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On the Pampas; Or, The Young Settlers

by G. A. Henty · English · Gutenberg #6472 · 495,105 chars · public domain (US)

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Title: On the Pampas; Or, The Young Settlers

Author: G. A. Henty


        
Release date: September 1, 2004 [eBook #6472]
                Most recently updated: June 1, 2012

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6472

Credits: Produced by Robert Prince, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ON THE PAMPAS; OR, THE YOUNG SETTLERS ***




Produced by Robert Prince, Juliet Sutherland, Charles
Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.











[Illustration: Pampas. THE FIGHT WITH THE PUMA]

ON THE PAMPAS OR THE YOUNG SETTLERS

BY

G. A. HENTY



TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

Mrs. Hardy's Resolution

CHAPTER II.

The Start

CHAPTER III.

A New Life

CHAPTER IV.

The Pampas

CHAPTER V.

The Settler's Home

CHAPTER VI.

A Tale of the Mexican War

CHAPTER VII.

Seth Continues His Narrative of the Mexican Adventure

CHAPTER VIII.

Farm Work and Amusements

CHAPTER IX.

Neighborly Visits and Advice

CHAPTER X.

The Lost Cattle

CHAPTER XI.

Quiet Times

CHAPTER XII.

A Steady Hand

CHAPTER XIII.

The Indian Attack

CHAPTER XIV.

Terrible News

CHAPTER XV.

The Pampas on Fire

CHAPTER XVI.

At the stake

CHAPTER XVII.

Rescued

CHAPTER XVIII.

And last




CHAPTER I.

MRS. HARDY'S RESOLUTION.


"What are you thinking of, Frank?" Mrs. Hardy asked her husband one
evening, after an unusually long silence on his part.

"Well, my dear, I was thinking of a good many things. In the first
place, I think, I began with wondering what I should make of the
boys; and that led to such a train of thoughts about ourselves and
our circumstances that I hardly knew where I was when you spoke to
me."

Mr. Hardy spoke cheerfully, but his wife saw at once that it was
with an effort that he did so. She put down the work upon which she
was engaged, and moved her chair nearer to his by the fire. "It is
a serious question, Frank, about the boys. Charley is fifteen now,
and Hubert fourteen. I wonder myself sometimes what we shall do
with them."

"There seems no opening here in England for young fellows. The
professions are crowded, even if they were not altogether beyond
our means; and as to a clerkship, they had better have a trade, and
stick to it: they would be far happier, and nearly as well paid.
The fact is, Clara," and here Mr. Hardy paused a little, as if to
gain courage to say what he feared would be very disagreeable to
his wife--"the fact is, we are altogether too crowded here. The
best thing for the children, by far, and I think the best thing for
ourselves, would be to emigrate."

Mrs. Hardy gave a little sigh, but said nothing, and sat looking
quietly into the fire, as her husband went on: "You see, my dear, I
am just, and only just, earning enough for us to live upon. Nor is
there any strong probability of an increase of business. The boys,
as you say, are growing up, and I see no prospect of giving them a
fair start in life. Abroad it is altogether different: we can buy
land and stock it for next to nothing. We should live roughly,
certainly; but at least there is no fear for the future, and we
should start our boys in life with a fair certainty of success.
Still, Clara, I do not of course mean that I have made up my mind
upon the subject. It is far too serious a matter to decide upon
hastily. I only threw out the suggestion; and if you, after
thinking it over, are against it, there is an end of the matter."

Mrs. Hardy was silent for a little, and a tear sparkled on her
cheek in the firelight; then she said, "I am not surprised, Frank,
at what you have said. In fact I have expected it for some time. I
have observed you looking over books upon foreign countries, and
have seen that you often sat thoughtful and quiet. I guessed,
therefore, what you had in your mind. Of course, dear, as a woman,
I shrink from the thought of leaving all our friends and going to
quite a strange country, but I don't think that I am afraid of the
hardships or discomfort. Thousands of other women have gone through
them, and there is no reason why I should not do the same. I do
think with you that it would be a good thing for the boys, perhaps
for the girls too; and that, when we have got over the first
hardships, we too should be happier and more free from care than we
are now. So you see, Frank, you will meet with no opposition from
me; and if, after deliberation, you really determine that it is the
best thing to do, I shall be ready to agree with you. But it is a
hard thought just at first, so please do not say any more about it
to-night."

Mr. Hardy was an architect, as his father had been before him. He
had not, however, entered the office at the usual age, but when
eighteen had gone out to the United States, to visit an uncle who
had settled there. After spending some time with him, the love of
adventure had taken him to the far West, and there he had hunted
and shot for nearly three years, till a letter, long delayed on the
way, entreated him to return to England, as his father's health was
failing. He at once started for England, and found that his father
was in a feeble state of health, but was still able to carry on the
business. Frank saw, however, that he was unequal to the work, and
so entered the office, working hard to make up for lost time. He
was a good draughtsman, and was shortly able to take a great burden
off his father's shoulders.

He had not been long at home, however, before he fell in love with
Clara Aintree, the daughter of a clergyman; and his father making
over to him a share in the business, they were married just as
Frank attained his twenty-fourth year, his wife being about
nineteen. Two years after the marriage Mr. Hardy senior died, and
from that time Frank had carried on the business alone.

B--- was a large provincial town, but it scarcely afforded
remunerative employment for an architect; and although Mr. Hardy
had no competitor in his business, the income which he derived from
it was by no means a large one, and the increasing expenses of his
family rendered the struggle to make ends meet yearly more severe.
His father had been possessed of a small private fortune, but had
rashly entered into the mania of railway speculation, and at his
death had left about fifteen thousand dollars to his son. This sum
Frank Hardy had carefully preserved intact, as he had foreseen that
the time might come when it would, for his children's sake, be
advisable to emigrate. He had long looked forward to this, but
had abstained from taking any step until his sons were of an age to be
able to make themselves useful in a life in the bush or upon the
prairies.

Frank Hardy, at the time our story begins, was about forty. He was
a tall, active man, and the life he had led in America when young
had hardened his muscles, and given him the full use of every
faculty.

Mrs. Hardy was five years younger than her husband, and scarcely
looked thirty years old. She was a high-spirited woman, well fitted
to be her husband's companion in the dangers and hardships of a
settler's life.

The subject of emigration once started, was frequently continued,
and presently books and maps began to be consulted, and the
advantages and disadvantages of the various countries and colonies
to be debated. Finally, Mr. and Mrs. Hardy agreed that the
Argentine Republic, in its magnificent rivers, its boundless extent
of fertile land, in its splendid climate, its cheap labor, and its
probable prospects, offered the greatest advantages.

The decision once arrived at, it was determined to announce it to
the children, who had up to this time no idea of the great change
decided upon. Breakfast was over, and the boys, whose holidays had
just begun, were about to leave the table, when their father said:
"Wait a moment, boys; there is something we want to talk to you
about."

The boys resumed their seats. "Your mamma and I have been wondering
what you boys are to become, and we do not see any openings likely
to occur here. Now, what should you say to us all emigrating?"

"What, going abroad, papa!" they both exclaimed joyously.

"Yes, boys, settling in the backwoods or in the prairies."

"Oh, that would be jolly," Charley said, "I know, I papa, having
fights with Indians, and all that sort of thing. Oh, it would be
glorious!"

"Well, Charley," his father said, smiling, "I do not know that we
shall have fights with Indians, nor do think it would be very jolly
if we did. But we should have to rough it, you know; you boys
would have to work hard, to help me in everything, and to look after
the cattle and sheep."

"What fun! what fun!" the boys both shouted; "we should like it of
all things in the world."

"And what do you think of it, Maud and Ethel?" their mamma asked
the two little girls, who were looking very surprised, but rather
doubtful as to the pleasure of the fights with Indians which their
brothers had spoken so delightedly about. "You will have to be two
very useful little women, and will have to help me just as the boys
will have to help your papa. Very likely we may not be able to get
a servant there, and then we shall have to do everything."

"That will be fine, mamma," said Maud, who was rather over twelve,
while her sister was just eleven. "I don't think I could cook, but
you should cook, and I could scrub and do all the hard work, and
Ethel could wash up, and lay the table, and that sort of thing.
That would be fine, mamma."

Ethel, who almost always agreed with her elder sister, did so now,
and the four young ones became quite uproarious in their plans for
making themselves useful. At last Mr. Hardy called for order.

"Now silence all, and listen to me. This affair is a serious
business; and although I hope and believe that we shall all enjoy
our life very much, still we must prepare for it, and look upon it
in earnest, and not as a sort of game. I have business here which I
cannot finish before another eight or nine months. Let us all make
the most of our time before we start. In the first place, the
language of the people among whom we are going is Spanish, and we
must all learn to speak it well before we leave. For the next three
months we will work together at grammar and exercises, and then I
will try and get some Spanish teacher to live in the house, and
speak the language with us until we go. In the next place, it will
be well that you should all four learn to ride. I have hired the
paddock next to our garden, and have bought a pony, which will be
here to-day, for the girls. You boys have already ridden a little,
and I shall now have you taught in the riding school. I went
yesterday to Mr. Saris, and asked him if he would allow me to make
an arrangement with his head gardener for you to go there to learn
gardening. He at once agreed; and I have arranged with the gardener
that you are both to be there every morning at six o'clock, and are
to work until nine. At nine you will come in to breakfast. From
breakfast to dinner you will have to yourselves, except upon the
days you take riding lessons; and I should wish you to spend this
time at your usual studies, except Latin, which will be of no use
to you. From two till half-past four you are to learn carpentering.
I have made an agreement with Mr. Jones to pay him so much to take
you as a sort of apprentices for the next nine months. In the
evening we will all work together at Spanish. It will be hard work;
but if you want to be of any real use to me, it is absolutely
necessary that you should be able to use a spade and to do rough
carpentering. As the time draws on, too, I shall ask one of the
farmers near to let you go out with his men and get some notion of
plowing. Well, what do you say to all that?"

Hubert looked a little downcast at this recital of the preparatory
work to be gone through, but Charley said at once, "It sounds
rather hard, papa, but, as you say, we shall have to work hard out
there, and it is much better to accustom one's self to it at once;
besides, of course, we should be of no use at all to you unless we
knew something about work."

"And what are we to learn, mamma?" Maud asked.

"Not a very great deal, my dear," Mrs. Hardy said. "Spanish to
begin with, then cooking. I shall teach you at any rate, to make
simple dishes and puddings, and to boil vegetables properly. I
shall myself practice until I am perfect, and then I shall teach
you. Besides that, it will be as well for you to learn to attend to
poultry; and that is all I know of at present, except that you must
both take pains to improve yourselves at sewing. We shall have to
make everything for ourselves out there."

"I suppose we shan't do any more regular lessons, mamma?"

"Indeed you will, Maud. You do not imagine that your education is
finished, do you? and you cannot wish to grow almost as ignorant as
the poor Indians of the country. You will give up the piano, and
learn Spanish instead of French, but that will be all the
difference; and I shall expect you both to make as much progress as
possible, because, although I shall take you both out there, and
shall teach you whenever I find time, your lessons must of
necessity be short and irregular. And now you can all go out into
the garden and talk the matter over."

"But you have not told us yet where we are going to, papa," Charley
said.

"We are going to farm upon the bunks of one of the great South
American rivers--probably the Parana, in the Argentine Republic."

Mr. and Mrs. Hardy watched their children from the window. They
went out in a group to the summer-house in the corner of the
garden, all talking excitedly. Then Maud ran back again to the
house, and in a minute or two returned with the schoolroom atlas,
and opening it upon the table, they all clustered over it in eager
consultation.

Mrs. Hardy turned to her husband with a smile. "You will have to
get up the subject, Frank, so as to be able to answer the
innumerable questions you will be asked."

"I shall always refer them to you."

There was quite a talk in B--- when it was known that Mr. Hardy was
going to emigrate with his wife and family. He, and his father
before him, had been so long established in the town that there
were few people who did not know him, more or less.

Emigration in the year 1851 was far less common than it is now, and
the interest was proportionately greater. Charley and Hubert became
quite popular characters among their late schoolfellows, who,
whenever they met them, would always stop to have a talk about the
distant country to which they were going. The boys, however, had
now but little time for talking; for upon the week after their
father had first told them of his intention, they had set-to
regularly at the work he had laid down for them. They rose every
morning at five, had a slice of bread and a cup of milk, and were
off to the gardener's, where they worked hard until half-past
eight. Mr. Hardy had requested that they should be specially
instructed in the raising of vegetables, and in the planting and
pruning of fruit-trees. The culture of flowers could be of no
utility. The digging made the boys' backs ache at first, and
blistered their hands, but they stuck to it manfully, and soon
became accustomed to the work, returning to breakfast with glowing
cheeks and tremendous appetites.

In the afternoon they might be seen in the carpenter's shop with
their coats and waistcoats off, working away with saw or plane.

Although both made good progress in both pursuits, yet their tastes
differed; Charley preferring the carpentering, while Hubert was the
gardener's most promising pupil. The former was therefore
christened the head carpenter by his sisters, while the latter was
promoted to the post of chief gardener.

Four or five months of this work made a visible difference in the
boys' appearance. They both widened out across the shoulders, their
arms became strong and muscular, and they looked altogether more
healthy and robust. Nor did their appearance belie them; for once
when spending a holiday in the cricket-field with their former
schoolfellows, wrestling matches being proposed after the game was
over, they found that they were able to overcome with ease boys
whom they had formerly considered their superiors in strength.

