THE RANCHO.
On the morrow, at the rising of the sun I was up, but early as I had
been, my companion was before me: his place near me was empty.
I went out hoping to meet him, but could not see him.
The country around me was deserted and calm as on the day of the
creation; the dogs, vigilant sentinels, who during the night had
watched over our repose, rose and came to caress me with joyful growls.
The aspect of the pampa[1] is the most picturesque at the rising of
the sun. A profound silence reigns over the desert; it would seem that
nature gathers and resumes her powers at the dawn of the day which
is commencing. The fresh morning breeze flutters gently through the
tall grass, which it bends by its light and cadenced movements. Here
and there the venados raise their timid heads, and throw around them
frightened glances. The birds, crouched for warmth under the foliage,
prelude with some timorous notes their morning hymn. On the little
heaps of sand formed by the holes of the viscachas, little belated
owls, stationary as sentinels, and half-asleep, winked their eyes in
the rays of the morning star, sinking their round heads in the feathers
of their necks; whilst, high up in the air the urubus and the caracaras
wheel in large circles, balancing themselves carelessly at their ease
on their wings, and seeking the prey on which they will fall with the
rapidity of a thunderbolt.
The pampa at this moment resembles a sea with its green and calm
waters, the shores of which are hidden behind the horizon.
I sat down on a green mound; while smoking a cigarette I fell into
reflection, and was soon completely absorbed by my thoughts.
I was suddenly aroused, however, by a voice which burst upon me in a
tone of good humour. I turned round sharply.
Don Torribio was near me.
"Hola, caballero!" he said, "The pampa is beautiful at the rising of
the sun, is it not?"
"It is indeed," I answered, without knowing exactly what I said.
"Have you passed a good night?"
"Excellent; thanks to your generous hospitality."
"Do not let us speak of that. I have done what I could; unfortunately,
the reception has been poor enough. Times are hard. Only four or five
years ago it would have been different; but from him who does all he
can, people cannot ask more."
"I am far from complaining--on the contrary. But you are returning from
a walk, it seems to me?"
"Yes, I have been to give an eye to my oxen which are at pasture. But,"
added he, raising his eyes to the sky and mentally calculating the
height of the sun, "it is time to breakfast. Will you return with me?"
"I do not ask anything better; only I do not see my companion. It
appears to me that it would ill become me not to wait breakfast for
him."
"If that is all that hinders you," said the gaucho, laughing, "you can
eat without fear."
"He is about to return?" I asked.
"On the contrary, he will not return."
"How is that?" I cried with surprise, mingled with uneasiness; "He is
gone away?"
"Already more than three hours ago. But," he added, "we shall see him
again soon; he wished to speak to you about it before mounting his
horse; but, on reflecting on it, you appeared so fatigued yesterday
evening that he preferred to allow you to sleep--sleep is so good."
"He will return without doubt, soon?"
"I cannot say so exactly. In any case he will not long delay; we shall
see him again this evening or tomorrow."
"The devil! What am I to do, I who reckoned on him?"
"How is that?"
"Why, to tell me the route I ought to take."
"If that is all, there is no reason why you should torment yourself; he
has requested me to beg you not to quit the rancho before his return."
"But I fear to discommode you. You are not rich, as you yourself have
told me."
"Señor," answered the gaucho, with dignity, "strangers are envoys from
God. Even if it might please you to live a month in my humble rancho, I
should be happy and proud of your presence in my family. Do not say any
more, I beg you."
What more could I object? Nothing. I resigned myself, therefore, to
wait until the return of don Zeno.
The breakfast was pleasant enough; the ladies exerted themselves to
bring out my good humour, by loading me with cares and attentions.
Immediately after the meal, as don Torribio prepared to mount his
horse, I asked to accompany him. He agreed; I saddled my horse and we
set out at a gallop across the pampa.
