After breakfast I bade a reluctant good-bye to my kind entertainers,
took a last longing, lingering look at lovely Margarita, and mounted my
horse. Scarcely was I in the saddle before Marcos Marcó, who was
also about to resume his journey on the fresh horse he had borrowed,
remarked:
“You are travelling to Montevideo, good friend; I am also going in that
direction, and will take you the shortest way.”
“The road will show me the way,” I rejoined curtly.
“The road,” he said, “is like a lawsuit; round-about, full of puddles
and pitfalls, and long to travel. It is only meant to be used by old
half-blind men and drivers of bullock-carts.”
I hesitated about accepting the guidance of this strange fellow, who
appeared to have a ready wit under his heavy-slouching exterior. The
mixed contempt and humility in his speech every time he addressed me
gave me an uncomfortable sensation; then his poverty-stricken appearance
and his furtive glances filled me with suspicion. I looked at my host,
who was standing near, thinking to take my cue from the expression of
his face; but it was only a stolid Oriental face that revealed nothing.
An ancient rule in whist is to play trumps when in doubt; now my rule
of action is, when two courses are open to me and I am in doubt, to
take the bolder one. Acting on this principle, I determined to go with
Marcos, and accordingly we rode forth together.
My guide soon struck away across-country, leading me wide of the public
road, through such lonely places that I at length began to suspect him
of some sinister design against my person, since I had no property worth
taking. Presently he surprised me by saying: “You were right, my young
friend, in casting away idle fears when you accepted my company. Why do
you let them return to trouble your peace? Men of your blood have never
inflicted injuries on me that cry out for vengeance. Can I make myself
young again by shedding your life, or would there be any profit in
changing these rags I now wear for your garments, which are also dusty
and frayed? No, no, sir Englishman, this dress of patience and suffering
and exile, my covering by day and my bed by night, must soon be changed
for brighter garments than you are wearing.”
This speech relieved me sensibly, and I smiled at the poor devil's
ambitious dream of wearing a soldier's greasy red jacket; for I supposed
that that was what his words meant. Still, his “shortest way” to
Montevideo continued to puzzle me considerably. For two or three hours
we had been riding nearly parallel to a range of hills, or _cuchilla,_
extending away on our left hand towards the south-east. But we were
gradually drawing nearer to it, and apparently going purposely out of
our way only to traverse a most lonely and difficult country. The few
_estancia_ houses we passed, perched on the highest points of the great
sweep of moor-like country on our right, appeared to be very far away.
Where we rode there were no habitations, not even a shepherd's
hovel; the dry, stony soil was thinly covered with a forest of dwarf
thorn-trees, and a scanty pasturage burnt to a rust-brown colour by the
summer heats; and out of this arid region rose the hills, their brown,
woodless sides looking strangely gaunt and desolate in the fierce
noonday sun.
Pointing to the open country on our right, where the blue gleam of a
river was visible, I said: “My friend, I assure you, I fear nothing, but
I cannot understand why you keep near these hills when the valley over
there would have been pleasanter for ourselves, and easier for our
horses.”
“I do nothing without a reason,” he said, with a strange smile. “The
water you see over there is the Rio de las Canas [River of Grey Hairs],
and those who go down into its valley grow old before their time.”
Occasionally talking, but oftener silent, we jogged on till about three
o'clock in the afternoon, when suddenly, as we were skirting a patch
of scraggy woodland, a troop of six armed men emerged from it, and,
wheeling about, came directly towards us. A glance was enough to tell
us that they were soldiers or mounted policemen, scouring the country
in search of recruits, or, in other words, of deserters, skulking
criminals, and vagabonds of all descriptions. I had nothing to fear
from them, but an exclamation of rage escaped my companion's lips, and,
turning to him, I perceived that his face was of the whiteness of ashes.
I laughed, for revenge is sweet, and I still smarted a little at his
contemptuous treatment of me earlier in the day.
“Is your fear so great?” I said.
“You do not know what you say, boy!” he returned fiercely. “When you
have passed through as much hell-fire as I have and have rested
as sweetly with a corpse for a pillow, you will learn to curb your
impertinent tongue when you address a man.”
An angry retort was on my lips, but a glance at his face prevented me
from uttering it--it was, in its expression, the face of a wild animal
worried by dogs.
In another moment the men had cantered up to us, and one, their
commander, addressing me, asked to see my passport.
“I carry no passport,” I replied. “My nationality is a sufficient
protection, for I am an Englishman as you can see.”