In the meantime Mr. Hardy had succeeded in obtaining the services
of a young Spanish lady, who had come to England to learn the
language, as governess; and of an evening the whole family worked
at Spanish, and made such progress that they were soon able to
establish the rule that no other language should be spoken at
mealtimes. The girls here soon surpassed their brothers, as they
had the advantage of morning lessons in the language, besides which
young children can always pick up a language sooner than their
elders; and they had many a hearty laugh at the ridiculous mistakes
Charley and Hubert made in their efforts to get through a long
sentence. In six months, however, all could speak with tolerable
fluency.

Maud and Ethel were as amused and as diligent at learning household
work as their brothers were in their departments, and might have
been seen every afternoon in the kitchen, in their little white
pinafores, engaged in learning the mysteries of cooking.

One day, after they had been so engaged for about four months, Mrs.
Hardy said at breakfast: "I am going to try an experiment. I have
given the cook leave to go out for the day. Mr. and Mrs. Partridge
are coming to dinner, and I intend handing over the kitchen to the
girls, and letting them make their first essay. We are going to
have soup, a leg of mutton with potatoes and spinach, a dish of
fried cutlets, and a cabinet pudding. I shall tell Sarah to lift
any saucepan you may want on or off the fire, but all the rest I
shall leave in your hands. The boys will dine with us. The hour
will be half-past five, punctually."

The little girls' eyes flashed with pleasure, and they quite
colored up at the thought of the importance and difficulty of the
task before them. At lunch the boys pretended to eat an extra
quantity, saying that they felt very doubtful about their dinner.
In the afternoon Mrs. Hardy felt strongly tempted to go into the
kitchen to see how things were getting on; but she restrained
herself, resolving to let Maud and Ethel have entirely their own
way.

The dinner was a great success, although the soup was rather hot,
from Ethel, in her anxiety, having let too much pepper slip in; and
the cabinet pudding came up all over the dish, instead of
preserving its shape, it having stuck to the mold, and Maud having
shaken it so violently that it had come out with a burst and broken
up into pieces, which had caused a flood of tears on the part of
the little cook. It did not taste any the worse, however. And when
the little girls came in to dessert in their white frocks, looking
rather shy, and very scorched in the face, from their anxious
peeping into pots to see that all was going on well, they were
received with a cheer by the boys; and their friends were not a
little astonished to hear that the dinner they had partaken of had
been entirely prepared and cooked by these little women.

After four months' gardening, Mr. Hardy placed the boys with a
farmer who lived a mile distant, and made an arrangement for them
to breakfast there, so that they now remained at work from six in
the morning until twelve. Here they obtained some idea of
harnessing and driving horses, of plowing, and of the other farming
operations.

They now only went four days a week to the carpenter's, for their
papa had one day said to them when they were alone with him before
dinner: "Do not put on your working clothes this afternoon, boys; I
am going to take you out with me, but do not say anything about it
at dinner. I will tell you why afterward."

Rather surprised, they did as he told them, wondering where they
could be going. Their father said nothing on the subject until they
reached the town, which was a quarter of a mile distant from their
house. Then he said: "Now, boys, you know we are going out to a
country of which a great portion is still unsettled; and as land is
a good deal cheaper at a short distance from the inhabited parts,
we shall perhaps have no one within many miles of us. Now it is
just possible that at first the Indians may be disposed to be
troublesome. I do not suppose that they will, but it is just as
well to be prepared for everything. There is no reason why you boys
should not be able to shoot as straightly as a man, and I have
therefore bought two carbines. They are the invention of an
American named Colt, and have a revolving breech, so that they fire
six shots each. There is a spare chamber to each, which is very
quickly shifted in place of the one discharged; so that each of you
could fire twelve shots in a very short time. They will carry up to
five hundred yards. They are a new invention, but all accounts
agree that they are an excellent one. I have obtained leave from
Mr. Harcourt, who lives three miles from here, to put up a target
at the foot of some bare hills on his property, and we will walk
over there twice a week to practice. I used to be considered a
first-rate shot with a rifle when I was a young man in America, and
I have got down a rifle for my own use. I do not want you to speak
about what we are doing to your mamma, or indeed to any one. We
shall keep our rifles at a cottage near where we shoot, and no one
need know anything about it. It is not likely that we shall have
any trouble with the Indians, and it is of no use making your mamma
uncomfortable by the thought of the probability of such a thing."

As Mr. Hardy spoke the boys were ready to dance with delight, and
this was increased when they turned into the gunsmith's shop, and
were shown the arms which their father had bought for this
expedition.

Mr. Hardy had already an excellent double-barreled gun, and he had
now purchased a long and heavy rifle carrying a conical ball. In
addition to the boys' carbines, he had bought them each a light
double-barreled gun. Besides these were two brace of Colt's
revolving pistols. These were all new; but there were in addition
two or three second-hand double-barreled guns for the use of his
servants, in case of necessity, and three light rifles of the sort
used for rook-shooting. Altogether, it was quite an armory. The
carbines were in neat cases; and the boys carried these and a box
of cartridges, while Mr. Hardy took his rifle; and so they started
off to their shooting ground.

Here their father instructed them in the use of their revolving
carbines, and then, after some practice with caps only, allowed
them to fire a few shots each. The firing was certainly rather
wild, owing to the difficulty they felt at first of firing without
shutting their eyes; but after a few weeks' practice they became
very steady, and in three or four months could make pretty certain
of a bull's-eye at three hundred yards. Of all this Mrs. Hardy and
the girls knew nothing; but there was not the same secrecy observed
with reference to their shotguns. These they took home with them,
and Mr. Hardy said that he understood that the plains of South
America swarmed with game, and that, therefore, it was well that
the boys should learn how to shoot. He insisted, however, that only
one gun should be taken out at a time, to diminish the danger of
accidents. After that the boys took out their guns by turns when
they went to work of a morning, and many a dead blackbird soon
attested to their improving skill.




CHAPTER II.

THE START.


It was nearly a year after he had made up his mind to emigrate
before Mr. Hardy was able to conclude all his arrangements. Then
came the great business of packing up. This is no trifling matter
when a family of six persons are going to make a move to a new
country. Mr. Hardy had at first thought of taking portable
furniture with him, but had been told by a friend who knew the
country that every requisite could be obtained at Buenos Ayres, the
capital of the Argentine Republic, at a far less price than he
could convey such heavy articles from England. Still the bulk of
luggage was very large; and the boys, who had now left off their
farming and carpentering lessons, worked at home at packing-cases,
and had the satisfaction of turning their new acquirements to a
useful purpose. In addition to the personal baggage, Mr. Hardy was
taking with him plows and agricultural implements of English make,
besides a good stock of seeds of various kinds. These had been sent
on direct by a sailing ship, starting a fortnight before
themselves. When their heavy baggage was packed up it too was sent
off, so as to be put on board the steamer by which they were to
sail; and then came a long round of visits to bid farewell to all
their friends. This was a sad business; for although the boys and
their sisters were alike excited and delighted at the thought of
the life before them, still they could not but feel sorrowful when
the time came to leave all the friends they had known so long, and
the house they had lived in ever since they could remember.

This over Mrs. Hardy and the children went to Liverpool, where they
were to embark; while Mr. Hardy remained behind for a day or two,
to see to the sale of the furniture of the house. The day after he
joined the family they embarked on board the Barbadoes, for Rio and
Buenos Ayres. Greatly were the girls amused at the tiny little
cabin allotted to them and their mother--a similar little den being
taken possession of by Mr. Hardy and the boys. The smartness of the
vessel, and the style of her fittings, alike impressed and
delighted them. It has not been mentioned that Sarah, their
housemaid, accompanied the party. She had been left early an
orphan, and had been taken as a nursemaid by Mrs. Hardy. As time
went on, and the little girls no longer required a nurse, she had
remained as housemaid, and having no friends, now willingly
accompanied them. Mr. Hardy had, to her great amusement, insisted
upon her signing a paper, agreeing, upon her master's paying her
passage, to remain with him for a year; at the end of which time
she was to be at liberty to marry or to leave them, should she
choose.

Knowing the scarcity of young Englishwomen in the country that they
were going to, and the number of Englishmen doing well in the towns
or as farmers, Mr. Hardy had considered this precaution to be
absolutely necessary; as otherwise Sarah might have married and
left them within a month of her arrival. At the end of a year her
so doing would not matter so much, as by that time the party would-be
comfortably settled in their new home; whereas during the
necessary hardship at first, it would be a great comfort having a
faithful and reliable servant.

The last looks which the party cast toward England, as the Welsh
coast sank in the distance, were less melancholy than those of most
emigrants. The young people were all full of hope and excitement;
while even Mrs. Hardy felt but little disposed to give way to
sorrow, as it had been arranged that in three or four years, if all
went well, she should bring her daughters over to England to finish
their education.

Very lovely was that first evening, and as they sat in a group
together upon deck the little girls remarked that they did not
think that the sea was anything like as terrible as they had
expected, and that they did not feel the least seasick. Their
father smiled: "Wait a little, my dears; there is an old proverb,
'Don't halloo until you are out of the wood.'"

The next day was still perfectly calm; and when, toward evening,
the children were told that they were now fairly getting into the
Bay of Biscay, they could scarcely believe the intelligence.

"Why, one would think, Maud," her father said, "that you were
disappointed at its being calm, and that you really wanted a
storm."

"Oh, papa, I do think it would be great fun; it would be so curious
not to be able to walk about, and to see everything rolling and
tumbling. Don't you think so, boys?"

"Yes, I think so, Maud; great fun," Charley said.

"Well, young people," the captain, who had been standing by
watching the sun, now fast nearing the horizon, and who had
overheard their remarks, said, "if it is any satisfaction to you, I
can tell you that you are very likely to have your wish gratified.
But I question if you will like it as much as you expect."

"Ah, you expect wind, Captain Trevor?" Mr. Hardy said. "I have been
thinking myself that the almost oppressive stillness of to-day, and
the look of the sunset, and these black clouds banking up in the
southwest, meant a change. What does the glass say?"

"It is falling very rapidly," the captain answered. "We are in for
a sou'wester, and a stiff one too, or I am mistaken."

Now that it appeared likely that their wishes were about to be
gratified, the young Hardys did not seem so pleased as they had
expected, although Charley still declared manfully that he was
quite in earnest, and that he did wish to see a real storm at sea.

As the sun set the party still leaned against the bulwarks watching
it, and the great bank of clouds, which seemed every moment to be
rising higher and higher. There was still nearly a dead calm around
them, and the heavy beat of the paddles, as they lashed the water
into foam, and the dull thud of the engine, were the only sounds
that broke the stillness. Now and then, however, a short puff of
wind ruffled the water, and then died away again.

"Look at that great cloud, papa," Hubert said; "it almost looks as
if it were alive."

"Yes, Hubert, it is very grand; and there is no doubt about there
being wind there."

The great cloud bank appeared to be in constant motion. Its shape
was incessantly shifting and changing; now a great mass would roll
upward, now sink down again; now the whole body would seem to roll
over and over upon itself; then small portions would break off from
the mass, and sail off by themselves, getting thinner and thinner,
and disappearing at last in the shape of fine streamers.
Momentarily the whole of the heaving, swelling mass rose higher and
higher. It was very grand, but it was a terrible grandeur; and the
others were quite inclined to agree with Ethel, who shrank close to
her father, and put her hand in his, saying, "I don't like that
cloud, papa; it frightens me."

At this moment Mrs. Hardy, who had been down below arranging her
cabin, came up to the group. "What a dark cloud, Frank; and how it
moves. Are we going to have a storm, do you think?"

"Well, Clara, I think that we are in for a gale; and if you will
take my advice, you will go down at once while it is calm, and see
that the trunks, and everything that can roll about, are securely
fastened up. I will come down and help you. Boys, you had better go
down and see that everything is snug in our cabin."

In a quarter of an hour the necessary arrangements were completed,
but even in that short time they could feel that a change was
taking place. There was now a steady but decided rolling motion,
and the young ones laughed as they found it difficult to walk
steadily along the cabin.

Upon reaching the deck they saw that the smooth surface of the sea
was broken up by a long swell, that the wind now came in short but
sharp puffs, that the bank of clouds covered nearly half the sky,
and that the detached scud was now flying overhead. The previous
stillness was gone; and between the sudden gusts, the roar of the
wind in the upper region could be heard. The sun had set now, and a
pall of deep blackness seemed to hang from the cloud down to the
sea; but at the line where cloud and water touched, a gleam of dim
white light appeared.

In preparation for the coming storm, the sailors had put on thick
waterproof coats. Many of the passengers had gone below, and those
who remained had followed the sailors' example, and had wrapped
themselves up in mackintoshes.

Every moment the gusts increased in frequency and power, and the
regular line of swell became broken up into confused white-headed
waves. The white gleam under the dark cloud grew wider and broader,
and at last, with a roar like that of a thousand wild beasts, the
gale broke upon them. Just before this Mr. Hardy had taken Mrs.
Hardy and the girls below, promising the latter that they should
come up later for a peep out, if they still wished it. Charley and
Hubert were leaning against the bulwark when the gale struck them.

For a moment they were blinded and half-choked by the force and
fury of the spray and wind, and crouched down behind their shelter
to recover themselves. Then, with a hearty laugh at their drenched
appearance, they made their way to the mainmast, and then, holding
on by the belaying pins, they were able to look fairly out on the
gale. It was dark--so dark that they could scarcely see as far as
the foremast. Around, the sea was white with foam; the wind blew so
fiercely that they could scarcely hear each other's voices, even
when they shouted, and the steamer labored heavily against the fast
rising sea. Here Mr. Hardy joined them, and for some little time
clung there, watching the increasing fury of the gale; then,
drenched and almost confused by the strife of winds and water that
they had been watching, they made their way, with great difficulty,
down into the cabin.

