The Guide of the Desert

ns, by the Patagonians, and made prisoner. I had the pain of witnessing from the clif

tears, I saw the white sails of my ship disappear o

w for the last time was doomed to some terri

by the wrists to the tails of Patagonian horses, w

ers relate so many fables, are neither so gi

and rather than submit to the will of a chief, they rush o

ne. One of my companions went raving mad, the other committe

pirits, a boldness and firmness, which saved me from myself, by permitting me to look

he goodwill of the savages, in which I succeeded pretty we

w myself, overcome with fatigue, before the bivouac fire, while the savages laughed and sang among themse

nt, the hope of deliverance arose to put new life into my heart; my sufferings were calmed little by little, my frame ceased to be agitated, an

hour by hour, second by second, in

e drowsy mistrust of the Patagonians. I always affected, on the contrary, not to wander too far from the tribe; so the Indians had at last come to allow me to

seback that I coul

made rapid progress; and, however wild and vicious might be the horse that they

ues from the Carmen of Patagonia, the most advanced fort constructed by the S

at a little distance from the

come at last. I prepared to profit by it, convinced

ly felt the smoking nostrils of the horses on my track, on the croup of the one I rode; after having escaped twenty times by a miracle from the bolas which the Patagonians threw at me,

ite men, whom the high grass had hidden from them till that t

s sa

a mistake which was rendered more natural by my complexion, bronzed by the severity of the seasons to which I had been so long exposed and which had assumed nearly the colo

the liveliest sympathy to the recital of my suff

the midst of my preserver

tions of all kinds to which I had, during so long a period, been condemned; but, thanks to the attention by which I

le Buenos Airean brig, then anchored before the port, and I left for Buenos Aires, with the firm intention of returning

for twenty years an adventurer in all the countries of the world-from Cape

was to present myself to the French consul, t

lf in a difficult position from the want of money, if any misfortune had happened to me during my voyage, had written to all our agents in foreign countries, so that anyone to whom I might present myself might give me, on my demand, a sum adeq

only accepted thr

eral agreeable acquaintances, and perfected

entirely depend upon my own will; but each time, under some pretext or other. I declined his offer, not being able to

balmed atmosphere of the high savannahs! I felt arising within me the passion of an adventurer, and suffered a secret horror at

heir ranches, hunted wild oxen and horses; all the poetry of the desert had taken possession of me, and I only wish

, as I had almost promised the consul, I

lancholy smile of a man in whom experience had killed all the illusions of youth, counted out to me the sum I aske

by an Indian Guaranis, whom I had engaged to serve me as a guide, I

ess had I

f did n

which, without that prelude, would not perhaps have been so clearly explained as is necessary to its being clearly understood. Leaping, then, at a single bound, over some hunting adventures of too litt

ys the Guaranis, whom I had engaged at Buenos Aires, appeared to obey me with repugnance; he was sad, morose, and answered only in monosyllables the questions I was sometimes obliged to put to him. This turn of mind in my guide disquieted me, as, knowin

I had conceived of him, manifested great activity in gathering dry wo

ped himself in his blanket,

akened by a strange noise; my first movement

my guide ha

fiture, my bivouac was about to be invaded by the waters of the

darted, with a loose rein, in the direction of a neighbouring hill, the bl

the howlings of which I heard about the place where I had sought a refuge, as because my present position had be

my view could reach, reigned the most complete solitude; nothing ga

ing pleasant, had nothing in it positively sad in itself. I possessed a good horse, arms, supplies in abundance-what

red myself, half laughing, half railing against the ingratitude of t

by this warm drink, I mounted my horse, with the design of seeking my breakfast by killing a head or two of

saw several venados rise from the midst of the high grass, and, after having sniffed the wind, scamper away with extreme rapidity, passing at a pistol sh

, I instinctively understood that somethin

ground, I waited with my finger on the trigger of my gun, my heart palpitating, and eye and ear on the watch. Care

a wood which formed a kind of oasis in this desolate wilderness, I found myself in a

irst hint, than the noise of a precipitate flight distinctly reached my ear. I soon perceived a horseman lying on the

the ground, and making a shelter of a rocky projection, shrouded by a cluster of trees, lo

nobility, and uncommon boldness; his figure was rather below the middle height, but well made; his large shoulders denoted great vigour; he wore the costume of the gauchos of the Banda Oriental, a costume that I had myself adopted-a maroon jacket, a white waistcoat, a sky blue chirapa, white cal

backward, put his knee to the

had concealed them from my view, and precipitated themselves, brandishing their long lances, flourishing their terr

men were In