WILD ADVENTURES ON PRAIRIE AND PAMPAS.
If I were to describe even one half of the strange creatures we saw in the
hermit's glen, the reader would be tired before I had finished, and even
then I should not have succeeded in conveying anything like a correct
impression of this floral wilderness and natural menagerie.
It puzzled me to know, and it puzzles me still, how so many wild creatures
could have been got together in one place.
'I brought many of them here,' the hermit told us, 'but the others came,
lured, no doubt, by the water, the trees, and the flowers.'
'But was the water here when you arrived?'
'Oh yes, else I would not have settled down here. The glen was a sort of
oasis even then, and there were more bushes and trees than ever I had seen
before in one place. The ducks and geese and swans, in fact, all the
web-footed fraternity, had been here before me, and many birds and beasts
besides--the biscachas, the armadilloes, the beetle-eating pichithiego,
for instance--the great ant-eater, and the skunk--I have banished that,
however--wolves, foxes, kites, owls, and condors. I also found peccaries,
and some deer. These latter, and the guanaco, give me a wide berth now.
They do not care for dogs, pumas, and jaguars. Insects are rather too
numerous, and I have several species of snakes.'
Archie's--_our_ Archie's--face fell.
'Are they?' he began, 'are they very--'
'Very beautiful? Yes; indeed, some are charming in colour. One, for
example, is of the brightest crimson streaked with black.'
'I was not referring to their beauty; I meant were they dangerous?'
'Well, I never give them a chance to bite me, and I do not think they want
to; but all snakes are to be avoided and left severely alone.'
'Or killed, sir?'
'Yes, perhaps, if killed outright; for the pampan Indians have an idea
that if a rattlesnake be only wounded, he will come back for revenge. But
let us change the subject. You see those splendid butterflies? Well, by
and by the moths will be out; they are equally lovely, but when I first
came here there were very few of either. They followed the flowers, and
the humming-birds came next, and many other lovely gay-coloured little
songsters. I introduced most of the parrots and toucans. There are two up
there even now. They would come down if you were not here.'
'They are very funny-looking, but very pretty,' said Dugald. 'I could stop
and look at them for hours.'
'But we must proceed. Here are the trees where the parrots mostly live.
Early as it is, you see they are retiring.'
What a sight! What resplendency of colour and beauty! Such bright metallic
green, lustrous orange, crimson and bronze!
'Why do they frequent this particular part of the wood?' said Dugald.
'Ah, boy,' replied the hermit, 'I see you want to know everything. Don't
be ashamed of that; you are a true naturalist at heart. Well, the parrots
like to be by themselves, and few of my birds care to live among them.
You will notice, too, that yonder are some eucalyptus trees, and farther
up some wide-spreading, open-branched trees, with flowers creeping and
clinging around the stems. Parrots love those trees, because while there
they have sunshine, and because birds of prey cannot easily tell which is
parrot and which is flower or flame-coloured lichen.'
'That is an advantage.'
'Well, yes; but it is an advantage that also has a disadvantage, for our
serpents are so lovely that even they are not easily seen by the parrots
when they wriggle up among the orchids.'
'Can the parrots defend themselves against snakes?'
'Yes, they can, and sometimes even kill them. I have noticed this, but as
a rule they prefer to scare them off by screaming. And they can scream,
too. "As deaf as an adder," is a proverb; well, I believe it was the
parrot that first deafened the adder, if deaf it be.'
'Have you many birds of prey?'
'Yes, too many. But, see here.'
'I see nothing.'
'No, but you soon shall. Here in the sunniest bank, and in this sunniest
part of the wood, dwell a family of that remarkable creature the blind
armadillo, or pichithiego. I wonder if any one is at home.'
As he spoke, the hermit knelt down and buried his hands in the sand, soon
bringing to the surface a very curious little animal indeed, one of the
tenderest of all armadilloes.
It shivered as it cuddled into the hermit's arms.
Dugald laughed aloud.