Here the feeling of seasickness, which the excitement of the scene
had kept off, increased rapidly; and they were glad to slip off
their upper clothes, and to throw themselves upon their berths
before the paroxysm of sickness came on.

When questioned afterward as to the events of the next thirty-six
hours, the young Hardys were all obliged to confess that that time
was a sort of blank in their memory--a sort of horrible nightmare,
when one moment they seemed to be on their heads, and the next upon
their feet, but never lying down in a comfortable position, when
sometimes the top of the cabin seemed under their feet, sometimes
the floor over their head. Then, for a change, everything would go
round and round; the noise, too, the groaning and the thumping and
the cracking, the thud of the waves and the thump of the paddles,
and the general quivering, and shaking, and creaking, and
bewilderment--altogether it was a most unpleasant nightmare. They
had all dim visions of Mr. Hardy coming in several times to see
after them, and to give them a cup of tea, and to say something
cheering to them; and all four had a distinct idea that they had
many times wished themselves dead.

Upon the second morning after the storm began it showed some signs
of abating, and Mr. Hardy said to his sons, "Now, boys, make an
effort and come upon deck; it's no use lying there; the fresh air
will do you good." Two dismal groans were the only response to this
appeal.

"Yes, I know that you both feel very bad, and that it is difficult
to turn out; still it is worth making the effort, and you will be
very glad of it afterward. Come, jump up, else I shall empty the
water-jug over you. There, you need not take much trouble with your
dressing," he went on, as the boys, seeing that he was in earnest,
turned out of their berths with a grievous moan. "Just hold on by
something, and get your heads over the basin; I will empty the jugs
on them. There now you will feel better; slip on your clothes and
come up."

It was hard work for Charley and Hubert to obey orders, for the
ship rolled so tremendously that they could only proceed with their
dressing by fits and starts, and were more than once interrupted by
attacks of their weary seasickness. However, their father stayed
with them, helping and joking with them until they were ready to go
up. Then, taking them by the arm, he assisted them up the stairs to
the deck.

Miserable as the boys felt, they could not suppress an exclamation
of admiration at the magnificent scene before them. The sea was
tossed up in great masses of water, which, as they neared the ship,
threatened to overwhelm them, but which, as she rose on their
summits, passed harmlessly under her, hurling, however, tons of
water upon her deck. The wind was still blowing fiercely, but a
rift in the clouds above, through, which the sun threw down a
bright ray of light upon the tossing water, showed that the gale
was breaking.

The excitement of the scene, the difficulty of keeping their feet,
and the influence of the rushing wind, soon had the effect which
their father predicted. The boys' looks brightened, their courage
returned; and although they still had an occasional relapse of
sickness, they felt quite different beings, and would not have
returned to the blank misery of their cabins upon any consideration.
They were soon able to eat a piece of dry toast, which Mr. Hardy
brought them up with a cup of tea at breakfast-time, and to enjoy a
basin of soup at twelve o'clock, after which they pronounced
themselves as cured.

By the afternoon the force of the wind had greatly abated, and
although a heavy sea still ran, the motion of the vessel was
perceptibly easier. The sun, too, shone out brightly and cheeringly,
and Mr. Hardy was able to bring the little girls, who had not suffered
so severely as their brothers, upon deck. Two more days of fine
weather quite recruited all the party; and great was their enjoyment
as the Barbadoes entered the Tagus, and, steaming between its
picturesque banks and past Cintra, dropped her anchor off Lisbon.

As our object, however, is to relate the adventures of our young
settlers upon the Pampas of La Plata, we must not delay to describe
the pleasure they enjoyed in this their first experience in foreign
lands, nor to give an account of their subsequent voyage across the
Atlantic, or their admiration at the superb harbor of Rio. A few
days' further steaming and they arrived at the harbor of Buenos
Ayres, where the two great rivers, the Uruguay and the Parana,
unite to form the wide sheet of water called the river La Plata. It
was night when the Barbadoes dropped her anchor, and it was not
until the morning that they obtained their first view of their
future home.

Very early were they astir, and as soon as it was broad daylight
all four of the young ones were up on deck. Their first exclamation
was one of disappointment. The shores were perfectly flat, and,
seen from the distance at which they were anchored, little except
the spires of the churches and the roofs of a few of the more lofty
houses could be seen. After the magnificent harbor of Rio, this
flat, uninteresting coast was most disappointing.

"What a distance we are anchored from the shore!" Hubert said, when
they had recovered a little from their first feeling. "It must be
three or four miles off."

"Not so much as that, Hubert," Maud, who was just a little fond of
contradicting, said; "not more than two miles, I should think."

Hubert stuck to his opinion; and as the captain came on deck they
referred the matter to him.

"The distance of objects across water is very deceiving," he said.
"It is from eight to nine miles to those buildings you see."

Maud looked rather crestfallen, and Charley asked, "Why do we
anchor such a long way off, captain?"

"Because the shore is so flat that there is no water for us to get
in any closer. In a couple of hours you will see boats coming out
to fetch you in; and unless it happens to be high tide, even these
cannot get to the beach, and you will have to land in carts."

"In carts, Captain Trevor?" they all repeated; "that will be a
strange way of landing."

"Yes, it is," the captain answered. "I think that we can safely say
that the Argentine Republic is the only country in the world where
the only way to land at its chief city is in a cart."

The captain's boat was by this time lowered, and he at once started
for shore with his papers. Soon after ten o'clock he returned,
followed by a number of boats. He brought also a letter to Mr.
Hardy from an old friend who had been settled for some years near
Buenos Ayres, and whose advice had decided him to fix upon that
country as the scene of his labors. It contained a warm welcome,
and a hearty congratulation upon their safe arrival. This letter
had been written two or three days previously, and had been left at
the office of the steamship company. It said, however, that the
writer would hear of the arrival of the steamer, and would have
everything in readiness to take them out to his place upon their
landing.

Mr. Hardy had been in frequent communication with his friend from
the time that he had determined to emigrate, and Mr. Thompson's
letters had contained the warmest assurance of a welcome, and an
invitation to make his house their home until they had one of their
own to go into; and now this kind letter, coming off so instantly
after their arrival, cheered them all much, and made them feel less
strange and to some extent at home in the new country at once.




CHAPTER III.

A NEW LIFE.


Tide was fortunately high, and the boat containing the Hardys and
the lighter portion of their luggage was able to get up to the
landing place without the carts being called into use. As they
approached the land they were hailed in a hearty voice, and
greetings were exchanged between Mr. Hardy and his friend Mr.
Thompson--a sunburnt-looking man with a great beard--in a Panama
hat and in a suit of spotless white.

"Why, Mrs. Hardy," he said as they landed, "you hardly look a day
older than you did when I last saw you--let me see--fourteen years
ago, just as this big fellow was beginning to walk. And now, if you
please, we will be off as soon as we can, for my estancia is
fifteen miles away. I have made the best arrangements I could for
getting out; but roads are not a strong point in this country, and
we seldom trust ourselves in wheeled vehicles far out of the town.
You told me in your letters, Hardy, that the young people could all
ride. I have horses in any number, and have got in two very quiet
ones, with side-saddles, which I borrowed from some neighbors for
your girls; but if they prefer it, they can ride in the trap with
Mrs. Hardy."

"Oh, no, please," Maud said; "I had much rather ride."

Ethel said nothing, and her mamma saw that she would rather go with
her. Accordingly, Mrs. Hardy, Ethel. Sarah, and some of the lighter
bags were packed into a light carriage, Mr. Thompson himself taking
the reins, as he said he could not trust them to any one but
himself. Mr. Hardy, the boys, and Maud mounted the horses prepared
for them, and two of Mr. Thompson's men stowed the heavier trunks
into a bullock cart, which was to start at once, but which would
not reach the estancia until late at night.

As the party rode through the town they were struck with the
narrowness and straightness of the streets, and at the generally
European look of everything; and Mr. Thompson told them that nearly
half the population of Buenos Ayres are European. The number of
people upon horseback also surprised our young travelers; but
horses cost only thirty shillings or two pounds, and grass is so
abundant that the expense of their food is next to nothing;
consequently every one rides--even shepherds look after their sheep
on horseback. The horses seemed very quiet, for in front of most of
the offices the horses of the merchants could be seen fastened by a
head rope to a ring, grooms not being considered a necessity.

Once out of the town, the riding horses broke into a canter; for
the road was so good that the horses in the light carriage were
able to go along at full speed. As they proceeded they passed many
houses of the rich merchants of the place, and all were charmed
with the luxuriance and beauty of the gardens. Orange and lemon
trees scented the air with their delicious perfumes; bananas, tree
ferns, and palms towered above them; lovely butterflies of immense
size, and bright little humming-birds, flitted about among a
countless variety of flowers. The delight of the young ones was
unbounded.

Presently they left the mansions and gardens behind and drove out
fairly into the country. Upon either side the plains stretched away
as far as the eye could reach, in some parts under the plow, but
far more generally carpeted with bright green grass and
many-colored wild flowers. Everywhere could be seen droves of
horses and cattle, while dotted here and there over the plain were
the estancias of the proprietors.

It was a most delightful ride. The horses went very quietly, but
the boys found, to their surprise, that they would not trot, their
pace being a loose, easy canter. The last five miles of the
distance were not so enjoyable to the party in the carriage, for
the road had now become a mere track, broken in many places into
ruts, into which the most careful driving of Mr. Thompson could not
prevent the wheels going with jolts that threatened to shake its
occupants from their places, and they felt as if every bone in
their bodies were broken by the time they drew up at their host's
estancia.

Here Mrs. Thompson came out to greet them. She had been a great
friend of Mrs. Hardy in their young days, and great was their
pleasure at again meeting after so long a separation. Mr. Thompson
had already, explained that his wife would have come over to meet
them, but that at the time he had left home it was not known that
the Barbadoes had arrived. She was due, and, as a measure of
precaution, the horses and cart had for the last two days been in
readiness, but the exact date of her arrival was of course
uncertain.

Mr. Thompson's estancia was a large and picturesque building. It
was entirely surrounded by a wide veranda, so that at all hours of
the day relief could be obtained from the glare of the sun. In
front was an extensive garden; and as Mr. Thompson had made it one
of his first objects when he built his house to plant a large
number of tropical trees and shrubs, these had now attained a
considerable size, and afforded a delicious shade. At a short
distance behind the house were the houses of the men, and the
corrals, or enclosures, for the cattle.

The interior was handsomely furnished in the European style, except
that the floors were uncarpeted, and were composed of polished
boards. Everywhere were signs that the proprietor was a prosperous
and wealthy man. Mr. Thompson had only one son, a lad of about the
same age as Charles Hardy. To his care Mrs. Thompson now assigned
the boys, while she conducted Mrs. Hardy and her daughters to their
rooms.

In half an hour the party reassembled at dinner, to which they all
did ample justice, for their long row and ride had given them the
keenest of appetites. They were waited upon by an Italian
man-servant; and Mrs. Thompson said that there were a good many of
this nation in Buenos Ayres, and that, although they were not
considered good hands for rough work, they made excellent servants
many of them having been waiters in hotels or stewards on board
ship before coming out.

During dinner the conversation turned chiefly upon English friends
and affairs, and upon the events of the voyage. After it was over
George Thompson proposed to the boys to take a stroll round the
place before it became dark. The gentlemen lit their cigars and
took their seats under the veranda; and the two ladies, with Maud
and Ethel, went out into the garden. The conversation of Mr. Hardy
and his friend turned, of course, upon the country, its position
and prospects, and upon the advantage which the various districts
offered to newcomers. Presently the dusk came on, followed rapidly
by darkness, and in half an hour Ethel came to summon them to tea.
The boys had already come in, and were full of delight at the
immense herds of cattle they had seen. As they sat down to the
tea-table, covered with delicate English china, with a kettle over
a spirit-lamp in the center, and lit with the subdued light of two
shaded moderator lamps, Maud said, "It is not one bit like what I
expected, papa, after all you have told us about hardships and
working; it seems just like England, except the trees and flowers
and butterflies."

"Do not be afraid, Maud," her father said, laughing--for her voice
had a tinge of disappointment in it--"you won't be cheated out of
your hardship and your work, I promise you. Mrs. Thompson will tell
you that it was a very different sort of place when she first came
here."

"Yes, indeed," Mrs. Thompson said, smiling; "this was considered a
very lonely place when we first settled here. We had a little hut
with two rooms, and it was more than six months before I could get
a woman servant to come out, and then it was only one of our
shepherds' wives, who knew nothing of cooking, and who was only
useful in drawing the water and sweeping the floors. In time the
country became more settled, and there are stations now sixty or
seventy miles beyond us."

