THE GAUCHO.
The Indians stopped within gunshot of the spot where the gaucho and
I were concealed; they appeared to be consulting amongst themselves
before commencing the attack.
These Indians, thus grouped, formed in the midst of the arid desert,
of which they were the veritable kings, a most singular and at the
same time a most picturesque tableau, with their noble and animated
gestures, their tall and elegant figures, their well-proportioned
limbs, and their ferocious appearance.
Half-clothed with ponchos in rags, and with pieces of frazada, fastened
by leathern strings round their bodies, they brandished their long
lances, garnished with iron blades, and ornamented near the points with
tufts of ostrich feathers.
Their chief, still young, had great black eyes veiled by long black
eyelashes; his high cheekbones, surrounded by a mass of sleek and
flowing hair, fastened on the forehead by a narrow band of red wool;
his mouth, large and furnished with brilliant white teeth, which
contrasted with the red hue of his skin, impressed on his physiognomy
the stamp of remarkable vigour and intelligence. Although he knew that
he was but a little distance from the spot where the gaucho was in
ambuscade, and that consequently he was exposed to the danger of being
struck by a ball, nevertheless, openly exposing himself to the attack
of his enemy, he affected a carelessness and a contempt for the peril
by which he was threatened, which was not wanting in grandeur.
After a tolerably long discussion, the chief urged his horse forward,
and advanced without hesitation towards the rock.
Arrived at about ten paces from it, he stopped, and supporting himself
carelessly on the long lance which he held in his hand:
"Why does the white huntsman earth himself like a timid viscacha?" said
he, elevating his voice and addressing the gaucho; "The Aucas warriors
are before him: let him come out from his ambuscade, and let him show
that he is not a frightened and babbling old woman, but a brave man."
The chief waited an instant; then he resumed in a mocking voice:
"Come, my warriors are deceived, they thought to have unearthed a bold
jaguar, and it is but a dog returning from the pampa that they are
about to attack."
The eye of the gaucho flashed at the insult; he applied his finger to
the trigger, and the charge flew.
But, sudden and unexpected as had been his movement, the wily Indian
had foreseen it, or rather had guessed it; he threw himself rapidly on
one side, there bounding in advance with the elasticity and certainty
of a wild beast, he alighted in front of the gaucho, with whom he
closed.
The two men rolled on the ground, grappling each other with fury.
Meanwhile, at the sound of the shot, the Indians had uttered their war
cry, and had darted forward with the design of supporting their chief.
The gaucho seemed, therefore, doomed. If even he could have succeeded
in overcoming the chief against whom he was fighting, he would
evidently have had to succumb to the attack of ten Indians.
At that moment I do not know what revulsion of feeling seized me. I
forgot the danger to which I exposed myself in discovering my retreat,
and instinctively putting the gun to my shoulder I fired my two shots,
followed immediately by the explosion of two pistols and darting from
my retreat, my two other pistols in hand, I discharged them close to
the breasts of the horsemen, who came down upon me like a thunderbolt.
The Indians, surprised and frightened by this fusillade, which they
could not foresee, since they believed they had but a single adversary
to fight, turned about and escaped in every direction, uttering cries
of fright, abandoning not only their chief, who was occupied with
defending himself against the gaucho, but also the corpses of four of
their companions, struck by my balls. While I was loading my gun, I saw
two other Indians fall from their horses.
Certain of not having anything more to fear in that direction, I ran
towards the gaucho in order to render him assistance, if it were
necessary, but at the moment I reached him the blade of his knife
entirely disappeared in the throat of the Indian chief.
The latter expired, his eye fixed on his enemy, without trying even to
ward off the blow.
The gaucho withdrew his knife from the wound, plunged its blade several
times in the earth, to cleanse it from the blood with which it was
soiled, then quietly replacing his knife in his chirapa, he rose and
turned towards me.
His countenance had not changed; he still preserved that expression of
cold impassability and of implacable courage that I had at first seen
in him; only his face was more pale, and some drops of perspiration
stood like pearls on his temples.
"Thank you, caballero," said he to me, holding out his hand; "to the
revenging charge! ¡Vive Dios! It was time that you came. Without your
brave assistance I avow I should have been a dead man."
These words had been uttered in Spanish, but with an accent which
denoted a foreign origin.
"I had arrived before you," I answered, "or rather had passed the night
at a few paces only from the spot where chance so fortunately led me."
"Chance," he replied, gently shaking his head, "chance is a word
invented by the strong minds of towns. We of the desert ignore it. It
is God only, who desiring to save me, led me to you."
I bowed affirmatively. This man appeared to me still greater at that
moment, with his simple faith and genuine humility, than when he was
preparing to fight singly against ten men.