'Why,' he cried, 'it seems to end suddenly half-way down; and that droll
tail looks stuck on for fun.'
'Yes, it is altogether a freak of Nature, and the wonder to me is how,
being so tender, it lives here at all. You see how small and delicate a
thing it is. They say it is blind, but you observe it is not; although
the creatures live mostly underground. They also say that the
_chlamyphorus truncatus_--which is the grand name for my wee
friend,--carries its young under this pink or rosy shell jacket, but this
I very much doubt. Now go to bed, little one.
'I have prettier pets than even these, two species of agoutis, for
instance, very handsome little fellows indeed, and like rats in many of
their ways and in many of their droll antics. They are not fond of
strangers, but often come out to meet me in my walks about the woods. They
live in burrows, but run about plentifully enough in the open air,
although their enemies are very numerous. Even the Indians capture and eat
them, as often raw as not.
'You have heard of the peccary. Well, I have never encouraged these wild
wee pigs, and for some years after I came, there were none in the woods.
One morning I found them, however, all over the place in herds. I never
knew where they came from, nor how they found us out. But I do know that
for more than two years I had to wage constant war with them.'
'They were good to eat?'
'They were tolerably good, especially the young, but I did not want for
food; and, besides, they annoyed my wee burrowing pets, and, in fact, they
deranged everything, and got themselves thoroughly hated wherever they
went.'
'And how did you get rid of them?'
'They disappeared entirely one night as if by magic, and I have never seen
nor heard one since. But here we are at my stable.'
'I see no stable,' I said.
'Well, it is an enclosure of half an acre, and my mules and goats are
corralled here at night.'
'Do not the pumas or jaguars attempt to molest the mules or goats?'
'Strange to say, they do not, incredible as it may seem. But come in, and
you will see a happy family.'
'What are these?' cried Dugald. 'Dogs?'
'No, boy, one is a wolf, the other two are foxes. All three were suckled
by one of my dogs, and here they are. You see, they play with the goats,
and are exceedingly fond of the mules. They positively prefer the company
of the mules to mine, although when I come here with their foster-dam, the
deerhound, they all condescend to leave this compound and to follow me
through the woods.
'Here come my mules. Are they not beauties?'
We readily admitted they were, never having seen anything in size and
shape to equal them.
'Now, you asked me about the jaguars. Mine are but few; they are also very
civil; but I do believe that one of these mules would be a match even for
a jaguar. If the jaguar had one kick he would never need another. The
goats--here they come--herd close to the mules, and the foxes and wolf are
sentinels, and give an alarm if even a strange monkey comes near the
compound. Ah, here come my pet toucans!'
These strange-beaked birds came floating down from a tree to the number of
nearly a dozen, nor did they look at all ungainly, albeit their beaks are
so wondrously large.
'What do they eat?'
'Everything; but fruit is the favourite dish with them. But look up. Do
you see that speck against the cloud yonder, no bigger in appearance than
the lark that sings above the cornfields in England? See how it circles
and sweeps round and round. Do you know that bird is a mile above us?'
'That is wonderful!'
'And what think you it is doing? Why, it is eyeing you and me. It is my
pet condor. The only bird I do not feed; but the creature loves me well
for all that. He is suspicious of your presence. Now watch, and I will
bring him down like an arrow.'
The hermit waved a handkerchief in a strange way, and with one fell
downward swoop, in a few seconds the monster eagle had alighted near us.
Well may the condor be called 'king of the air,' I thought, for never
before had I seen so majestic a bird. He was near us now, and scrutinizing
us with that bold fierce eye of his, as some chieftain in the brave days
of old might have gazed upon spies that he was about to order away to
execution. I believed then--and I am still of the same opinion--that there
was something akin to pity and scorn in his steadfast looks, as if we had
been brought here for his especial delectation and study.
