By the time the pedestrian reached the valley, the prisoners seemed to have become sullenly reconciled to their fate, for they were making no attempt to struggle, and some had even begun to crop the grass at their feet, leaving their captors free to inspect the stranger. Hinchcliff told them, in Spanish, that he had lost his way and wanted some breakfast. "It is many miles to our town," said the young man who had caught the disturber of his peace; "but we shall breakfast here when we have made our cattle fast. You are welcome to share our food." His companions echoed the invitation, and, the cattle being secured to the neighbouring trees, the Indians seated themselves by a pool and shared their breakfast of chocolate-cake, bread and beef with their guest, who now began to notice the queer bulls and cows more closely. The hind legs were markedly longer than the front ones, and, whenever they moved, they seemed to be looking for pasture, for they persistently kept their heads low and their necks sloping. "We call them _niata_," was the reply to a question of his. "The best and youngest will be kept for breeding; the rest will be slaughtered for _carne seca_." _Carne seca_, the very meat to which the hungry Englishman was doing such abundant justice, is beef dried in the sun; and for the last fifty years, Uruguay has been exporting immense quantities of it all over South America. The _niata_ cattle are peculiar to Uruguay and La Plata, and are probably the only kind indigenous to South America. When breakfast was finished, the question naturally arose, whither did the señor wish to be guided? In point of fact, the señor had seen quite enough of the woods and hills for one while, and lost no time in making up his mind that he would like to visit their village, provided there was some means of riding there. One of the Indians pointed to his horse. "Neither of us is very heavy; you can ride behind me. If you hold by my waistband you will be perfectly safe." It was a method of locomotion new to the explorer; but now that the morning was growing warm and he was away from the shade of the forest, it would be decidedly preferable to walking; and he meekly mounted behind this good Samaritan. At starting, the cattle became obstinate for a while; but superior force and intelligence prevailed; the horses were not the deplorable scarecrows of the Argentine, but stout, well-fed animals, that understood the business of catching and driving refractory bulls as well as their masters; and they closed in on the _niata_, hustling them with knees and shoulders, till they were glad enough to walk in sober fashion. All the same, the journey to the Indian town was not to be entirely void of adventure. Outside the village was a stream some forty feet wide, deep, but easily fordable in some places; and this would have to be crossed.