The Guide of the Desert

e gaucho and I were concealed; they appeared to be cons

kings, a most singular and at the same time a most picturesque tableau, with their noble and animated

hern strings round their bodies, they brandished their long lances, garnished w

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 co

chief urged his horse forward, and adva

pped, and supporting himself carelessly on

e and addressing the gaucho; "The Aucas warriors are before him: let him come out from his amb

nstant; then he resum

ve unearthed a bold jaguar, and it is but a dog ret

he insult; he applied his finger t

r had guessed it; he threw himself rapidly on one side, there bounding in advance with the ela

the ground, grapplin

s had uttered their war cry, and had darted for

eeded in overcoming the chief against whom he was fighting, he w

and instinctively putting the gun to my shoulder I fired my two shots, followed immediately by the explosion of two pistols and darting fro

ned about and escaped in every direction, uttering cries of fright, abandoning not only their chief, who was occupied with defending himself against the

ho in order to render him assistance, if it were necessary, but at the moment I reach

ixed on his enemy, without tr

es in the earth, to cleanse it from the blood with which it was soiled, the

ssability and of implacable courage that I had at first seen in him; only his fa

the revenging charge! ?Vive Dios! It was time that you came. Wi

n Spanish, but with an accent

her had passed the night at a few paces only fr

rd invented by the strong minds of towns. We of the desert ign

at that moment, with his simple faith and genuine humility,

anging 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 commen

ft the wood, taking at the same time the

and asking myself who this man could be who, by his manner, his language, and the turn of his mind, appeared

dead, ascended a tolerably elevated hill, scanned the horizon on all sides for a con

. "However, I think we shall act prudently in not r

t I do not know." Notwithstanding his apparent cool

d he, "You

o you, it is so. I know not whe

hows your prudence-to acquaint me with the object of your travel; but it is impossible

concealing the object of my travel; I am merely wandering on account of the un

ant, then taking me

in which I find myself must be my excuse; let us mount our horses, and get away fro

eplied; "from the first moment

g. "To horse, to horse! We h

hat already wheeled in large circles above our heads with harsh and

ife and adventures, as far as I thought necessary he s

he 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, interest

, at the same time rapidly advancing towards

moke, which was ascending spirally towards the sky; "that is whe

wered, "for I begi

come used to long journeys; but patience,

ope

enly occurred to him, "you have not yet told

e, and a horse-things for wh

is

ble that the bribón will

desert may be large, a rascal cannot so e

ould it do t

happen; perhaps someday

s real name among his own people is the Venado; he is blind of

I promise you if I meet him I shal

m making out, but the sight of which, after a fatiguing day, and especially after the wild life to which I had been so long co

rance 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 reflect

most pure M

ed witho

nter, Don

ral; this house and all it

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 b

earth intermingled with reeds, covered with straw; construc

attress, 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 indispensa

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 fo

ause all resemble one another in the pampa, and

distance, there was another used as a magazine for the hides and the meats that were to be dried, and surrounded

r us by two ladies, whom the gaucho in

ty; she was named Eva, as I afterwards learned; her mother, though still young-she was at the most t

and his family, by whom he was received with signs of the utm

last knew his name-acted towards the

rank and cordial. These honest people only studied to be agre

se, and of harina, or the flour of mandioca the whole moistened by some libations of ca?a or sugar brandy, whi

oking 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 mon

could not understand. Don Quino, the young man, sang with

que junto

nectar de t

arte compasi

te palpitar

; however, he kept the most profound silence, but the young man perceiving the effect produced upon their guest by the verses

the sweet nectar of thy smile, who dares to a