We stopped two days longer at the Paso del Medio, and then, tormented
with continual restlessness, we moved thirty miles further up, to the
last pass, called the 'Paso de Alquinta.'
We camped at about six miles from the pass itself, under shelter of
what Isidoro, rather grandiloquently, persisted in calling a 'house,'
but which was in reality nothing but three low walls, barely four feet
high, built by some Indian traders of blocks of lava, the chinks
between which were stopped with mud and grass.
The 'house' was, of course, roofless, and by no means so good a
lodging as a thick bush would have been; but still it was better than
nothing, and at all events enabled us to have always a good fire
burning without consuming too much fuel--a very important
consideration, as there was very little wood to be met with anywhere
in that region.
During the first night there was a heavy fall of snow, and on waking I
felt an unusual weight on my furs, and under them an excessive warmth
I was certainly not accustomed to.
[Illustration]
Thrusting out my head I found everything covered with snow. The
distant hills stood out in glittering relief against the dark grey
sky, and the whole landscape was specklessly white, except where the
river flowed along the valley, looking inky black by contrast with the
surrounding country. Our horses, poor animals, plentifully
besprinkled with snow, too, were standing near to the camp, herded
motionless together, with sadly drooping heads, and an expression of
patient suffering and forlorn misery in their rough faces, which
filled me with compassion for them.
We remained in bed till the afternoon, when the snow began to thaw
away, soaking all our bedding and making things generally
uncomfortable for us.
Fearing the effect the melting of the recent snow might have on the
river, we resolved to make an attempt to cross it the following
morning. Isidoro, to whom we now communicated our intention for the
first time, seemed quite alarmed at the idea, and did everything in
his power to persuade us to desist from it. Until this occasion, I had
never been able to get more than half a dozen words out of him at a
time; but now, in his efforts to induce us to give up our undertaking,
which he qualified as an act of utter madness, he waxed quite
eloquent, and made a longer speech than he had probably ever delivered
himself of in his whole existence. The current, he urged, was too
strong for our horses to stem; moreover, a companion of his, he told
us, had once tried to cross the river when it was not nearly so
swollen as now, and had narrowly escaped being drowned. Finding,
however, that we had made up our minds, and were not to be persuaded
to alter them, Isidoro relapsed into his usual silence, whilst we
made our preparations for the ensuing day.
We intended crossing over at sunrise, so as to have ample time to dry
our wet things on the other side before night-time. In order to be
able to rely on having something dry to cover ourselves with
immediately after our swim over, we rolled two capas up as tightly as
possible, and stuffed them into a small water-tight canvas bag. In the
middle of the capas we carefully placed our greatest treasure--twelve
wax matches in a little tortoise-shell box, which we rendered
impervious to damp by securely wrapping it in pieces of guanaco hide.
Of matches, I must mention, we had run short, as of everything else,
and were compelled to be most economical in the use of the few that
still remained to us, to which end the fire was kept burning day and
night. We put into our saddle-bags sufficient ostrich meat and puma
fat to last us for three days--the time we calculated we should
require to reach Sandy Point in. Guillaume intended leaving his dogs
with Isidoro, as they would suffer unnecessarily from the fatigue of
such a rapid journey.
Having concluded our preparations, we sat down to dinner, over which
we discussed our chances for the morrow, and arranged our plan of
action. There were two ways of crossing over--either we might swim
over on horseback, or put our clothes and things on the horses and
make them swim over first, and then follow ourselves as soon as they
had safely arrived on the opposite shore.
The objection to the first method was that the horses' strength might
possibly give way in the middle of the river, or that by some accident
we might be unseated at a distance from the shore, in either of which
cases, encumbered with our clothes, etc., we were almost certain to be
drowned. The difficulty which presented itself in connection with the
second method was the doubt we felt as to whether we should be able to
stand a long immersion in the icy-cold water without succumbing to
cramp and exhaustion, especially taking into consideration the weak
state our late poor diet had reduced us to. After a long discussion,
we finally adopted the plan of swimming over on horseback.
We went to bed early, but it was a long time before I could fall
asleep; I was too excited with the thoughts of the coming struggle. At
last I was to try conclusions with the river, which had so long
baffled me. If successful, four nights from then I should be at Sandy
Point, sure of my steamer, relieved from the hardships I was now
suffering, and soon to be restored to civilisation, for which I was
longing as ardently as an Indian, confined to the close, noisy streets
of a populous town, might long for the breezy solitudes of the pampa.
In my dreams that night I must have crossed the river twenty times at
least, and I was splashing in the midst of its cold current for the
twenty-first time, when Guillaume woke me up, to tell me it was time
to get ready.
Day was just breaking, and the weather was cloudy and cold. We ate a
hurried breakfast, saddled our horses, and rode down towards the pass,
which was about six miles from where we were camping. On the way we
had to cross the open, and came full under the blast of the bitter
wind, which was especially sharp at that early hour; and we were blue
and shivering long before we got to the river. There was unfortunately
no sun, though I would have given anything for a sight of his cheering
face to keep up my _morale_, which, I must confess, at the prospect of
a cold and dangerous plunge on that wintry morning, had sunk extremely
low. Presently we reached the river, and never, I thought, had it
seemed so broad or looked so unpleasantly dark and treacherous as now.