“We have only your word for that,” said the man. “There is an English
consul in the capital, who provides English subjects with passports
for their protection, in this country. If you have not got one you must
suffer for it, and no one but yourself is to blame. I see in you only
a young man complete in all his members, and of such the republic is in
need. Your speech is also like that of one who came into the world under
this sky. You must go with us.”
“I shall do nothing of the sort,” I returned.
“Do not say such a thing, master,” said Marcos, astonishing me very much
with the change in his tone and manner. “You know I warned you a month
ago that it was imprudent to leave Montevideo without our passports.
This officer is only obeying the orders he has received; still, he might
see that we are only what we represent ourselves to be.”
“Oh!” exclaimed the officer, turning to Marcos, “you are also an
Englishman unprovided with a passport, I suppose? You might at least
have supplied yourself with a couple of blue crockery eyes and a yellow
beard for your greater safety.”
“I am only a poor son of the soil,” said Marcos meekly. “This young
Englishman is looking for an _estancia_ to buy, and I came as his
attendant from the capital. We were very careless not to get our
passports before starting.”
“Then, of course, this young man has plenty of money in his pocket?”
said the officer.
I did not relish the lies Marcos had taken upon himself to tell about
me, but did not quite know what the consequences of contradicting them
might be. I therefore replied that I was not so foolish as to travel in
a country like the Banda Orientál with money on my person. “To pay
for bread and cheese till I reach my destination is about as much as I
have,” I added.
“The government of this country is a generous one,” said the officer
sarcastically, “and will pay for all the bread and cheese you will
require. It will also provide you with beef. You must now come with me
to the Juzgado de las Cuevas, both of you.”
Seeing no help for it, we accompanied our captors at a swinging gallop
over a rough, undulating country, and in about an hour and a half
reached Las Cuevas, a dirty, miserable-looking village, composed of a
few _ranchos_ built round a large plaza overgrown with weeds. On one
side stood the church, on the other a square stone building with a
flagstaff before it. This was the official building of the Juez de Paz,
or rural magistrate; just now, however, it was closed, and with no
sign of life about it except an old dead-and-alive-looking man sitting
against the closed door, with his bare, mahogany-coloured legs stretched
out in the hot sunshine.
“This is a very fine thing!” exclaimed the officer, with a curse. “I
feel very much inclined to let the men go.”
“You will lose nothing by doing so, except, perhaps, a headache,” said
Marcos.
“Hold your tongue till your advice is asked!” retorted the officer,
thoroughly out of temper.
“Lock them up in the _calaboso_ till the Juez comes to-morrow,
Lieutenant,” suggested the old man by the door, speaking through a bushy
white beard and a cloud of tobacco-smoke.
“Do you not know that the door is broken, old fool?” said the officer.
“Lock them up! Here I am neglecting my own affairs to serve the State,
and this is how I am treated. We must now take them to the Juez at his
own house and let him look after them. Come on, boys.”
We were then conducted out of Las Cuevas to a distance of about two
miles, where the Señor Juez resided in the bosom of his family. His
private residence was a very dirty, neglected-looking _estancia_ house,
with a great many dogs, fowls, and children about. We dismounted, and
were immediately taken into a large room, where the magistrate sat at
a table on which lay a great number of papers--goodness knows what they
were about. The Juez was a little hatchet-faced man, with bristly grey
whiskers, standing out like a cat's moustache, and angry eyes--or,
rather with one angry eye, for over the other a cotton handkerchief
was tied. No sooner had we all entered than a hen, leading a brood of a
dozen half-grown chickens, rushed into the room after us, the chickens
instantly distributing themselves about the floor in quest of crumbs,
while the mother, more ambitious, flew on the table, scattering the
papers right and left with the wind she created.
“A thousand demons take the fowls!” cried the Juez, starting up in a
fury. “Man, go and bring your mistress here this instant. I command her
to come.”
This order was obeyed by the person who had ushered us in, a
greasy-looking, swarthy-faced individual, in threadbare military
clothes; and in two or three minutes he returned, followed by a
very fat, slatternly woman, looking very good-tempered, however, who
immediately subsided, quite exhausted, into a chair.
“What is it, Fernando?” she panted.
“What is it? How can you have the courage to ask such a question,
Toribia? Look at the confusion your pestilent fowls are creating amongst
my papers--papers that concern the safety of the republic! Woman, what
measures are you going to take to stop this before I have your fowls all
killed on the spot?”
“What can I do, Fernando?--they are hungry, I suppose. I thought you
wanted to ask my advice about these prisoners--poor fellows! and here
you are with your hens.”