The next week was spent in riding over the estate, which consisted
of four square leagues--that is to say, was six miles each way--and
in examining the arrangements of the enclosures for the cattle. At
the end of that time Mr. Hardy started on a tour of inspection
through the provinces most likely to suit, provided with numerous
letters of introduction from his host. While he was away the boys
were to assist upon the estate, and to accustom themselves to the
work and duties of the life they were to lead. Into this they
entered with the greatest zest, and were in the saddle from morning
till night, getting more and more sunburnt from constant exposure,
until, as Mr. Thompson told them, they looked like two young
gauchos. The gauchos are the natives of the country. They are
fine-looking men, with Spanish faces. Their dress is very
picturesque. They wear loose calzoncillas or drawers, worked and
fringed round the bottom. Above this is a sort of shawl, so
arranged that it has the effect of very loose trousers. These
shawls are generally of bright colors, woven in stripes, and
sometimes of black cloth edged with scarlet. The white calzoncillas
show below this garment, and above a colored flannel shirt is worn.
The boots are long and are made of undressed leather. They wear a
broad leathern belt, with pockets in it; in this a knife, too, is
always stuck. Upon _fete_ days they come out with gay silver
ornaments upon themselves and their horse-trappings. Their saddles
are very clumsy and heavy, and are seldom used by Europeans, who,
as Mr. Hardy had done, generally bring English saddles from home.
After an absence of a month Mr. Hardy returned with the welcome
news that he had made his choice, and had bought at the public
auction a tract of four square leagues, upon a river some twenty
miles to the south of the town of Rosario, and consequently only a
few days' journey from Buenos Ayres. Mr. Thompson looked a little
grave when he heard the location of the property, but he only said
that he was very glad that his friend had fixed upon a spot which
would make it easy for the families to see something of each other.
After the first greetings were over Mr. Hardy proceeded to satisfy
the curiosity of his hearers as to the new property.

"It is six miles square," he said, "that is, about twenty-five
thousand acres, and I bought it for about sixpence an acre. There
is a good-sized stream runs through it; there are a good many
trees, considering that it is out on the Pampas; there are several
elevations which give a fine view over the plain, and upon one of
these our future home will stand. A small stream falls into the
larger one, and will, I think, be useful. There is an abundance of
game; ducks, geese, and swans swarm upon the river. I saw a good
many ostriches out on the plains. And, lastly, the soil appears to
be excellent. A great point is, that it is only distant twenty
miles from Rosario, a most rising town; so that the value of the
land is sure to increase yearly, as new settlers come around us."

"That is a most important point," Mr. Thompson said. "Rosario is
the most rising town in the country, and the land around it is
certain to be very much sought after in a few years."

"Are there any settlements near, Frank?" Mrs. Hardy asked.

"The next plot to ours belongs to three young Englishmen, and the
ground between us and Rosario is also principally occupied by
English; so that we shall have neighbors near, and I do not suppose
that it will be long before we have them all round us."

"If the advantages of the place are so great, Frank, how is it that
you have got it so very cheaply? I understood from Mr. Thompson
that land in a rising neighborhood, and that was likely to increase
in value, was worth two or three shillings, or even more, an acre."

Mr. Hardy hesitated. "Well, Clara, the land is at present upon the
extreme verge of the settlements, and the Indians are apt sometimes
to be a little troublesome, and to drive off a few horses or
cattle. No doubt the thing has been exaggerated; still there is
something in it, and the consequence is, people are rather afraid
to bid, and I have got this splendid tract of land for about
twenty-five hundred dollars; and, not improbably, in ten years it
may be worth ten times as much."

"A great proportion of these Indian tales are built up upon very
small foundations," Mr. Thompson said cheeringly; and Mrs. Hardy's
face, which had been a little serious, cleared up again, and in
listening to her husband's account of his travels, she forgot all
about the Indians. The boys, however, by no means did so; and as
they were going to bed Charley said: "I think there is some chance
of a row with the Indians, Hubert, for I noticed that Mr. Thompson
looked grave when papa first said where he had bought the land.
Depend upon it, we shall have some fun with them after all." They
would have thought it still more likely had they heard the
conversation between their father and Mr. Thompson after the ladies
had gone to bed.

"Why, my dear Hardy, how came you, with a wife and family, to think
of buying land so exposed to the Indian attacks? Every season, when
they come down, they sweep off the horses and cattle from the
outlying settlements, and murder the people if they get a chance. I
look upon it as madness."

"There is a good deal in what you say, Thompson, and I thought the
whole matter over before I bought it, There is a risk--a great
risk, if you like; but I hear the Indians seldom attack the houses
of the settlers if they are well prepared and armed. They do
occasionally, but very seldom. I shall be well prepared and well
armed, and have therefore no fear at all for our personal safety.
As to our animals, we must protect them as well as we can, and take
our chance. It is only for two or three years at most. After that
we shall have settlements beyond and around us; and if emigration
keeps on, as I anticipate, and if, as I believe, Rosario is to
become a very large and important place, our land will eventually
be worth five dollars an acre, at the very lowest. I shall take
care not to invest my whole capital in animals, so that I cannot be
ruined in one blow. I think that at the end of five years you will
agree with me that I have done wisely."

"I have no doubt that your property will increase very much in
value, as you say, Hardy, and that in the long run your speculation
will be a very successful one; but it is a terrible risk, I think."

"I do not think so, Thompson. We shall be a pretty strong party: we
shall have certainly two men besides ourselves. The boys could
bring down their man at three hundred yards, and I should do
considerable execution among a body of Indians at six or seven; so
I have no fear--not the least in the world."

In another two days Mr. Hardy and the boys, accompanied by Mr.
Thompson, went down to Buenos Ayres, and took up their quarters at
the hotel for a night. At parting, Mr. Thompson presented them with
a couple of fine dogs, which he had bred from English mastiffs: Mr.
Hardy had brought a brace of fine retrievers with him. Then, with a
hearty adieu and much hand-shaking, they said "Good-by" as the
steamer moved off from the shore. The heavy luggage was to follow
in a sailing vessel upon the following day.




CHAPTER IV.

THE PAMPAS.


The voyage up the river Parana was marked by no particular
incident. The distance to Rosario from Buenos Ayres is about two
hundred and fifty miles, which was performed by the steamer in
about a day and a half. The river is nearly twenty miles in
breadth, and is completely studded by islands. The scenery is flat
and uninteresting, and the banks but poorly wooded. Our travelers
were therefore glad when they arrived at Rosario. The boys were
disappointed at the aspect of the town, which, although a rising
place, contained under a thousand inhabitants, and looked miserably
poor and squalid after Buenos Ayres. Here they were met by a
gentleman to whom Mr. Thompson had introduced Mr. Hardy, and with
whom he had stayed on his first visit to Rosario. He had brought
horses for themselves, and bullock carts for their luggage.

"What! are these your boys, Mr. Hardy? I had not expected to have
seen such big fellows. Why, they will be men in no time."

Charley and Hubert deserved Mr. Percy's commendation. They were now
sixteen and fifteen years old respectively, and were remarkably
strong, well-grown lads, looking at least a year older than they
really were. In a few minutes the luggage was packed in two bullock
carts, and they were on their way out to Mr. Percy's station, which
was about halfway to the camp of Mr. Hardy. The word camp in the
pampas means station or property; it is a corruption of the Spanish
word _campos_, literally plains or meadows.

Here they found that Mr. Percy had most satisfactorily performed
the commission with which Mr. Hardy had entrusted him. He had
bought a couple of the rough country bullock carts, three pair of
oxen accustomed to the yoke, half a dozen riding horses, two milch
cows, and a score of sheep and cattle to supply the larder. He had
hired four men--a stock-keeper named Lopez, who was called the
capitaz or head man, a tall, swarthy fellow, whose father was a
Spaniard, and his mother a native woman; two laborers, the one a
German, called Hans, who had been some time in the colony, the
other an Irishman, Terence Kelly, whose face the boys remembered at
once, as having come out in the same ship with themselves. The last
man was an American, one of those wandering fellows who are never
contented to remain anywhere, but are always pushing on, as if they
thought that the further they went the better they should fare. He
was engaged as carpenter and useful man, and there were few things
to which he could not turn his hand. Mr. Hardy was pleased with
their appearance; they were all powerful men, accustomed to work.
Their clothes were of the roughest and most miscellaneous kind, a
mixture of European and Indian garb, with the exception of Terence,
who still clung to the long blue-tailed coat and brass buttons of
the "ould country."

They waited the next day at Mr. Percy's station, and started the
next morning before daylight, as they had still ten miles to
travel, and were desirous of getting as early to the ground as
possible.

The boys were in the highest spirits at being at last really out
upon the pampas, and as day fairly broke they had a hearty laugh at
the appearance of their cavalcade. There was no road or track of
any kind, and consequently, instead of following in a file, as they
would have done in any other country, the party straggled along in
a confused body. First came the animals--the sheep, bullocks, and
cows. Behind these rode Lopez, in, his gaucho dress, and a long
whip in his hand, which he cracked from time to time, with a report
like that of a pistol--not that there was any difficulty in driving
the animals at a pace sufficient to keep well ahead of the bullock
carts, for the sheep of the pampas are very much more active beasts
than their English relations. Accustomed to feed on the open
plains, they travel over large extent of ground, and their ordinary
pace is four miles an hour. When frightened, they can go for many
miles at a speed which will tax a good horse to keep up with. The
first bullock cart was driven by Hans, who sat upon the top of a
heap of baggage, his head covered with a very old and battered
Panama hat, through several broad holes in which his red hair
bristled out in a most comic fashion, and over his blue flannel
shirt a large red beard flowed almost to his waist. Terence was
walking by the side of the second cart in corduroy breeches and
gaiters and blue coat, with a high black hat, battered and bruised
out of all shape, on his head. In his hand he held a favorite
shillalah, which he had brought with him from his native land, and
with the end of which he occasionally poked the ribs of the oxen,
with many Irish ejaculations, which no doubt alarmed the animals
not a little. The Yankee rode sometimes near one, sometimes by
another, seldom exchanging a word with any one. He wore a fur cap
made of fox's skin; a faded blanket, with a hole cut in the middle
for the head to go through, fell from his shoulders to his knees.
He and Lopez each led a couple of spare horses. The mastiffs
trotted along by the horses, and the two fine retrievers, Dash and
Flirt, galloped about over the plains. The plain across which they
were traveling was a flat, broken only by slight swells, and a tree
here and there; and the young Hardys wondered not a little how
Lopez, who acted as guide, knew the direction he was to take.

After three hours' riding Lopez pointed to a rather larger clump of
trees than usual in the distance, and said, "That is the camp."

"Hurrah," shouted the boys. "May we ride on, papa?"

"Yes, boys, I will ride on with you." And off they set, leaving
their party to follow quietly.

"Mind how you gallop, boys; the ground is honeycombed with
armadillo holes, and if your horse treads in one you will go over
his head."

"I don't think that I should do that," Charley, who had a more than
sufficiently good opinion of himself, said; "I can stick on pretty
tightly, and--" he had not time to finish his sentence, for his
horse suddenly seemed to go down on his head, and Charley was sent
flying two or three yards through the air, descending with a heavy
thud upon the soft ground.

He was up in a moment, unhurt, except for a knock on the eye
against his gun, which he was carrying before him; and after a
minute's rueful look he joined heartily in the shouts of laughter
of his father and brother at his expense, "Ah, Charley, brag is a
good dog, but holdfast is a better. I never saw a more literal
proof of the saying. There, jump up again, and I need not say look
out for holes."

They were soon off again, but this time at a more moderate pace.
This fall was not, by a very long way, the only one which they had
before they had been six months upon the plains; for the armadillos
were most abundant, and in the long grass it was impossible to see
their holes. In addition to the armadillos, the ground is in many
paces honeycombed by the bischachas, which somewhat in size and
appearance resemble rabbits, and by a little burrowing owl.

The Hardys soon crossed a little stream, running east to fall into
the main stream, which formed the boundary of the property upon
that side; and Mr. Hardy told the boys that they were now upon
their own land. There was another hurrah, and then, regardless of
the risk of falls, they dashed up to the little clump of trees,
which stood upon slightly rising ground. Here they drew rein, and
looked round upon the country which was to be their home. As far as
the eye could reach a flat plain, with a few slight elevations and
some half-dozen trees, extended. The grass was a brilliant green,
for it was now the month of September. Winter was over, and the
plain, refreshed by the rains, wore a bright sheet of green,
spangled with innumerable flowers. Objects could be seen moving in
the distance, and a short examination enabled Mr. Hardy to decide
that they were ostriches, to the delight of the boys, who promised
themselves an early hunt.

"Where have you fixed for the house, papa?" Hubert asked.

"There, where those three trees are growing upon the highest swell
you can see, about a mile and a half further. We will go on at
once; the others will see us."

Another ten minutes took them to the place Mr. Hardy had pointed
out, and the boys both agreed that nothing could be better.

At the foot of the slope the river which formed the eastern
boundary flowed, distant a quarter of a mile or so from the top of
the rise. To the right another stream came down between the slope
and another less elevated rise beyond. This stream had here rather
a rapid fall, and was distant about three hundred yards from the
intended site of the house. The main river was thirty or forty
yards across, and was now full of water; and upon its surface the
boys could see flocks of ducks, geese, and other birds. In some
places the bank was bare, but in others thick clumps of bushes and
brushwood grew beside it.

They now took off the saddles and bridles from their horses, and
allowed them to range as they pleased, knowing that the native
horses were accustomed to be let free, and that there was no fear
of their straying away. "Now, boys," Mr. Hardy said, "let us begin
by getting our first dinner. You go straight down to the water; I
will keep to the right. You take Dash, I will take Flirt."

In another ten minutes the reports of the guns followed close upon
each other, and the boys had the satisfaction of knocking down two
geese and eight ducks, which Dash brought ashore, beside others
which escaped. In five minutes more they heard a shout from their
father, who had bagged two more geese and three ducks. "That will
do, boys; we have got plenty for the next day or two, and we must
not alarm them by too much slaughter."

"Four geese and eleven ducks, papa, in five minutes," the boys
said, when they joined Mr. Hardy; "that is not bad shooting to
begin with."

"Not at all, boys. What with wild fowl and armadillos, I think that
at a pinch we could live for some time upon the produce of the
estate."

"You don't mean to say, papa, that they eat the armadillos?" Hubert
said with a look of suspicion.

"They do indeed, Hubert, and I am told that they are not at all bad
eating. Now let us go up to the rise again; our carts must be
nearly up."