My design in accompanying the gaucho was not to have an agreeable
ride, but to take advantage of our being together alone, to lead the
conversation to my companion, whom he appeared to know very well, so as
to obtain certain information which would enable me to form an opinion
on that singular man.
But all my efforts were vain, all my finesse absolutely lost; the
gaucho knew nothing, or, which is more probable, did not wish to tell
me anything. The man who was so communicative, and so inclined to
relate, often in a too prolix fashion, his own affairs, preserved a
discretion proof against everything, and a reticence which made me
despair when I turned the conversation to don Zeno Cabral.
He answered me only by monosyllables, or by the exclamation, "¿Quién
sabe?" (Who knows?).
Wearied with my efforts, I gave up pressing him any more, and resigned
myself to speaking only of his flocks.
Towards three o'clock in the afternoon don Torribio informed me that
our journey was at an end, and that we were about to return to the
rancho, from which we were then distant four or five leagues.
A ride of five leagues, after a day passed in an adventurous gallop, is
but a trifle for gauchos mounted on the untiring horses of the pampa.
Our horses brought us in less than two hours in sight of the rancho,
without a hair being moistened.
A horseman advanced at full speed to meet us.
This horseman--I recognised him immediately with feelings of joy--was
don Zeno Cabral.
"There you are, then," said he, riding up by the side of us, "I have
been waiting for you for an hour." Then, addressing me, he added, "I
bring you a surprise, which I think will be agreeable to you."
"A surprise," I cried, "what is it?"
"You shall see; I am convinced you will thank me."
"I thank you in advance," I answered, "without seeking to guess of what
character this surprise is."
"Look," answered he, stretching out his arm in the direction of the
rancho.
"My guide," I cried; recognising my rascal of an Indian, firmly tied to
a tree.
"Himself! What do you think of that?"
"Upon my word, it appears to be a marvel; I cannot understand how you
have been able to meet with him."
"Oh! That is not so difficult as you suppose, especially with the
information you gave me. All these vagabonds are of the family of wild
beasts; they have hiding places from which they never go far. For a
man habituated to the pampa, nothing is more easy than to put his
hand upon them; this one, especially, trusting to your ignorance of
the desert, did not take the trouble to conceal himself. He travelled
openly and quietly, persuaded that you would not dream of pursuing him.
This confidence, however, has ruined him, and I leave you to guess his
fright when I surprised him unawares."
"All that is very well," I answered; "but what do you wish that I
should do with this pícaro?"
"What!" he cried with astonishment, "What do I wish you to do? I wish
that you should first correct him, in a style he will remember; then,
as you have engaged him to serve as guide as far as Brazil, and as he
has received in advance a part of the price agreed on, he must fulfil
his engagement."
"I confess I have no great confidence in his future faithfulness."
"You are in error; you do not know the Manso Indians. This man, when
once he has been corrected, will serve you faithfully; you may safely
trust me for that."
"I will do so willingly, but this punishment, whatever it may be, I
confess I feel incapable of administering it to him."
"Oh, don't let that disturb you; here is our friend, Don Torribio, who
has not so tender a heart as you."
"I ask nothing more than to be agreeable to you," said don Torribio, in
confirmation.
We arrived at that moment close to the prisoner; the poor fellow who
doubtless knew what awaited him, had a very disconsolate air, and was
very ill at ease.
Don Zeno approached the prisoner, while with an imperturbable coolness.
Don Torribio occupied himself by doubling up his laço several times in
his right hand.
"Listen, pícaro," said don Zeno, to the attentive Indian; "this
caballero engaged you at Buenos Aires; not only have you basely
abandoned him in the pampa, but you have robbed him; you merit
punishment, and that punishment you are about to receive. Don Torribio,
my dear sir, will you, I beg, apply fifty strokes of the laço on the
shoulders of this bribón."
The Indian did not answer a word; the gaucho then approached, and with
the conscientiousness with which he did everything, he raised his laço,
which fell whizzing on the shoulders of the poor fellow, on which it
made a bluish stripe.
