Blanco y Colorado: Old Days among the Gauchos of UruguayTetley, William C.
History
Blanco y Colorado: Old Days among the Gauchos of Uruguay
Tetley, William C.
Uruguay -- Description and travel; Uruguay -- Social life and customs
underneath the surface soil were more or less loose and detached. When
we had finished digging the grave, Bent read a portion of the burial
service, as we lowered all that remained of poor Henriquez into his last
resting-place. We then filled in the earth again, placing the loose
pieces of rock we had got out so that they covered and protected the
top, our intention being later on to fix a wooden cross, suitably
inscribed at the head of the grave, permanently to mark the place where
our poor friend lay. It was late afternoon as Royd and I slowly and
sorrowfully wended our way home, closely followed by the native peon,
for Bent had returned to his puesto so soon as the interment was finally
completed. Nothing much happened during the next few days. We had a
gathering together of the cattle, but we were short-handed, and when we
got them up to the rodeo we were compelled to conclude that a good many
of them were missing. One morning, about nine o'clock, a dozen
Government soldiers rode up, each with a red band round his hat and the
red banner flying from their lances. They were not too civil, and merely
said they were taking up horses and men. Our native peon was away among
the rocks, looking for two of our riding horses, which were missing.
Pedro, the cook, had retired to a dark corner of the kitchen. Our other
horses were feeding at some distance from the house, but they asked for
them to be brought up into the corral, so that they might take what they
required. So we sent off the native boy to bring them in. Fortunately,
"Carnival" and Royd's two horses happened to be feeding alone much
further away, so they did not come up with the others, and the soldiers
never saw them. They ended by taking five, including the pampa,
previously mentioned, and they left us two in very poor condition. It
was rather a trial to see them go off, but the soldiers gave us no
choice in the matter, so we could not do otherwise than let them go.
They also asked for some meat, and taking with them the greater part of
a sheep which was hanging in the galpon, they rode off in the direction
of Guaycoru, and we were pleased to see them depart without causing us
further trouble.
On the Monday following, Royd rode over to stay until the end of the
week with some friends who had an estancia a few miles on our side of
the town of San Jose. Nothing happened during his absence until Friday,
when Bent rode up about eight o'clock in the morning, looking much
perturbed. Fortunately, his friend had been staying with him at the
puesto as he so often did, for he told me that during the night not only
had about two-thirds of his flock been driven off and could not be found
anywhere in the morning, but that the puesto itself had been attacked
just after midnight by four men, all apparently fully armed. They had
doubtless expected Bent to be alone, but his dog "Bob" was sleeping at
the foot of his bed, and woke him up from sleep by his growling, and so
gave the alarm.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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