"Besides," added he, speaking to himself, "I knew that God would
not allow me to fall today. Every man in this world has a task to
accomplish. I have not yet fulfilled mine. But pardon," said he to me,
changing his tone, and trying to smile, "I am saying to you now words
which must appear, without doubt, very strange, especially at this
moment, when we have to think of things more important than to commence
a philosophic discussion. Let us see what has become of our enemies?
Although we may be two resolute men now, if the desire of returning
seizes them we should be hard put to it to rid ourselves of them."
And without waiting for any answer, he left the wood, taking at the
same time the precaution to reload his gun as he walked.
I followed him in silence, not knowing what to think of the strange
companion whom I had so singularly found, and asking myself who this
man could be who, by his manner, his language, and the turn of his
mind, appeared so much above the position which the clothes he wore,
and the place where he was, appeared to assign to him.
The gaucho, after assuring himself that the Indians remaining on the
battlefield were dead, ascended a tolerably elevated hill, scanned the
horizon on all sides for a considerable time, and then returned towards
me, holding a cigarette between his fingers.
"We have nothing to fear at present," said he to me. "However, I think
we shall act prudently in not remaining here any longer. Which way are
you going?"
"Upon my word," I answered him frankly, "I avow that I do not know."
Notwithstanding his apparent coolness, he allowed a gesture of surprise
to escape him.
"What!" said he, "You do not know?"
"No! Strange as it may appear to you, it is so. I know not where I am,
nor where I am going."
"Come, come; that's a joke, is it not? For some motive or other you do
not wish--which shows your prudence--to acquaint me with the object of
your travel; but it is impossible that you do not really know in what
spot you are, and the place to which you are going."
"I repeat to you, caballero, that what I tell you is true. I have no
motive for concealing the object of my travel; I am merely wandering on
account of the unfaithfulness of a guide whom I had engaged, and who
abandoned me some days ago."
He reflected an instant, then taking me cordially by the hand:
"Pardon me the absurd suspicions of which I am ashamed," said he, "but
the situation in which I find myself must be my excuse; let us mount
our horses, and get away from here. While we are on the road, we can
talk; I hope soon you will know me better."
"I need not know you more," I replied; "from the first moment I felt
myself attached to you."
"Thank you," said he, smiling. "To horse, to horse! We have a long
journey to make."
Five minutes later we were galloping away, leaving to the vultures
that already wheeled in large circles above our heads with harsh and
discordant cries, the corpses of the Indians killed during the combat.
While we were proceeding, I related to the gaucho my life and
adventures, as far as I thought necessary he should know. This recital
pleased him by its singularity.
It was easy to perceive that, notwithstanding the brusque and sometimes
even harsh manner he affected, this man possessed a profound knowledge
of the human heart, and great practical knowledge of life; and that
he had for a long time frequented not only the best American society,
but also visited Europe with advantage, and seen the world under its
most varied phases. His elevated thoughts, always characterised by
nobility of mind, his good sense, his lively, vigorous, and attractive
conversation, interested me in him more and more; and although he kept
the most complete silence as regards his personal circumstances, and
had not even told me his name, I nevertheless felt the sentiment of
sympathy with which he had at first inspired me continually increasing.
We passed the whole day laughing and talking, at the same time rapidly
advancing towards the rancho where we were to pass the night.
"Look," said the gaucho to me, pointing out a slight column of smoke,
which was ascending spirally towards the sky; "that is where we are
going, and in a quarter of an hour we shall be there."
"Thank God," I answered, "for I begin to feel fatigued."
"Yes," said he to me, "you have not yet become used to long journeys;
but patience, in a few days you will think nothing of it."
"I hope so."
"By-the-bye," said he, as if the thought suddenly occurred to him, "you
have not yet told me the name of the pícaro who abandoned you."
"Robbing me of a gun, a sabre, and a horse--things for which I have
ceased to grieve."
"How is that?"
"Why, because it is probable that the bribón will not bring them back
to me."
"You are wrong to think that; although the desert may be large, a
rascal cannot so easily conceal himself there as you think."
"What good would it do to find him?"
"You do not know what may happen; perhaps someday I shall come across
him."
"That is true; they call him, in Buenos Aires, Pigacha, but his real
name among his own people is the Venado; he is blind of the right eye.
I hope that is sufficient description," I added.
"I believe so," answered he; "and I promise you if I meet him I shall
recognise him. But here we are."
In fact, at twenty paces before me appeared a rancho, the complete
outline of which the first shades of night prevented me from making
out, but the sight of which, after a fatiguing day, and especially
after the wild life to which I had been so long condemned, rejoiced my
heart in giving rise to the hope of that frank and cordial hospitality
which is never refused in the pampa.