'Poor wretched bipeds!' he seemed to say; 'not even possessed of feathers,
no clothes of their own, obliged to wrap themselves in the hair and skins
of dead quadrupeds. No beaks, no talons; not even the wings of a miserable
bat. Never knew what it was to mount and soar into the blue sky to meet
the morning sun; never floated free as the winds far away in the realms of
space; never saw the world spread out beneath them like a living panorama,
its woods and forests mere patches of green or purple, its lakes like
sheets of shimmering ice, its streams like threads of spiders' webs before
the day has drunk the dew, its very deserts dwarfed by distance till the
guanacos and the ostriches[15] look like mites, and herds of wild horses
appear but crawling ants. Never knew what it was to circle round the
loftiest summits of the snow-clad voiceless Andes, while down in the
valleys beneath dark clouds rolled fiercely on, and lightnings played
across the darkness; nor to perch cool and safe on peak or pinnacle, while
below on earth's dull level the hurricane Pampero was levelling house and
hut and tree; or the burning breath of the Zonda was sweeping over the
land, scorching every flower and leaf, drinking every drop of dew,
draining even the blood of moving beings till eyes ache and brains reel,
till man himself looks haggard, wild, and worn, and the beasts of the
forest, hidden in darkling caves, go mad and rend their young.'
The hermit returned with us to our camping-ground just as great bats began
to circle and wheel around, as butterflies were folding their wings and
going to sleep beneath the leaves, and the whole woodland glen began to
awake to the screaming of night-birds, to the mournful howling of strange
monkeys, and hoarse growl of beasts of prey.
We sat together till far into the night listening to story after story of
the wild adventures of our new but nameless hero, and till the moon--so
high above us now that the pine-trees no longer cast their shadows across
the glade--warned us it was time to retire.
'Good night, boys all,' said the hermit; 'I will come again to-morrow.'
He turned and walked away, his _potro_ boots making no sound on the sward.
We watched him till the gloom of the forest seemed to swallow him up.
'What a strange being!' said Archie, with a sigh.
'And what a lonely life to lead!' said Donald.
'Ah!' said Dugald, 'you may sigh as you like, Archie, and say what you
please, I think there is no life so jolly, and I've half a mind to turn
hermit myself.'
We lived in the glen for many weeks. No better or more idyllic
headquarters could possibly have been found or even imagined, while all
around us was a hunter's paradise. We came at last to look upon the
hermit's dell as our home, but we did not bivouac there every night. There
were times when we wandered too far away in pursuit of the guanaco, the
puma, jaguar, or even the ostrich, which we found feeding on plains at no
great distance from our camp.
It was a glorious treat for all of us to find ourselves on these miniature
pampas, across which we could gallop unfettered and free.
Under the tuition of Yambo, our _capataz_, and the other Gauchos, we
became adepts in the use of both bolas and lasso. Away up among the
beetling crags and in the deep, gloomy caverns we had to stalk the
guanacos as the Swiss mountaineer stalks the chamois. Oh, our adventures
among the rocks were sometimes thrilling enough! But here on the plains
another kind of tactics was pursued. I doubt if we could have ridden near
enough to the ostriches to bola them, so our plan was to make _detours_ on
the pampas until we had outflanked, encircled, and altogether puzzled our
quarry. Then riding in a zigzag fashion, gradually we narrowed the ring
till near enough to fire. When nearer still the battue and stampede
commenced, and the scene was then wild and confusing in the extreme. The
frightened whinny or neigh of the guanacos, the hoarse whirr of the flying
ostriches, the shouts of the Gauchos, the bark and yell of dogs, the
whistling noise of lasso or bolas, the sharp ringing of rifle and
revolver--all combined to form a medley, a huntsman's chorus which no one
who has once heard it and taken part in it is likely to forget.
When too far from the camp, then we hobbled our horses at the nearest spot
where grass and water could be found, and after supping on broiled guanaco
steak and ostrich's gizzard--in reality right dainty morsels--we would
roll ourselves in our guanaco robes, and with saddles for pillows go
quietly to sleep. Ah, I never sleep so soundly now as I used to then
beneath the stars, fanned by the night breeze; and although the dews lay
heavy on our robes in the morning, we awoke as fresh as the daisies and as
happy as puma cubs that only wake to play.