By the time they reached the three trees they found that the rest
of the cavalcade was within a quarter of a mile, and in a few
minutes they came up.

The cattle and sheep required no attending. Immediately they found
that they were not required to go any further, they scattered and
began to graze. The oxen were unyoked from the carts, and all hands
set-to to unload the miscellaneous collection of goods which had
been brought up. Only the things which Mr. Hardy had considered as
most indispensable for present use had been brought on, for the
steamer from Buenos Ayres did not carry heavy goods, and the
agricultural implements and other baggage were to come up in a
sailing vessel, and were not expected to arrive for another week.

The carts contained three small portmanteaus with the clothes of
Mr. Hardy and the boys, and a large case containing the carbines,
rifles, and ammunition. There was a number of canisters with tea,
coffee, sugar, salt, and pepper; a sack of flour; some cooking pots
and frying pans, tin plates, dishes, and mugs; two sacks of coal
and a quantity of firewood; shovels, carpenter's tools, a sickle,
the framework of a hut with two doors and windows, three rolls of
felt, a couple of dozen wooden posts, and two large coils of iron
wire. While the others were busy unloading the German had cut some
turf and built a rough fireplace, and had soon a bright fire
blazing.

"Shall we pluck the ducks?" Charley asked.

"I reckon we can manage quicker than that," the Yankee said; and
taking up one of the ducks, he cut off its head and pinions; in
another minute he had roughly skinned it, and threw it to the
German, who cut it up and put the pieces into the frying pan. A
similar process was performed with the other ducks, a little pepper
and salt shaken over them, and in a wonderfully short time the
first batch was ready. All drew round and sat down on the grass;
the tin plates were distributed but were only used by Mr. Hardy and
his sons, the others simply taking the joints into their hands and
cutting off pieces with their knives. The operation of skinning the
fowls had not been pleasant to look at, and would at any other time
have taken away the boys' appetites; but their long ride had made
them too hungry to be particular. The result of this primitive
cooking was pronounced to be excellent; and after drinking a mug of
tea all felt ready for work.

"What is to be done first, papa?"

"The first thing is to get these posts into the ground, and to get
up a wire fence, so as to make an enclosure for the animals at
night. We will put in five posts each side, at ten yards apart;
that will take eighteen posts. With the others we can make a
division to separate the sheep from the cattle. Unless we do this
some of them may take it into their heads to start off in the night
and return to their old home."

A spot was soon chosen between the house and the stream on the
right. The distance was soon measured and marked; and while Hans
carried down the heavy posts one by one on his shoulder, the others
went to work. The soil was soft and rich, and the holes were dug to
the required depth in a shorter time than would have been
considered possible. The wire was stretched and fastened, and
before sunset everything was in readiness. The animals were driven
in, and the entrance, which was narrow, was blocked up with
brushwood from the river. Then followed another half-hour's work in
getting up a small shelter with the cases and some of the felting,
for Mr. Hardy and his sons. By this time all were really tired, and
were glad when Hans summoned them to another meal, this time of one
of the sheep. Then Mr. Hardy, and the boys, taking their mugs of
tea, retired into the shelter prepared for them, and sat and talked
over the events of the day, and as to the work for to-morrow; and
then, wrapping themselves up in their blankets, lay down to sleep,
listening for some time dreamily to the hum of conversation of the
men, who were sitting smoking round the fire, and to the hoarse
roar of the innumerable frogs in the stream below.

In the morning they were up and abroad with daylight, and a cup of
hot coffee and a piece of bread prepared them for work. Mr. Hardy,
his boys, and the Yankee set-to upon the framework of the two huts;
while the others went down to the stream and cut a quantity of
long, coarse rushes, which they made into bundles, and brought up
to the place of the house in a bullock cart. The framework for the
huts, which were each about fifteen feet square, was all ready
fitted and numbered: it took, therefore, a very short time to
erect; and when one was done Mr. Hardy and the Yankee set-to to
erect the other at a distance of from forty to fifty yards, while
Charley and Hubert drove in the nails and secured the work already
done.

By dinner-time the work was complete, and a perfect stack of rushes
had been raised in readiness. A great number of long rods had been
cut from the bushes, and as the most of them were as flexible and
tough as willows they were well suited for the purpose.

After dinner the whole party united their labor to get one of the
huts finished. The rods were split in two, and were nailed at
intervals across the rafters of the roof. Upon them the long rushes
were laid, and over all the felt was nailed. The sides were treated
in the same way, except that the rushes were woven in and out
between the wattles, so as to make quite a close, compact wall, no
felt being nailed on it. The other house was treated in the same
way; and it was not until the third night that both huts were
finished and ready for occupancy.

Mr. Hardy and his sons then took possession of the one near the
brow of the hill. This was to be merely a temporary abode, to be
removed when the house was built. The men had that lower down, and
rather nearer to the cattle. Beds of rushes were piled up in three
corners, and the boys thought that they had never passed such a
delicious night as their first in their new house. The next day Mr.
Hardy told his boys that they should take a holiday and ride over
the place.

The press of work was over, and things would now settle down in a
regular way. Hans and Terence had taken a contract to dig the holes
for the posts of the strong fence which was to surround the house,
including a space of a hundred yards square. This precaution was
considered to be indispensable as a defense against the Indians.
Seth, the Yankee, had similarly engaged to dig a well close to the
house. No supervision of them was therefore necessary. Lopez was to
accompany them. Each took a double-barreled gun and a revolver. The
day was very fine--about as hot as upon a warm day in June in
England. Mr. Hardy proposed that they should first ride westerly as
far as the property extended, six miles from the river; that they
should then go to the south until they reached that boundary, and
should follow that to the river, by whose banks they should return,
and bring back a bag of wild fowl for the larder. Quite a pack of
dogs accompanied them--the two mastiffs, the setters, and four
dogs, two of which belonged to Lopez, and the others to Hans and
Seth: these last, seeing that their masters had no intention of
going out, determined to join the party upon their own account.

These dogs were all mongrels of no particular breed, but were
useful in hunting, and were ready to attack a fox, an animal which
swarms upon the pampas, and does great damage among the young
lambs.

For the first three or four miles nothing was seen save the
boundless green plain, extending in all directions; and then, upon
ascending a slight rise, they saw in the dip before them two
ostriches. Almost simultaneously the creatures caught sight of
their enemies, and went off at a prodigious rate, followed by the
dogs and horsemen. For a time their pace was so fast that their
pursuers gained but little upon them. Presently, however, the dogs
gained upon one of them, and, by their barking and snapping at it,
impeded its movements. The horsemen were close together, and the
boys had drawn out their revolvers to fire, when their father
cried, "Don't fire, boys! Watch Lopez."

At this moment the gaucho took from the pommel of his saddle two
balls like large bullets, connected with a long cord. These he
whirled round his head, and launched them at the ostrich. They
struck his legs, and twined themselves round and round, and in
another moment the bird was down in the dust. Before Lopez could
leap to the ground the dogs had killed it, and the gaucho pulled
out the tail feathers and handed them to Mr. Hardy. "Is the flesh
good?" Mr. Hardy asked.

"No, senor; we can eat it when there is nothing else to be had, but
it is not good."

"I am rather glad the other got away," Hubert said. "It seems cruel
to kill them merely for the sake of the feathers."

"Yes, Hubert; but the feathers are really worth money," Mr. Hardy
said. "I should be the last person to countenance the killing of
anything merely for the sake of killing; but one kills an ostrich
as one would an animal with valuable fur. But what is that?"

As he spoke the dogs halted in front of a patch of bush, barking
loudly. The retrievers and the native dogs kept at a prudent
distance, making the most furious uproar; but the mastiffs
approached slowly, with their coats bristling up, and evidently
prepared for a contest with a formidable antagonist. "It must be a
lion!" Lopez exclaimed. "Get ready your revolvers, or he may injure
the dogs."

The warning came too late. In another instant an animal leaped from
the thicket, alighting immediately in front of Prince and Flora. It
was as nearly as possible the same color as the mastiffs, and
perhaps hardly stood so high; but he was a much heavier animal, and
longer in the back. The dogs sprang upon it. Prince, who was first,
received a blow with its paw, which struck him down; but Flora had
caught hold. Prince in an instant joined her, and the three were
immediately rolling over and over on the ground in a confused mass.
Mr. Hardy and Lopez at once leaped from their horses and rushed to
the spot; and the former, seizing his opportunity, placed his
pistol close to the lion's ear, and terminated the contest in an
instant. The animal killed was a puma, called in South America a
lion; which animal, however, he resembles more in his color than in
other respects. He has no mane, and is much inferior in power to
the African lion. They seldom attack men; but if assailed are very
formidable antagonists. The present one was, Lopez asserted, a
remarkably large one.

Mr. Hardy's first care was to examine the dogs. Prince's shoulder
was laid open by the stroke of the claws, and both dogs had
numerous scratches. Flora had fortunately seized him by the neck,
and he had thus been unable to use his teeth.

Mr. Hardy determined to return home at once, in order to dress
Prince's shoulder; and leaving Lopez to skin the puma, the rest
took their way back. When they arrived the wounds of the dogs were
carefully washed, and a wet bandage was fastened with some
difficulty upon Prince's wound. Leaving all the dogs behind, with
the exception of the retrievers, Mr. Hardy and the boys started for
a walk along the river, leading with them a horse to bring back the
game, as their former experience had taught them that carrying half
a dozen ducks and geese under a broiling sun was no joke. They were
longer this time than before in making a good bag; and
after-experience taught them that early in the morning or late in
the evening was the time to go down to the stream, for at these
times flights of birds were constantly approaching, and they could
always rely upon coming home laden after an hour's shooting. Upon
the present occasion, however, they did not do badly, but returned
with a swan, three geese, and twelve ducks, just in time to find
the men preparing for dinner.

The next morning the two bullock carts were sent off with Hans and
Terence to Rosario, to fetch the posts for the fence, together with
two more coils of wire, which had been left there from want of room
in the carts when they came up. Charley was sent with them, in
order that he might find out if the sailing vessel had arrived with
the plows and heavy baggage. While he was away, Mr. Hardy and
Hubert were occupied in making a complete exploration of the
property, and in erecting a storehouse for the goods.

In five days Charley returned with the carts he had taken, and with
four others which he had hired at Rosario, bringing the heavy
baggage, which had come in the day after he had arrived there. The
goods were placed for the present in the new store, and then all
hands set to work at the fence. Hans and Terence had already dug
the holes; and the putting in the posts, ramming the earth tightly
round them, and stretching the wires, took them two days.

The usual defense in the outlying settlements against Indians is a
ditch six feet wide and as much deep; but a ditch of this width can
be easily leaped, both by men on horseback and on foot. The ditch,
too, would itself serve as a shelter, as active men could have no
difficulty in getting out of it, and could surround the house by
creeping along the bottom of the ditch, and then openly attack all
round at once, or crawl up unperceived by those who were upon the
watch on the other side.

The fence had none of these disadvantages. It was six feet high.
The wires were placed at six inches apart for four feet from the
bottom, and at nine inches above that. Then the upper wires were
not stretched quite so tightly as the lower ones, rendering it
extremely difficult to climb over. In this way an attacking party
would have no protection whatever, and would, while endeavoring to
climb the fence, be helplessly exposed to the fire of those in the
house. Those who got over, too, could receive no assistance from
their comrades without, while their retreat would be completely cut
off.

The gateway to the fence was an ordinary strong iron gate which Mr.
Hardy had bought at Rosario, and to which strong pointed palings,
six feet long, were lashed side by side, with intervals of six
inches between them. This was the finishing touch to the
fortification; and all felt when it was done that they could
withstand the attack of a whole tribe of Indians.

The carts were again sent off to Rosario to bring back some more
wood, from which to make the framework of the house. Hubert this
time accompanied them, as Mr. Hardy wished the boys to become as
self-reliant as possible. He was also to hire three peons, or
native laborers. Before he started the plan of the future house was
discussed and agreed upon. In the middle was to be the general
sitting-room, fifteen feet square; upon one side was the kitchen,
fifteen by ten and a half; upon the other, the servants' bedroom,
of the same size; behind were three bedrooms, twelve feet by
fifteen each, all opening from the sitting-room. The house,
therefore, was to form a block thirty-six feet by thirty.

Upon the side next to the kitchen, and opening from it, a small
square tower with two stories in it was to stand. It was to be ten
feet square; the lower room to be a laundry and scullery, and the
one above, approached by straight wooden steps, to be the
storehouse. The roof was to be flat, with a parapet three feet
high. From this a clear view could be had over the country for
miles, and the whole circuit of the fence commanded in case of
attack. The walls of the house were to be of adobe or mud the
internal partitions of sun-baked bricks.




CHAPTER V

THE SETTLER'S HOME.


Just before commencing the house Mr. Hardy heard that a sale of
stock was to take place at an estancia about twenty miles to the
west of Rosario, in consequence of the death of its owner. He
therefore took Lopez and the newly hired peons, and started. He was
likely to be away five days. The boys were to do what work they
judged best in his absence. They determined to set about
brick-making. Fortunately, Hans was accustomed to the work and knew
the way that the natives of the country set about it; the American,
Seth, knew nothing about it, but he was always willing to turn his
hand to anything. First, a piece of ground was cleared of grass,
and was leveled for the reception of the bricks when made; then
some planks were knocked together so as to form a rough table. Two
brick molds were made, these being larger than those used in
England. A piece of ground was chosen near. The turf was taken off,
the soil was dug up, and the peons drove the bullocks round and
round upon it, trampling it into a thick mud, some water being
thrown in when necessary.