The Indian did not make a movement; he did not utter a cry.
As to me, I suffered inwardly, but I did not dare to interfere.
Don Zeno Cabral reckoned without emotion the strokes as they fell, one
by one.
At the eleventh the blood started out.
The gaucho did not stop.
The Indian, although his flesh quivered under the blows which came more
and more rapidly, preserved his stony impassibility.
The fifty blows to which the guide had been condemned by the implacable
don Zeno were administered by the gaucho without one being missed. At
the thirty-second, notwithstanding all his courage, the Indian had lost
consciousness, but that, notwithstanding my entreaty, did not interrupt
the chastisement.
"Stop," at last, said don Zeno, when the number was complete, "unbind
him."
The ties were cut and the body of the poor fellow fell helplessly on
the sand.
The son of the gaucho then approached, rubbed with beef fat, water, and
vinegar the bleeding wounds of the Indian--threw his poncho over his
shoulders and then left him.
"But that man has fainted," I cried.
"Bah," said don Zeno, "do not trouble yourself about that. Those
fellows have a tough hide. Let us go and dine."
This cold cruelty disgusted me; however, I refrained from any remark,
and I entered into the rancho. I was still a novice; but I was to
witness, at a later period, scenes compared with which this was but
child's play.
After dinner, which, contrary to custom, was prolonged for a
considerable time, don Zeno ordered the son of the gaucho to bring in
the guide.
He entered in a minute. Don Zeno looked at him for some seconds with
attention, and then said--
"Do you admit you have merited the punishment I have inflicted?"
"I admit it," answered the Indian, in a sulky voice.
"You are aware that I know where to find you?"
"I know it."
"If at my request this caballero agrees to pardon you, will you be
faithful to him?"
"Yes, but on one condition."
"I do not wish for conditions on your part, bribón," replied don Zeno.
"You deserve the garotte. Now answer my question."
"What question?"
"Will you be faithful?"
"Yes."
"I shall know it; chastisement or reward I shall charge with giving
you; you understand?"
"I understand."
"Now listen to me; your master and you will leave here tomorrow, at
sunrise; nine days hence he must be at the fazenda do Rio d'Ouro."
"He shall be there."
"No equivocation between us; you understand."
"I have promised," coldly answered the Indian.
"Good; drink this trago de caña to revive you from the blows you have
received, and go to sleep."
The guide seized the gourd don Zeno offered him, emptied it in a
draught with evident satisfaction, and withdrew without uttering a
word.
When he had gone out, I addressed myself to don Zeno with the most
indifferent air I could affect.
"All that is very good," I said; "but I vow, Señor, that
notwithstanding his promises, I have not the least confidence in that
fellow."
"You are wrong, Señor," he answered me; "he will serve you faithfully;
not from affection, but from fear. He knows very well that if anything
happens to you he will have a sharp reckoning with me."
"Hum," murmured I, "that only half assures me; but why, if, as you
have allowed me to guess, you are again going towards the Brazilian
frontiers, do you not permit me to accompany you?"
"That was my intention, but unhappily certain reasons, with which it
would be useless to acquaint you, render the execution of this project
impossible. However, I reckon on seeing you at the fazenda do Rio
d'Ouro, where probably I shall arrive before you. In any case, will
you remain there till I have seen you, and then perhaps it will be
permitted to me to acknowledge, as I have an earnest desire to do, the
great service you have rendered me."
"I will wait for you, since you desire it, Señor," I answered, boldly
accepting these new circumstances, "not to remind you of the event
to which you allude, but because I should be happy to become more
intimately acquainted with you."
On the next day, at sunrise, I rose, and after having affectionately
taken leave of the people who had so well received me, and whom I
thought I should never see again, I left the rancho without being able
to bid adieu to don Zeno Cabral.
[1] The word pampa belongs to the Quechua language, language of the
Incas. It signifies flat country, savannah, or great plain.