Its eddying current slid past us with a rapidity which made me giddy
to watch long. The water foamed viciously as it broke into waves, and
showers of spray, swept up by occasional gusts of wind, flew over its
troubled surface.
[Illustration]
Without further delay, we said good-bye to Isidoro, tightened our
saddle-girths, and rode towards the point from which we intended
starting. There we paused a moment before taking the decisive step
forward--a moment of extreme nervous tension for both of us. I felt
an oppressive contraction of the throat and chest, which, to be
candid, I must attribute to a passing feeling of fear that came over
me at the last moment, now that I was about to commit myself, not
without serious misgivings as to the consequences, to the mercies of
the broad torrent which had so long baffled my progress. However,
remembering that the longer one looks at a leap the less one likes to
take it, I called out to Guillaume that I was ready, and with spur and
whip we urged our horses down the steep bank towards the water.
For a moment, rearing and snorting, they instinctively recoiled from
the dangerous element, but the pebbly bank giving way under their
feet, they could not stop themselves, and down we went--plunge!--head
over ears into the cold water. I came to the surface snapping for
breath, but still in the saddle, though the water, dripping over my
eyes, for a second or two quite blinded me.
After a little urging, the horses at first struck out right enough,
but I found that to keep my seat the greatest exertions were required.
Till then I had never swum on horseback, and had no idea how difficult
it is to remain in the saddle during the process. The water insinuates
itself cunningly between your knees and thighs, imperceptibly you lose
your grip, and, before you know it, you are gently lifted from your
seat, and find yourself afloat, especially when dealing with a current
as strong as the one in question.
In the meantime, our horses went all right till they came to the
middle current, which swept down with great force. The moment they
felt it they suddenly swerved, and made for the bank we had just left.
I tried to make my horse turn again, but it became quite unmanageable,
and Guillaume in a similar attempt was unseated, and was only able to
regain his saddle after a severe struggle, which I watched with
intense anxiety, as I was unable to go to his rescue, being myself in
difficulties.
Breathless and dripping, and humiliated with the consciousness of our
failure, we finally got to shore again, and, after a hasty council,
resolved to make another attempt the following day, as, after the
facer we had just received, our nerves were not equal to another
ordeal for the present. As long as the excitement of the danger
lasted, we had felt neither wet nor cold, but now that it was over
Nature re-asserted herself, and, drenched to the skin as we were, and
exposed to the blasts of a savagely inclement wind, we were completely
prostrated, quaking, and shivering, and in such a state that it would
have been mere foolhardiness to go into the water again. The
six-miles' ride back to the camp in our wet clothes was another
disagreeable trial. By the time we got there we were perfectly numbed,
and had to warm our stiffened fingers a long time by the fire before
they were sufficiently supple to enable us to undress. Having
stripped, I rolled myself in my capa, and, thanks to that
never-sufficiently-to-be-praised covering, warmth and circulation were
soon restored to my chilled limbs. We had, unfortunately, no maté
left, though on this occasion we stood more than ever in need of its
stimulating and restorative aid.
Notwithstanding our failure, we were by no means disheartened, or
disposed to relinquish our endeavours to cross the river; on the
contrary, the non-success of our first attempt only intensified my
firm resolve to reach Sandy Point, come what might, by the 1st of
November, and nerved us to a fresh encounter with the dangers of the
river and the inclemency of the weather.
The next morning we again made the attempt, and were again
unsuccessful as before. The horses went well till they got to the
rapid middle current, and there nothing would induce them to continue.
In the struggle with my horse I was swept from my seat. I caught
successively at the mane and saddle, but missed them both, just
managing to catch hold of a valise that was strapped to the back of
the latter. I clung to it like grim death, whilst my horse swam back
to the bank. Several times I was in danger of being dragged under by
the current, and the valise, under the strain of my weight, began
gradually to give way. When it did come down, saddle and all, we were
fortunately already in shallow water, and I came to no harm; though it
was lucky it held so long, for, heavily booted and clothed as I was,
had it happened a little sooner, I should have gone to the bottom.
We rode disconsolately back to the camp, suffering extremely from the
cold wind, as on the previous day. It was useless, we had now
convinced ourselves, to swim over on our horses, for as soon as we
came to the middle current we were at their mercy. We therefore
resolved to try the other expedient, of driving them over first, and
then following ourselves.
For topographical reasons we considered the pass at Guaraiké to be
more favourable for this mode of crossing than the one we were now at,
and we therefore resolved to go there. We said good-bye once more to
Isidoro, who preferred remaining where he was, as there was better
pasturage for his horses. We took enough meat with us to last us four
days, and leaving the dogs with Isidoro we started off for Guaraiké,
where we arrived late in the evening, after a long gallop.
We did not camp on the old spot, but rode further down to a little
'house' Guillaume knew of, similar to the one at the Paso de Alquinta,
but with rather higher walls, and which had also been built by some
Indian traders.
We ate a very small supper, as it was necessary to economise the
little meat we had with us, consoling ourselves with the hope of soon
being able to indulge in less meagre fare, and finally we went to bed,
confident of passing the next night on the other side of the Gallegos.