As it was sufficiently trampled Terence carried it in a trough and
emptied it on to the table close by, where Hans and Seth fashioned
it in the molds, turning the bricks out on to a plank a foot wide
and six feet long. When this was full the boys took each an end and
carried it off to the prepared ground, where they carefully removed
the bricks with two little slabs of wood, and placed them on the
ground to dry, returning with the empty plank to find, another one
filled for them. It was hard work for all, and from eleven until
three the heat was too great to allow them to work at it; but they
began with daylight, and taking a nap during the heat of the day,
were ready to work on again as long as it was light.

The bricks were, of course, to be dried by the sun, as fuel was too
scarce for them to think of burning them; but this was of little
consequence, especially as they were to be used indoors, the heat
of the sun being quite sufficient to make very fair bricks without
the use of fire.

By the afternoon of the fifth day they had made a quantity of
bricks which would, they calculated, be ample for the construction
of the partition walls of their house.

The boys had just deposited the last brick upon the drying ground,
and were moving away, when Hubert cried, "Stop, Charley, don't move
a step."

Startled by the suddenness and sharpness of the cry, Charley stood
without moving, and was surprised to see his brother pick up one of
the wet bricks in both hands, and dash it upon the ground
immediately in front of where they were walking.

"I've killed him!" Hubert cried triumphantly; and Charley, looking
down, saw a snake of about three feet long writhing in the grass,
his head being completely driven into the ground under the force of
the lump of wet clay. Two or three stamps of their heavy boots
completed the work. And the men coming up to see what was the
matter, Hans said that Charley, who would have trodden upon the
reptile in another instant had not his brother called out, had had
a very narrow escape, for that the snake was the _vivora de la
crux_, so called from a mark like a cross upon his head, and
that his bite was almost always mortal.

It was a pretty snake, with bands of red, white, and black upon his
body. Charley grew very pale at the thought of the narrow escape he
had had, and wrung his brother very hard by the hand; while Hubert
was half-inclined to cry at the thoughts of what might have
happened.

The sun was just setting when they saw a crowd of objects in the
distance; and the boys at once saddled their horses and rode off,
to meet their father and to assist to drive in the animals. They
found, upon reaching him, that he had bought a thousand sheep,
fifty cattle, and twenty horses; three of these last being
remarkably well bred, and fast, and bought specially for their own
riding. Upon their arrival at the house the sheep were turned into
the enclosure, the horses were picketed, and the cattle left to
roam at their will, as it was not thought probable that they would
attempt to return to their distant homes, especially after two
days' fatiguing march.

Mr. Hardy was very much pleased at the sight of the long rows of
bricks lying in front of the house, and gave great credit to all
for the amount of work which had been done during his few days'
absence. The next morning he assigned to every one their share of
the future work. Lopez and one of the peons went out with the
horses, cattle, and sheep. After a time it would not be necessary
to have two men employed for this work, as the cattle and horses,
when they once became accustomed to their new home, would never
wander very far. Charley, Hubert, and Terence were to take three
yoke of oxen and the three plows, and to commence to get the land
in order for cultivation; the ground selected as a beginning being
that lying below the house near the river. Mr. Hardy, Hans, and the
two peons were to work at the house, and Seth was to finish the
well, which, although begun, had been stopped during the press of
more urgent work, and the water required had been fetched from the
stream in a barrel placed in a bullock cart. The way in which adobe
or mud houses are constructed is as follows: The mud is prepared as
for brick-making; but instead of being made into bricks, it is made
at once into the wall. The foundation having been dug out and
leveled, two boards are placed on edge eighteen inches or two feet
apart. These are kept in their places by two pieces of wood nailed
across them. The space between these boards is filled with mud, in
which chopped hay and rushes have been mixed to bind it together.
The boards are left for a day or two, while the builders proceed
with the other part of the wall. They are then taken off, and the
heat of the sun soon dries the wall into a mass almost as hard as a
brick. The boards are then put on again higher up, and the process
repeated until the walls have gained the desired height.

In a fortnight's time the walls were finished, and the bullock
carts were dispatched to Rosario to fetch lime, as Mr. Hardy had
determined to plaster the inside walls to keep in the dust, which
is otherwise continually coming off mud walls. By this time a
considerable extent of land was plowed up, and this was now planted
with maize, yam or sweet potato, and pumpkins: a small portion, as
an experiment, was also planted with potato seeds, but the climate
is almost too warm for the potato to thrive.

Upon the return of the carts with the lime the partition walls were
built with the bricks. The walls finished, all hands went to work
at the roof. This Mr. Hardy had intended to have had regularly
thatched; but during his last visit to Rosario he had heard that
the Indians frequently endeavored in their attacks to set fire to
the roofs, and he therefore determined to use tiles. The carts had
to make two journeys to Rosario to get sufficient tiles and lath.
But at last all was finished; the walls were plastered inside and
whitewashed out; the floor was leveled, beaten down hard, and
covered with a mixture of clay and lime, which hardened into a
firm, level floor.

It was exactly two months from the date of their arrival at the
farm that the doors were hung and the finishing touch put to the
house, and very pleased were they all as they gave three cheers for
their new abode. The tower, they all agreed, was an especial
feature. It was built of adobe up to the height of the other walls,
but the upper story had been built of bricks two thick and laid in
mortar. The top had been embattled; and the boys laughed, and said
the house looked exactly like a little dissenting chapel at home.

It was a joyful day when a fire was first lighted in the kitchen
chimney, which, with that in the sitting-room, was lined with
bricks; and the whole party sat down to a dinner of mutton and wild
fowl of three or four sorts.

The same evening Mr. Hardy told the boys that he should start the
next day to bring up their mamma and the girls, who were all
getting very impatient indeed to be out upon the pampas. He
explained to them that he should bring up iron bedsteads with bedding,
but that he relied upon them to increase their stock of
tables and benches, and to put up shelves, which would do until
regular cupboards and closets could be made. Mr. Hardy thought that
he should not be away much more than a week, as, by making a long
ride to Rosario the next day he should catch the boat, which left
the following morning for Buenos Ayres; and as he had already
written to Mr. Thompson saying when he should probably arrive,
there would be no time lost. The next morning he started before
daylight, the last words of the boys being: "Be sure, papa, to
bring the mosquito curtains for us all; they are getting worse and
worse. We hardly closed an eye all last night."

Hot as the weather now was, the boys worked incessantly at their
carpentering for the next week, and at the end had the satisfaction
of seeing a large table for dining at in the sitting-room, and a
small one to act as a sideboard, two long benches, and two short
ones. In their mother and sisters' rooms there were a table and two
benches, and a table and a long flap to serve as a dresser in the
kitchen. They had also put up two long shelves in each of the
bedrooms, and some nails on the doors for dresses. They were very
tired at the end of the week, but they looked round with a
satisfied look, for they knew they had done their best. The next
morning they were to ride to Rosario to meet the party. The carts
had gone off under the charge of Terence that day.

It was indeed a joyful meeting when Mr. and Mrs. Hardy and the
girls stepped off the steamer; but the first embrace was scarcely
over when the boys exclaimed simultaneously, "Why, girls, what is
the matter with your faces? I should not have known you."

"Oh, it's those dreadful mosquitoes; there were millions on board
the steamer last night. I really thought we should have been eaten
up. Didn't you, mamma?"

"Well, my dear, I thought that they would perhaps leave something
of us till morning, but I felt almost inclined to go mad and jump
overboard. It was a dreadful night. I do hope they are not so bad
here, Frank."

"No, Clara, they are nothing like so bad as they were last night;
but still, as we are so close to the river, they will, no doubt, be
troublesome, and I question whether the beds at the hotel have
mosquito curtains; but if you take my advice, and all sleep with
the sheet over your heads, you will manage to do pretty well. It is
better to be hot than to be bitten all over."

In spite, however, of the expedient of the sheets, all the party
passed a bad night, and were quite ready to get up before daylight
to start for their ride to Mr. Percy's estancia. They were all to
ride, with the exception of Sarah, who took her place in one of the
bullock carts; and they would therefore reach the estancia before
the heat of the day fairly set in. Terence having been told that
Sarah was going to ride, had cut some boughs, with which he made a
sort of arbor over the cart to shade her from the sun--a general
method of the country, and at which Sarah was much gratified. She
had at first felt rather anxious at the thought of going without
her mistress; but Terence assured her: "Sure, miss, and it's
meself, Terence Kelly, that will take care of ye; and no danger
shall come near your pretty face at all, at all; ye'll be quite as
safe as if ye were in the auld country. And as for the bastes, sure
and it's the quietest bastes they are, and niver thought of running
away since the day they were born."

So Sarah took her place without uneasiness, and the others started
at a hand canter for Mr. Percy's estancia.

While at Mr. Thompson's both Mrs. Hardy and the girls had ridden
regularly every day, so that all were quite at their ease on their
horses, and were able to talk away without ceasing of all that had
happened since they parted. The only caution Mr. Hardy had to give,
with a side look at Charley, was, "Look out for armadillo holes;
because I have known fellows who were wonderful at sticking on
their horses come to grief at them."

At which Hubert laughed; and Charley said, "Oh, papa!" and colored
up and laughed, as was his way when his father joked him about his
little weaknesses.

They had not gone more than halfway before they met Mr. Percy, who
had ridden thus far to welcome his guests, for English ladies are
very scarce out on the pampas, and are honored accordingly. One of
the first questions the girls asked after the first greetings were
over was, "Have you many mosquitoes at your estancia, Mr. Percy?"

"Not many," Mr. Percy said; "I have no stream near, and it is only
near water that they are so very bad."

After waiting during the heat of the day at Mr. Percy's, the boys
rode on home, as six guests were altogether beyond Mr. Percy's
power of accommodating.

The next morning the boys were up long before daylight, and went
down to the stream, where, as day broke, they managed to shoot a
swan and five wild ducks, and with these they returned to the
house. Then they swept the place with the greatest care, spread the
table, arranged the benches, set everything off to the best
advantage, and then devoted their whole energies to cooking a very
excellent breakfast, which they were sure the travelers would be
ready for upon their arrival. This was just ready, when, from the
lookout on the tower, they saw the party approaching. The breakfast
was too important to be left, and they were therefore unable to
ride out to meet them. They were at the gate, however, as they
rode up.

"Hurrah, hurrah!" they shouted, and the girls set up a cheer in
return.

The men ran up to take the horses, and in another minute the whole
party were in their new home. The girls raced everywhere wild with
delight, ascended to the lookout, clapped their hands at the sight
of the sheep and cattle, and could hardly be persuaded to take
their things off and sit down to breakfast.

Mrs. Hardy was less loud in her commendation of everything, but she
was greatly pleased with her new home, which was very much more
finished and comfortable than she had expected.

"This is fun, mamma, isn't it?" Maud said. "It is just like a
picnic. How we shall enjoy it, to be sure! May we set-to at once
after breakfast, and wash up?"

"Certainly, Maud; Sarah will not be here for another two hours, and
it is as well that you should begin to make yourselves useful at
once. We shall all have to be upon our mettle, too. See how nicely
the boys have cooked the breakfast. These snatch-cock ducks are
excellent, and the mutton chops done to a turn. They will have a
great laugh at us, if we, the professed cooks, do not do at least
as well."

"Ah, but look at the practice they have been having, mamma."

"Yes, Maud," Hubert said; "and I can tell you it is only two or
three things we can do well. Ducks and geese done like this, and
chops and steaks, are about the limits. If we tried anything else,
we made an awful mess of it: as to puddings, we never attempted
them; and shall be very glad of something in the way of bread, for
we are heartily sick of these flat, flabby cakes."

"Why have you only whitewashed this high middle wall halfway up,
Frank?"

"In the first place, my dear, we fell short of whitewash; and, in
the next place, we are going to set to work at once to put a few light
rafters across, and to nail felt below them, and whitewash it
so as to make a ceiling. It will make the rooms look less bare,
and, what is much more important, it will make them a great deal
cooler."

"You get milk, I hope?"

"Yes," Charley said; "two of the cows of the last lot papa bought
are accustomed to be milked, and Hubert and I have done it up till
now; but we shall hand them over to you, and you girls will have to
learn."

Maud and Ethel looked at each other triumphantly. "Perhaps we know
more than you think," Ethel said.

"Yes," Mrs. Hardy said; "the girls are going to be two very useful
little women. I will tell you a secret. While you boys were at work
of a morning, the girls, as you know, often walked over to Mr.
Williams the farmer's, to learn as much as they could about
poultry, of which he kept a great many. Mrs. Williams saw how
anxious they were to learn to be useful, so she offered to teach
them to milk, and to manage a dairy, and make butter and cheese.
And they worked regularly, till Mrs. Williams told me she thought
that they could make butter as well as she could. It has been a
great secret, for the girls did not wish even their papa to know,
so that it might be a surprise."

"Very well done, little girls," Mr. Hardy said; "it is a surprise
indeed, and a most pleasant one. Mamma kept your secret capitally,
and never as much as whispered a word to me about it."

The boys too were delighted, for they had not tasted butter since
they arrived, and they promised readily enough to make a rough
churn with the least possible delay.

By ten o'clock the carts arrived with Sarah and the luggage, and
then there was work for the afternoon, putting up the bedsteads,
and getting everything into order. The mosquito curtains were
fitted to the beds, and all felt gratified at the thought that they
should be able to set the little bloodsuckers at defiance. The next
day was Sunday, upon which, as usual, no work was to be done. After
breakfast the benches were brought in from the bedrooms, and the
men assembling, Mr. Hardy read prayers, offering up a special
prayer for the blessing and protection of God upon their household.
Afterward Mrs. Hardy and the girls were taken over the place, and
shown the storehouse, and the men's tent, and the river, and the
newly planted field.