Already the dogs hailed our arrival with their deafening bark, and
leaped furiously around our horses. We were obliged to give them a
taste of the whip, and soon our horses stopped before the entrance to
the rancho, where a man was standing with a lighted torch in one hand,
and a gun in the other. This man was tall, with bold features, and a
bronzed complexion lit up by the ruddy reflection of the torch which
he held above his head gave me a good idea, with his athletic form and
wild appearance, of the true gaucho of the pampas. On perceiving my
companion, he bowed deferentially.
"I hail you, most pure Mary," he said.
"Conceived without sin."
"Can we enter, Don Torribio?"
"Enter, Señor Don Zeno Cabral; this house and all it contains belongs
to you."
We dismounted without asking anything further, and after a young man
of eighteen or twenty, half-naked, who had run out at the call of his
master or father--I did not get to know which--had taken the bridle of
our horses and had led them away, we entered, followed by the dogs who
had so noisily announced our arrival, and who, instead of being hostile
to us, leaped around us with signs of pleasure.
This habitation, like all those of the gauchos, was a hut of earth
intermingled with reeds, covered with straw; constructed, in fact, with
all the primitive simplicity of the desert.
A bed formed of four stakes driven into the earth, supporting a hurdle
of reed or strip of leather interlaced, on which was placed, like a
European mattress, the untanned skin of an ox; some other hides laid
on the floor near the wall for the children's beds, some bolas, some
lazos, the indispensable arms of the gauchos, some horses' harness hung
from stakes of wood pierced in the wall of the rancho, formed the only
furniture of the inner room.
As to the first room, its furniture was simpler still, if possible;
it was composed of a hurdle of reeds, supported by six stakes, and
serving for a sofa, the heads of two oxen in the place of an armchair,
a little barrel of water, a brass kettle, some gourds serving for
drinking vessels, a wooden bowl, and an iron spit stuck vertically
before the fireplace, which was in the very middle of the apartment.
We have described this rancho thus minutely, because all resemble one
another in the pampa, and are, so to speak, constructed on the same
model.
Only, as this one belonged to a comparatively rich man, apart from the
main building, and at about twenty yards' distance, there was another
used as a magazine for the hides and the meats that were to be dried,
and surrounded by a tolerably extensive hedge about three yards high,
forming the corral, behind which the horses were sheltered.
The honours of the rancho were done for us by two ladies, whom the
gaucho introduced to us as his wife and daughter.
The latter, about fifteen years of age, was tall, well made, and
endowed with a rather uncommon beauty; she was named Eva, as I
afterwards learned; her mother, though still young--she was at the most
thirty years of age--had now only the fugitive remains of a beauty
which had been very remarkable once.
My companion appeared to be an intimate friend of the ranchero and his
family, by whom he was received with signs of the utmost pleasure,
moderated by a cloud of respect and almost fear.
On his side, don Zeno Cabral--for I at last knew his name--acted
towards them with patronising unceremoniousness.
The reception was what it ought to be, that is to say, most frank and
cordial. These honest people only studied to be agreeable to us; the
least thanks on our part filled them with joy.
Our repast, which we ate with a good appetite, was composed as usual of
the asado, or roast beef, of goya cheese, and of harina, or the flour
of mandioca the whole moistened by some libations of caña or sugar
brandy, which, under the name of traguitos, little draughts, circulated
freely, and finished by putting us in good humour.
As a compliment to this repast, much more comfortable than doubtless
the European reader will suppose, when our cigarettes were lighted,
doña Eva took down a guitar, and after having presented it to her
father, who, smoking all the while, commenced to prelude with his
four fingers united, she danced before us with that grace and that
elasticity which only belong to the women of South America, a cielito,
followed immediately by a montonera. Then the young man, of whom I have
already had occasion to speak, and who was not the servant but the son
of the ranchero, sang with a fresh, full, musical voice, and with an
expression which went to our hearts.
A strange incident then occurred, the meaning of which I could not
understand. Don Quino, the young man, sang with inexpressible passion
these charming verses of Quintana:--
Feliz aquel que junto a tí suspira,
Que el dulce nectar de tu risa bebe.
Que a demandarte compasión se atreve,
Y blandamente palpitar te mira.[1]
Suddenly don Zeno became pale as death, a nervous trembling agitated
his whole body, and two burning tears burst from his eyes; however,
he kept the most profound silence, but the young man perceiving the
effect produced upon their guest by the verses which he was singing,
immediately struck up a joyous jarana, which soon brought back the
smile on the pale lips of the gaucho.
[1] Happy he who sighs near thee, who drinks the sweet nectar of thy
smile, who dares to ask pity of thee, and sees thee gently agitated.