obedience. Marcelino spoke to them of patriotism, and tried to instill
into them enthusiasm for the defence of their native country against
foreign invasion. Patriotism was some new idea which they did not
understand; as for enthusiasm, it mattered nothing to them who had the
city so long as nobody took their cows from them. But when Marcelino
began to talk to them of the rights of free-born men, of liberty,
equality, and so forth, then their shrewd common sense prompted them to
argue the point with him.
"If all men are equal," said one of them, "why has the patron Don
Gregorio twelve leagues of camp, while I have only 200 cows and have to
feed them where I can?"
"And what is this liberty," asked another, "if I have to leave my cows
to go and fight these English, who never did me any harm that I know
of?"
"Will it be true what they say of these English, Patroncito?" said
another; "that they are not people but have tails like the monkeys?"
"Those are lies," answered Marcelino; "the English are men just like we
are."
"Then why should they not come here? there is plenty of camp for them
which has now no owner."
When Marcelino spoke to them in high-flown words they did not understand
him, when he tried simple arguments they posed him with questions such
as these. The only effect of his talk was to raise vague, communistic
ideas in their minds, and to teach them that they were in some unknown
way unjustly treated, which was not at all conducive to the strict
discipline which Don Gregorio sought to maintain among them.
Thus passed two weeks, when a peon brought Marcelino a letter from Don
Fausto Velasquez of the Estancia de Los Pajonales, telling him that his
grandfather had already been some days with him, and inviting him over
at once to join in their consultation concerning the arming of the
slaves.
Marcelino received the letter in the morning, and sunset found him the
guest of Don Fausto Velasquez. His uncle had laughed at him as he bade
him good-bye, telling him that he might be a very clever fellow in the
city, but that in the campaña he was worse than useless.
"You do not understand our people," he said; "it is necessary to order
them, and they obey, but you must not give reasons to them, for they
know nothing."
[4] A word of two syllables--American tea.