"The ground is getting very much burned up, papa," Charley said.
"It was damp enough when we put in the crops, and they are getting
on capitally; but I fear that they were sown too late, and will be
burned up."

"Ah, but I have a plan to prevent that," Mr. Hardy said. "See if
you can think what it is."

Neither of the boys could imagine.

"When I first described the place to you, I told you that there was
a main stream with a smaller one running into it, and that I
thought that this last would be very useful. I examined the ground
very carefully, and I found that the small stream runs for some
distance between two slight swells, which narrow in sharply to each
other just below the house. Now I find that a dam of not more than
fifty feet wide and eight feet high will make a sort of lake a
quarter of a mile long, and averaging fifty yards wide. From this
the water will flow over the whole flat by the river in front of
the house and away to the left, and we shall be able to irrigate at
least three or four hundred acres of land. Upon these we shall be
able to raise four or five crops a year; and one crop in
particular, the alfalfa, a sort of lucern for fattening the cattle
in time of drought, when the grass is all parched up. At that time
cattle ordinarily worth only fifteen dollars can be sold, if fat,
for forty-five or fifty dollars. So you see, boys, there is a grand
prospect before us."

The boys entered enthusiastically into the scheme, and the party
went at once to inspect the spot which Mr. Hardy had fixed upon for
the dam. This, it was agreed, should be commenced the very next
day; and Mr. Hardy said that he had no doubt, if the earth was
properly puddled, or stamped when wet, that it would keep the water
from coming through.

In the afternoon Mrs. Hardy, Maud, and Ethel were taken a ride
round the property, and were fortunate enough to see some
ostriches, to the great delight of the girls.

At tea Mr. Hardy said: "There is one very important point connected
with our place which has hitherto been unaccountably neglected. Do
any of you know what it is?"

The boys and their sisters looked at each other in great perplexity,
and in vain endeavored to think of any important omission.

"I mean," their father said at last, "the place has no name. I
suggest that we fix upon one at once. It is only marked in the
government plan as Lot 473. Now, what name shall it be?"

Innumerable were the suggestions made, but none met with universal
approbation. At last Mrs. Hardy said: "I have heard in England of a
place called Mount Pleasant, though I confess I do not know where
it is. Now, what do you say to Mount Pleasant? It is a mount, and
we mean it to be a very pleasant place before we have done with it."

The approval of the suggestion was general, and amid great applause
it was settled that the house and estate should hereafter go by the
name of "Mount Pleasant."

In the morning the boys were at work at two wheelbarrows, for which
Mr. Hardy had brought out wheels and ironwork; and Mr. Hardy and
the men went down to the stream, and began to strip off the turf
and to dig out a strip of land twenty-five feet wide along the line
where the dam was to come. The earth was then wetted and puddled.
When the barrows were completed they were brought into work; and in
ten days a dam was raised eight feet high, three feet wide at the
top, and twenty-five feet wide at the bottom. In the middle a space
of two feet wide was left, through which the little stream at
present ran. Two posts, with grooves in them, were driven in, one
upon either side of this; and thus the work was left for a few
days, for the sun to bake its surface, while the men were cutting a
trench for the water to run down to the ground to be irrigated.

A small sluice was put at the entrance to this, to regulate the
quantity of water to be allowed to flow, and all was now in
readiness to complete the final operation of closing up the dam. A
quantity of earth was first collected and puddled, and piled on the
top of the dam and on the slopes by its side, so as to be in
readiness, and Mrs. Hardy and the girls came down to watch the
operation.

First a number of boards two feet long, and cut to fit the grooves,
were slipped down into them, forming a solid wall, and then upon
the upper side of these the puddled earth was thrown down into the
water, Terence standing below in the stream and pounding down the
earth with a rammer. The success was complete: in a couple of
hours' time the gap in the dam was filled up, and they had the
satisfaction of seeing the little stream overflowing its banks and
widening out above, while not a drop of water made its escape by
the old channel.

While this work had been going on the boys had been engaged up at
the house. The first thing was to make a churn, then to put up some
large closets and some more shelves, and the bullock carts had to
be sent to Rosario for a fresh supply of planks. This occupied them
until the dam was finished. The girls had tried their first
experiment at butter, and the result had been most satisfactory.
The dinners, too, were pronounced to be an immense improvement upon
the old state of things.

Soon after the dam was finished Hans, who had been too long a rover
to settle down, expressed his desire to leave; and as Mr. Hardy had
determined to lessen his establishment--as, now that the heavy work
was over, if was no longer necessary to keep so many hands--he
offered no objection to his leaving without the notice he had
agreed to give. Wages were high, and Mr. Hardy was desirous of
keeping his remaining capital in hand, in case of his sheep and
cattle being driven off by the Indians. One of the peons was also
discharged, and there remained only Lopez, Seth, Terence, and two
peons.




CHAPTER VI.

A TALE OF THE MEXICAN WAR.


Mr. Hardy was rather surprised at Seth Harper, the Yankee, having
remained so long in his service, as the man had plainly stated,
when first engaged, that he thought it likely that he should not
fix himself, as he expressed it, for many weeks, However, he stayed
on, and had evidently taken a fancy to the boys; and was still more
interested in the girls, whose talk and ways must have been strange
and very pleasant to him after so many years' wandering as a
solitary man. He was generally a man of few words, using signs
where signs would suffice, and making his answers, when obliged to
speak, as brief as possible. This habit of taciturnity was no doubt
acquired from a long life passed either alone or amid dangers where
an unnecessary sound might have cost him his life. To the young
people, however, he would relax from his habitual rule of silence.
Of an evening, when work was over, they would go down to the bench
he had erected outside his hut, and would ask him to tell them
tales of his Indian experiences. Upon one of these occasions
Charley said to him: "But of all the near escapes that you have
had, which was the most hazardous you ever had? which do you
consider was the narrowest touch you ever had of being killed?"

Seth considered for some time in silence, turned his plug of
tobacco in his mouth, expectorated two or three times, as was his
custom when thinking, and then said, "That's not altogether an easy
question to answer. I've been so near wiped out such scores of
times, that it ain't no easy job to say which was the downright
nearest. In thinking it over, I conclude sometimes that one go was
the nearest, sometimes that another; it ain't no ways easy to say
now. But I think that, at the time, I never so much felt that Seth
Harper's time for going down had come, as I did in an affair near
San Louis."

"And how was that, Seth? Do tell us about it," Maud said.

"It's rather a long story, that is," the Yankee said.

"All the better, Seth," Charley said; "at least all the better as
far as we are concerned, if you don't mind telling it."

"No, I don't mind, no how," Seth answered. "I'll just think it
over, and see where to begin."

There was a silence for a few minutes, and the young Hardys
composed themselves comfortably for a good long sitting, and then
Seth Harper began his story.

"Better than five years back, in '47, I were fighting in Mexico. It
wasn't much regular up and down fighting we had, though we had some
toughish battles too, but it were skirmishing here, skirmishing
there, keeping one eye always open, for man, woman, and child hated
us like pison, and it was little mercy that a straggler might
expect if he got caught away from his friends. Their partisans
chiefs, half-soldier, half-robber, did us more harm than the
regulars, and mercy was never given or asked between them and us.
Me and Rube Pearson worked mostly together. We had 'fit' the
Indians out on the prairies for years side by side, and when Uncle
Sam wanted men to lick the Mexicans, we concluded to go in
together. We 'listed as scouts to the 'Rangers,' that is, we agreed
to fight as much as we were wanted to fight, and to go on in front
as scouts, in which way we had many a little scrimmage on our own
account; but we didn't wear any uniform, or do drill, which
couldn't have been expected of us. We shouldn't have been no good
as regulars, and every one knew that there were no better scouts in
the army than Rube Pearson and Seth Harper. Lor', what a fellow
Rube was, to be sure! I ain't a chicken," and the Yankee looked
down at his own bony limbs, "but I was a baby by the side of Rube.
He were six feet four if he were an inch, and so broad that he
looked short unless you saw him by the side of another man. I do
believe Rube Pearson were the strongest man in the world. I have
heard," Seth went on, meditating, "of a chap called Samson: folks
say he were a strong fellow. I never came across any one who had
rightly met him, but a good many have heard speak of him. I should
like to have seen him and Rube in the grips. I expect Rube would
have astonished him, Rube came from Missouri--most of them very big
chaps do. I shouldn't wonder if Samson did, though I never heard
for certain."

The young Hardys had great difficulty to prevent themselves from
laughing aloud at Seth's idea on the subject of Samson. Charley,
however, with a great effort, steadied himself to say, "Samson died
a great many years ago, Seth. His history is in the Bible."

"Is it, though?" Seth said, much interested. "Well now, what did he
do?"

"He carried away the gates of Gaza on his back, Seth."

Seth remained thoughtful for some time. "It all depends on how big
the gates were," he said at last. "That gate down there is a pretty
heavyish one, but Rube Pearson could have carried away two sich as
that, and me sitting on the top of them. What else did he do?"

"He was bound in new cords, and he broke them asunder, Seth."

Seth did not appear to attach much importance to this, and
inquired, "Did he do anything else?"

"He killed three hundred men with the jawbone of an ass."

"He killed--" Seth began, and then paused in sheer astonishment.
Then he looked sharply round: "You're making fun of me, lad."

"No, indeed, Seth," Charley said; "it is quite true."

"What! that a man killed three hundred men with the jawbone of an
ass? It couldn't have been; it was sheer impossible--unless they
were all asleep, and even then it would be an awful job."

"I don't know how it was, Seth, but the Bible tells us, and so it
must be true. I think it was a sort of miracle."

"Oh, it was a miracle!" Seth said thoughtfully, and then remained
silent, evidently pondering in his own mind as to what a miracle
was, but not liking to ask.

"It was a very long time ago, Seth, and they were no doubt a
different people then."

"Was it a very, very long time back?" Seth asked.

"Yes, Seth; a very, very, very long time."

"Ah!" Seth said in a thoughtful but more satisfied tone, "I
understand now. I expect it's that. It's the same thing among the
Indians: they have got stories of chiefs who died ever so long ago,
who used to be tremendous fellows--traditions they call 'em. I
don't expect they were any braver than they are now; but a thing
grows, you see, like a tree, with age. Lor' bless 'em! if they tell
such tales now about a Jew, what will they do some day about Rube
Pearson?"

The young Hardys could stand it no longer, but went off into a
scream of laughter, which even the surprised and offended looks of
the ignorant and simple minded, but shrewd, Yankee could not check.
So offended was he, indeed, that no entreaties or explanations were
sufficient to mollify him, and the story was abruptly broken off.
It was not for two or three days that the boys' explanation and
assurance sufficed; and then, when Charley had explained the whole
history of Samson to him, he said:

"I have no doubt that it is all true, and I wish I could read it
for myself. I can just remember that my mother put a great store on
her Bible, and called it the good book. I can't read myself, and
shouldn't have time to do it if I could; so it's all one as far as
that goes. I am just a hunter and Indian fighter, and I don't know
that for years I have ever stopped so long under a roof as I have
here. My religion is the religion of most of us out on the
prairies. Be honest and true to your word. Stick to a friend to
death, and never kill a man except in fair fight. That's about all,
and I hope it will do; at any rate, it's too late for me to try and
learn a new one now. I listen on a Sunday to your father's reading,
and I wish sometimes I had been taught; and yet it's better as it
is. A man who acted like that wouldn't be much good for a rough
life on the prairies, though I have no doubt it could be done in
the settlements. Now I must go on with my work. If you and the
others will come over to the hut this evening I will go on with
that yarn I was just beginning."

After tea the young Hardys went down to the hut, outside which they
found Seth awaiting their arrival. They were now comfortably
seated, and Seth, without further introduction, went on.

"One day our captain sent for Rube and me, and says, 'I've got a
job for you two scouts. It's a dangerous one, but you won't like it
any the worse for that, I know.'

"'Not a bit,' said Rube with a laugh. He was the lightest-hearted
fellow, was Rube; always gay and jolly, and wouldn't have hurt a
squirrel, except in stand-up fight and as a matter of business.

"'What is it, Cap?' said I; 'you've only got to give us the word,
and we're off.'

"'I've had a message,' he said, 'from Colonel Cabra of their
service, that he is ready to turn traitor, and hand us over some
correspondence of Santa Anna, of which he has somehow got
possessed. Being a traitor, he won't trust any one, and the only
plan we can hit upon is, that he shall make a journey to San
Miguel, thirty miles north of this, as if on business. I am to make
an expedition in that direction, and am to take him prisoner. He
will then hand over the papers. We shall bring him here, and, after
keeping him for a time, let him go on parole. No suspicion will
therefore at any future time arise against him, which there might
be if we met in any other way. The papers are very important, and
the affair must not be suffered to slip through. The country
between this and San Miguel is peaceful enough, but we hear that El
Zeres' band is out somewhere in that direction. He has something
like two hundred cutthroats with him of his own, and there is a
rumor that other bands have joined him. Now I want you to go on
tomorrow to San Miguel. Go in there after dusk, and take up your
quarters at this address; it is a small wine-shop in a street off
the market. Get up as Mexicans; it only requires a big cloak and a
sombrero. You can both speak Spanish well enough to pass muster.
Stay all next day, and till daybreak on the morning afterward, and
then ride back on this road. You will find cut in the first place
whether Cabra has arrived, and in the next place whether El Zeres
is in the neighborhood. I shall only bring forty men, as I do not
wish it to be supposed that I am going on more than a mere scouting
expedition. You understand?'