Her placid manner acted like oil on the fire of his wrath. He
stormed about the room, kicking over chairs, and hurling rulers and
paper-weights at the birds, apparently with the most deadly intentions,
but with shockingly bad aim--shouting, shaking his fist at his wife, and
even threatening to commit her for contempt of court when she laughed.
At last, after a great deal of trouble, the fowls were all got out, and
the servant placed to guard the door, with strict orders to decapitate
the first chicken that should attempt to enter and disturb the
proceedings.
Order being restored, the Juez lit a cigarette and began to smooth his
ruffled feathers. “Proceed,” he said to the officer, from his seat at
the table.
“Sir,” said the officer, “in pursuance of my duty I have taken in charge
these two strangers, who are unprovided with passports or documents
of any description to corroborate their statements. According to their
story, the young man is an English millionaire going about the country
buying up estates, while the other man is his servant. There are
twenty-five reasons for disbelieving their story, but I have not
sufficient time to impart them to you now. Having found the doors of the
Juzgado closed, I have brought these men here with great inconvenience
to myself; and I am now only waiting to have this business despatched
without further delay, so that I may have a little time left to devote
to my private affairs.”
“Address not me in this imperative manner, sir officer!” exclaimed the
Juez, his anger blazing out afresh. “Do you imagine, sir, that I have
no private interests; that the State feeds and clothes my wife and
children? No, sir, I am the servant of the republic, not the slave; and
I beg to remind you that official business must be transacted during the
proper hours and at the proper place.”
“Sir Juez,” said the officer, “it is my opinion that a civil magistrate
ought never to have any part in matters which more properly come under
the military authorities. However, since these things are differently
arranged, and I am compelled to come with my reports to you in the first
place, I am only here to know, without entering into any discussion
concerning your position in the republic, what is to be done with these
two prisoners I have brought before you.”
“Done with them! Send them to the devil! cut their throats; let them
go; do what you like, since you are responsible, not I. And be sure, sir
officer, I shall not fail to report your insubordinate language to your
superiors.”
“Your threats do not alarm me,” said the officer; “for one cannot be
guilty of insubordination towards a person one is not bound to obey.
And now, sirs,” he added, turning to us, “I have been advised to release
you; you are free to continue your journey.”
Marcos rose with alacrity.
“Man, sit down!” yelled the irate magistrate, and poor Marcos,
thoroughly crestfallen, sat down again. “Sir Lieutenant,” continued the
fierce old man, “you are dismissed from further attendance here. The
republic you profess to serve would perhaps be just as well off without
your valuable aid. Go, sir, to attend to your private affairs, and leave
your men here to execute my commands.”
The officer rose, and, having made a profound and sarcastic bow, turned
on his heel and left the room.
“Take these two prisoners to the stocks,” continued the little despot.
“I will examine them to-morrow.”
Marcos was first marched out of the room by two of the soldiers; for
it happened that an outhouse on the place was provided with the usual
wooden arrangement to make captives secure for the night. But when the
other men took me by the arms, I recovered from the astonishment the
magistrate's order had produced in me, and shook them roughly aside.
“Señor Juez,” I said, addressing him, “let me beg you to consider what
you are doing. Surely my accent is enough to satisfy any reasonable
person that I am not a native of this country. I am willing to remain in
your custody, or to go wherever you like to send me; but your men shall
tear me to pieces before making me suffer the indignity of the stocks.
If you maltreat me in any way, I warn you that the government you serve
will only censure, and perhaps ruin you, for your imprudent zeal.”
Before he could reply, his fat spouse, who had apparently taken a great
fancy to me, interposed on my behalf, and persuaded the little savage to
spare me.
“Very well,” he said, “consider yourself a guest in my house for the
present; if you are telling the truth about yourself, a day's detention
cannot hurt you.”
I was then conducted by my kind intercessor into the kitchen, where we
all sat down to partake of _maté_ and talk ourselves into good humour.
I began to feel rather sorry for poor Marcos, for even a worthless
vagabond, such as he appeared to be, becomes an object of compassion
when misfortune overtakes him, and I asked permission to see him. This
was readily granted. I found him confined in a large empty room built
apart from the house; he had been provided with a _maté_-cup and a
kettle of hot water, and was sipping his bitter beverage with an air
of stoical indifference. His legs, confined in the stocks, were
thrust straight out before him; but I suppose he was accustomed to
uncomfortable positions, for he did not seem to mind it much. After
sympathising with him in a general way, I asked him whether he could
really sleep in that position.