We began to get wealthy ere long with a weight of skins of birds and
beasts. Some of the most valuable of these were procured from a species of
otter that lived in the blackest, deepest pools of a stream we had fallen
in with in our wanderings. The Gauchos had a kind of superstitious dread
of the huge beast, whom they not inappropriately termed the river tiger.
We had found our dogs of the greatest use in the hills, especially our
monster bloodhound-mastiffs. These animals possessed nearly all the
tracking qualities of the bloodhound, with more fierceness and speed than
the mastiff, and nearly the same amount of strength. Their courage, too,
and general hardiness were very great.
Among our spoils we could count the skins of no less than fifteen splendid
pumas. Several of these had shown fight. Once, I remember, Archie had
leapt from his horse and was making his way through a patch of bush on the
plains, in pursuit of a young guanaco which he had wounded. He was all
alone: not even a dog with him; but Yambo's quick ear had detected the
growl of a lion in that bit of scrub, and he at once started off three of
his best dogs to the scene of Archie's adventure. Not two hundred yards
away myself, but on high ground, I could see everything, though powerless
to aid. I could see Archie hurrying back through the bush. I could see the
puma spring, and my poor cousin fall beneath the blow--then the death
struggle began. It was fearful while it lasted, which was only the
briefest possible time, for, even as I looked, the dogs were on the puma.
The worrying, yelling, and gurgling sounds were terrible. I saw the puma
on its hind legs, I saw one dog thrown high in the air, two others on the
wild beast's neck, and next moment Yambo himself was there, with every
other horseman save myself tearing along full tilt for the battle-field.
Yambo's long spear had done the work, and all the noise soon ceased.
Though stunned and frightened, Archie was but little the worse. One dog
was killed. It seemed to have been Yambo's favourite. I could not help
expressing my astonishment at the exhibition of Yambo's grief. Here was a
man, once one of the cruellest and most remorseless of desert wanderers,
whose spear and knife had many a time and oft drunk human blood, shedding
tears over the body of his poor dog! Nor would he leave the place until he
had dug a grave, and, placing the bleeding remains therein, sadly and
slowly covered them up.
But Yambo would meet his faithful hound again in the happy hunting-grounds
somewhere beyond the sky. That, at least, was Yambo's creed, and who
should dare deny him the comfort and joy the thought brings him!
* * * * *
It was now the sweetest season of all the year in the hills--the Indian
summer. The fierce heat had fled to the north, fled beyond the salt plains
of San Juan, beyond the wild desert lands of Rioja and arid sands of
Catamarca, lingering still, perhaps, among the dreamland gardens of
Tucuman, and reaching its eternal home among the sun-kissed forests of
leafy Brazil and Bolivia. The autumn days were getting shorter, the sky
was now more soft, the air more cool and balmy, while evening after
evening the sun went down amidst a fiery magnificence of colouring that
held us spellbound and silent to behold.
A month and more in the hermit's glen! We could hardly believe it. How
quickly the time had flown! How quickly time always does fly when one is
happy!
And now our tents are struck, our mules are laden. We have but to say
good-bye to the solitary being who has made the garden in the wilderness
his home, and go on our way.
'Good-bye!'
'Good-bye!'
Little words, but sometimes _so_ hard to say.
We had actually begun to like--ay, even to love the hermit, and we had not
found it out till now. But I noticed tears in Dugald's eye, and I am not
quite sure my own were not moist as we said farewell.
We glanced back as we rode away to wave our hands once more. The hermit
was leaning against a tree. Just then the sun came struggling out from
under a cloud, the shadow beneath the tree darkened and darkened, till it
swallowed him up.
And we never saw the hermit more.
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[15] The _Rhea Americana_.