With heart full of hope, he was about to leave me when
he suddenly exclaimed, "But, senor, how will you get a horse and
side-saddle for Dona Demetria?"
"Leave it all to me," I said; then we separated, he to return to his
mistress, who was no doubt anxiously waiting to know the result of our
conversation, I to get through the next fifteen hours in the best way
I could.
CHAPTER XXVI
After leaving Santos I rode on to a belt of wood about two miles east
of the road, and, passing through it, surveyed the country lying beyond.
The only habitation near it was a shepherd's lonely _rancho_,
standing on an open plain of yellow grass, over which a scattered flock
of sheep and a few horses were grazing. I determined to remain in the
wood till near noon, then proceed to the _rancho_ to get breakfast,
and commence my search for a horse and side-saddle in the neighbourhood.
After unsaddling my horse and tying him to a tree, where there were
some pickings of grass and herbage about the roots, I lit a cigar and
made myself comfortable on my rugs in the shade. Presently I had some
visitors in a flock of _urracas_, or magpies, as they are called
in the vernacular, or Guira cuckoos; a graceful, loquacious bird
resembling a magpie, only with a longer tail and a bold, red beak.
These ill-mannered birds skulked about in the branches over me all the
time I remained in the wood, scolding me so incessantly in their
intolerably loud, angry, rattling notes, varied occasionally with
shrill whistlings and groans, that I could scarcely even hear myself
think.
Pages:
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316