“No,” he replied, with indifference. “But, do you know, I do not mind
about being taken. They will send me to the _comandancia_, I suppose,
and after a few days liberate me. I am a good workman on horseback, and
there will not be wanting some _estanciero_ in need of hands to get me
out. Will you do me one small service, friend, before you go to your
bed?”
“Yes, certainly, if I can,” I answered.
He laughed slightly and looked at me with a strange, keen glitter in
his eyes; then, taking my hand, he gave it a powerful grip. “No, no, my
friend, I am not going to trouble you to do anything for me,” he said.
“I have the devil's temper, and to-day, in a moment of rage, I insulted
you. It therefore surprised me when you came here and spoke kindly to
me. I desired to know whether that feeling was only on the surface;
since the men one meets with are often like horned cattle. When one
falls, his companions of the pasture-ground remember only his past
offences, and make haste to gore him.”
His manner surprised me; he did not now seem like the Marcos Marcó I
had travelled with that day. Touched with his words, I sat down on the
stocks facing him, and begged him to tell me what I could do for him.
“Well, friend,” said he, “you see the stocks are fastened with a
padlock. If you will get the key, and take me out, I will sleep well;
then in the morning, before the old one-eyed lunatic is up, you can come
and turn the key in the lock again. Nobody will be the wiser.”
“And you are not thinking of escaping?” I said.
“I have not even the faintest wish to escape,” he replied.
“You could not escape if you did,” I said, “for the room would be
locked, of course. But if I were disposed to do what you ask, how could
I get the key?”
“That is an easy matter,” said Marcos. “Ask the good señora to let you
have it. Did I not notice her eyes dwelling lovingly on your face--for,
doubtless, you reminded her of some absent relative, a favourite nephew,
perhaps. She would not deny you anything in reason; and a kindness,
friend, even to the poorest man, is never thrown away.”
“I will think about it,” I said, and shortly after that I left him.
It was a sultry evening, and, the close, smoky atmosphere of the kitchen
becoming unendurable, I went out and sat down on a log of wood out of
doors. Here the old Juez, in his character of amiable host, came and
discoursed for half an hour on lofty matters relating to the republic.
Presently his wife came out, and, declaring that the evening air would
have an injurious effect on his inflamed eye, persuaded him to go
indoors. Then she subsided into a place at my side, and began to talk
about Fernando's dreadful temper and the many cares of her life.
“What a very serious young man you are!” she remarked, changing her tone
somewhat abruptly. “Do you keep all your gay and pleasant speeches for
the young and pretty señoritas?”
“Ah, señora, you are yourself young and beautiful in my eyes,” I
replied; “but I have no heart to be gay when my poor fellow-traveller
is fastened in the stocks, where your cruel husband would also have
confined me but for your timely intervention. You are so kind-hearted,
cannot you have his poor tired legs taken out in order that he may also
rest properly to-night?”
“Ah, little friend,” she returned. “I could not attempt such a thing.
Fernando is a monster of cruelty, and would immediately put out my eyes
without remorse. Poor me, what I have to endure!”--and here she placed
her fat hand on mine.
I drew my hand away somewhat coldly; a born diplomatist could not have
managed the thing better.
“Madam,” I said, “you are amusing yourself at my expense. When you have
done me a great favour, will you now deny me this small thing? If your
husband is so terrible a despot, surely you can do this without letting
him know! Let me get my poor Marcos out of the stocks and I give you
my word of honour that the Juez will never hear of it, for I will be up
early to turn the key in the lock before he is out of his bed.”
“And what will my reward be?” she asked, again putting her hand on mine.
“The deep gratitude and devotion of my heart,” I returned, this time
without withdrawing my hand.
“Can I refuse anything to my sweet boy?” said she. “After supper I shall
slip the key into your hand; I am going now to get it from his room.
Before Fernando retires, ask to see your Marcos, to take him a rug, or
some tobacco or something; and do not let the servant see what you do,
for he will be at the door waiting to lock it when you come out.”
After supper the promised key was secretly conveyed to me, and I had not
the least difficulty in liberating my friend in misfortune. Luckily the
man who took me to Marcos left us alone for some time, and I related my
conversation with the fat woman.
He jumped up, and, seizing my hand, wrung it till I almost screamed with
pain.
“My good friend,” he said, “you have a noble, generous soul, have done
me the greatest service it is possible for one man to render to another.
You have, in fact, now placed me in a position to--enjoy my night's
rest. Good night, and may Heaven's angels put it in my power to reward
you at some future time!”
The fellow was overdoing it a little, I thought; then, when I had seen
him safely locked up for the night, I walked back to the kitchen slowly
and very thoughtfully.