"'All right, Cap; we'll do it,' I said, and we went off to our
quarters.

"I can't say I altogether liked the job. It was a long way from
headquarters, and, do what they may, two men can't fight more than,
say, ten or a dozen. I was rather surprised to see by Rube's face
that he rather liked it; but I did not find out till late that
night what it was pleased him--then the truth came out.

"'We had better start early, Seth,' said he; 'say at daybreak.'

"'What for, Rube?' I said; 'the Cap said we were to go in after
dusk. It's only thirty miles; we shan't want to start till three
o'clock.'

"Rube laughed. 'I don't want to get there before dusk, but I want
to start at daybreak, and I'll tell you why. You remember Pepita?'

"'There,' said I, 'if I didn't think it had something to do with a
woman. You are always running after some one, Rube. They will get
you into a scrape some day.'

"Rube laughed. 'I am big enough to get out of it if it does, Seth;
but you know I did feel uncommon soft toward Pepita, and really
thought of marrying and taking her back to Missouri.'

"'Only she wouldn't come, Rube?'

"'Just so, Seth,' said he, laughing. So we agreed we would be the
best friends; and she asked me, if ever I went out to San Miguel,
to go and see her. She said her father was generally out, but would
be glad to see me if he were in. She lives in a small hacienda, a
league this side of the town.

"I saw that it was of no use to argue, but I didn't like it. The
Mexican women hated us worse than the men did, and that warn't easy
to do; and many of our fellows had been murdered after being
enticed by them to out-of-the-way places. Still, in the present
case, I did not see that the girl could have expected that Rube
would be there unless the rest of us were near at hand, and I did
not attempt to oppose Rube's wishes."

"So next morning off we started, and by ten o'clock we rode up to
the door of the place which Rube said answered to the description
Pepita had given him. It was a pretty place, with trees round it,
and might have been the residence of a small proprietor such as
Pepita had described her father to be. As we rode up to the door it
opened, and I saw at once that Rube were right, for a dark-eyed
Mexican girl came out and looked at us inquiringly.

"'What can I do for you, senors?' she asked.

"'Don't you remember me, Donna Pepita?' Rube said, laughing, as he
lifted the sombrero which had shaded his face.

"The girl started violently. 'Ah, Signor Americano, is it you? I
might have known, indeed,' she said, smiling, 'by your size, even
wrapped up. This, of course, is Signor Seth--you are always
together. But come in,' she said.

"'Who have you got inside, Donna Pepita?' Rube asked. 'I know that
I can trust you, but I can't trust others, and I don't want it
known I am here.'

"'The house is empty,' Pepita said. 'My father is out. There is
only old Jacinta at home.'

"At this moment an old woman made her appearance at the door, and
at a word from Pepita took our horses, while Pepita signed to us to
enter.

"'Excuse me, signora,' I said. 'We will go first and see our horses
stabled. It is our custom; one never knows when he may want them.'

"I thought Pepita looked annoyed, but it was only for a moment, and
then she said something in one of the country dialects to the old
woman. She nodded her head, and went off round to the back of the
house, we leading our horses, and following her. The stables, I
observed, were singularly large and well kept for a house of its
size; but, to my surprise, instead of going to the long range of
buildings, the old woman led the way to a small shed."

"'Ain't these stables?' said I.

"She shook her head, and said in Spanish, 'They were once, but we
have only two horses. Now they are used as a store for grain; the
master has the key.'

"I could not contradict her, though I believed she was telling me a
lie. However, we fastened our horses up in the shed, put the
pistols from our holsters into our belts, and, taking our rifles in
our hands, entered the house.

"Pepita received us very warmly, and busied herself assisting the
old woman to get us something to eat; after which she and Rube
began love-making, and it really seemed as if the girl meant to
change her mind, and go back with Rube, after all. There was
nothing, in fact, to justify my feeling uneasy, except that, while
Pepita had promised me when I entered the house not to tell the old
woman who we were, I was convinced that she had done so by the
glances of scowling hatred which the old hag threw at us whenever
she came into the room. Still I was uneasy, and shortly made some
excuse to leave the room and saunter round and about the house, to
assure myself that Pepita had spoken truly when she had said that
there was no one there except the old woman and herself. I found
nothing to excite the smallest suspicion, and was therefore content
to return to the room and to throw myself lazily down and go off
for a siesta, in the wakeful intervals of which I could hear that
Pepita had given way, and that the delighted Rube was arranging
with her how she should escape and join him when the army retired;
for of course neither had any idea that her father would consent to
her marrying one of the hated enemies of his country.

"At three o'clock I roused myself and soon after the old woman came
into the room with some lemonade. I observed that Pepita changed
color, but she said nothing, and a moment after, making some
excuse, she left the room. I was about to speak to Rube on the
subject, when the window was darkened with men, Five or six shots
were fired at us, and with a yell a crowd of Mexicans rushed into
the room.

"As they appeared Rube sprang up with the exclamation, 'Trapped, by
thunder!' and then fell flat on his back, shot, I believed, through
the head.

"I rushed to my rifle, seized it, but before I could get it to my
shoulder it was knocked from my hand. Half a dozen fellows threw
themselves upon me, and I was a prisoner. I didn't try to resist
when they laid hands on me, because I knew I should have a knife in
me at once; and though I knew my life was not worth an hour's
purchase--no, nor five minutes'--after I was caught, still upon the
whole it was as well to live that five minutes as not.

"There was such a hubbub and a shouting at first that I couldn't
hear a word, but at last I picked up that they were a party of the
band of El Zeres, who was in the neighborhood, and had been fetched
by a boy that traitress Pepita had dispatched for them directly we
arrived. Pepita herself was wife of one of the other chiefs of the
band. Much fun was made of poor Rube and myself about our courting.
I felt mad with myself for having been caught so foolishly. I
couldn't feel angry with Rube, with him lying dead there, but I was
angry with myself for having listened to him. I oughtn't to have
allowed him to have his own way. I warn't in love, and I ought to
have known that a man's head, when he's after a gal, is no more use
than a pumpkin. While I was thinking this out in my mind I had my
eyes fixed upon poor Rube, whom no one thought of noticing, when
all of a sudden I gave quite a start, for I saw him move. I
couldn't see his face, but I saw a hand stealing gradually out
toward the leg of a man who stood near. Then there was a pause, and
then the other hand began to move. It wasn't at all like the
aimless way that the arms of a badly hit man would move, and I saw
at once, that Rube had been playing 'possum' all along."

"Doing what, Seth?" Ethel asked.

"Just pretending to be dead. I held my breath, for I saw he had
come to the conclusion that he could not be overlooked much longer,
and was going to make a move.

"In another minute there was a crash and a shout as the two men
fell to the ground with their legs knocked clean from under them,
catching hold of other men and dragging them down with them. From
the midst of the confusion Rube leaped to his feet and made a rush
for the window; one man he leveled with a blow of his fist; another
he caught up as if he had been a baby, and hurling him against two
others, brought them on the ground together, and then leaping over
their bodies, dashed through the window before the Mexicans had
recovered from their astonishment. I could have laughed out loud at
the yell of rage and amazement with which they set off in pursuit;
but two or three of them remained to guard me, and I might have got
a knife in my ribs, so I kept quiet. I did just feel so glad to see
Rube was alive, that I hardly remembered that it warn't likely that
either he or I would be so long, for I did not for a moment expect
that he would make good his escape. The odds were too great against
it, especially in broad daylight. Even on horseback it would be
next to impossible. No one but Rube would have attempted such a
thing; but he never stopped to think about odds or chances when his
dander was up. In less than no time I heard a shot or two, then was
a silence for a time, then a shout of triumph. I knew it was all
over, and that Rube was taken again.

"He told me afterward that he had made a dash round to the stable,
where he had found seven or eight Mexicans looking after the
horses; that he had knocked down one or two who were in his way,
had leaped upon the nearest animal, and had made off at the top of
his speed, but that a dozen others were after him in an instant;
and seeing that he would be lassoed and thrown from his horse, he
had stopped and thrown up his arms in token of surrender. Rube's
hands were bound tightly behind him, and he was led back into the
room.

"He gave a loud laugh when he saw me: 'That was a boy's trick;
wasn't it, Seth? But I couldn't have helped it if I had been shot a
minute afterward. There were those fellows' legs moving about me
just as if I was a log of wood. The thoughts came across me, "A
good sharp rap above the ankle and over you'd go;" and when I'd once
thought of it, I was obliged to do it. It was fun, though,
Seth; wasn't it?'

"'It was, as you say, Rube, a boy's trick, and just at present is
hardly the time for that. But don't let us say anything we don't
want overheard, Rube; some of these fellows may understand.'

"'Right you are, Seth. I am main sorry, old hoss, that I've got you
into this scrape, but I expect we shall get out again somehow. I
don't think Rube Pearson is going to be wiped out yet.

"I hoped not too. I warn't a bit tired of life, but I did not see
my way out of it. However, I had one comfort: I knew if any two men
could get out of an ugly mess, those two men were Rube and I.

"We were now told to sit down on the ground in one corner of the
room, two fellows taking up their station by our sides. Then there
was a hot discussion about our fate, which warn't exactly pleasant
to listen to. Some were in favor of hanging us at once, but the
majority were for taking us to the main body under El Zeres
himself, because the chief would be so glad to have us in his
power. He had frequently vowed vengeance against us, for we were
known as the most active scouts in the army, and had led troops in
his pursuit many a time, and had once or twice come very near to
catching him. He had vowed solemnly to his patron saint that if we
fell into his hands he would put us to death with unheard-of
tortures; and as El Zeres was rather celebrated that way--and it
was the anticipation of an unusual treat which decided the majority
to reserve us--it warn't altogether pleasant to listen to. But we
put a good face on the matter, for it would never have done to let
those Mexican varmints see that two backwoodsmen who had 'fit' them
and beaten them time after time were afraid to die when their time
came. Presently there was a little stir, and Pepita came into the
room. I rather think that, though the girl hated us like pison, she
didn't like to come into the room where one of us was, she thought,
laying dead. Now she came in, looking, I will say for her,
uncommonly pretty. She came straight up to us, and looked us full
in the face. I paid no attention to her, but Rube nodded quite
cheerfully.

"'Well, signora, so you were making fools of us, after all! Well, I
ain't the first chap that's been fooled by a pretty woman; that's
one comfort, anyhow. I suppose our engagement is to be considered
at an end, eh?' and he laughed.

"'American dog!' the girl said, with her eyes flashing with rage,
'did you think you were so good-looking that the women of the
nation you tread upon are all to lose their hearts to you? We are
Mexicans, and we hate you!' and she stamped her foot with passion.

"Rube laughed unconcernedly. 'Well, signora, after what you now
permit me to see of you, I am really thankful that you are so kind
and lenient. Thunder! what a fate mine would have been if you had
taken it into your head to marry me!'

"There was a general laugh among the men at the cool way in which
Rube treated the girl, and the enraged Pepita struck him a box on
the ear. It was a hearty one; but Rube's face hardly changed, and
he said, still smiling:

"'We have a custom in the States, Pepita, that when a gal boxes a
man's ears, he has a right to give her a kiss. You are reversing
that; I had the kisses this afternoon, and now I have got the box
on the ear.'

"There was again a roar of laughter among the Mexicans, and the
enraged woman drew a knife, and would have stabbed Rube to the
heart had she not been seized by the men standing round her and
forced from the room. We were kept in that room under a guard so
watchful that any attempt to escape was out of the question, until
three o'clock the next morning. The horses were then saddled, and
we were soon off, Rube and I riding in the midst of the party with
our hands tied before us, so that we could just hold the bridle. We
had found out from the conversation that El Zeres with his band was
about twenty-five miles distant.

"Upon our ride I found an opportunity for the first time since our
capture for a talk with Rube.

"'What do you think of it, Seth?'

"'Looks bad, Rube,' I said. 'If we find El Zeres in camp, I expect
he will make short work of us; if he is away I suppose we shall get
till to-morrow morning. If we are to escape at all it must be
to-night.'

"'Escape!' Rube said scoffingly; 'of course we are going to escape.
The question is, Which one of all the ways open to us are we to
choose?' and he laughed merrily.

"'I don't quite see all the ways yet, Rube; however, we shall see
what sort of a place we are put in to-night, and can then come to
some conclusion. There comes the sun.'

"It was about nine o'clock when we rode into camp; and as we
approached it we acknowledged that a better place against a sudden
surprise could hardly have been chosen. The ground was flat for
miles round; but the site of the camp rose in a slight mound, of
nearly circular form and perhaps one hundred yards across; the
central part was thirty feet or so above the general level. Round
this the band of El Zeres was encamped. Rube and I guessed them at
four hundred strong. There was an attempt at military order, for,
by the bundles of wearing apparel, etc., it was evident that the
men slept round a series of bivouac fires, extending in a circle
round the foot of the mound. Within the line of fires the horses
were picketed in two rows. In the center of the circle, upon the
highest point of the rise, was a small house. As we approached we
could see a stir in the camp: a party of men were mounting their
horses as if for an expedition.

"'I hope El Zeres is on the point of starting somewhere, Rube,' I
said, 'and that he is in too great a hurry to stop to amuse himself
with us as he has threatened: it will give us another day."

"'I hope so,' Rube said; 'it's hard if we don't manage to make
tracks if we get twenty-four hours.'

"On reaching the camp we were ordered to alight; and upon its being
known who we were, there was as many shouts of triumph as if we had
been generals.

"'We are quite celebrated characters, Seth,' Rube said, with his
usual laugh.

"'Ah,' said I, 'we could do without such celebrity just at present.'

"'I don't know,' Rube said. 'If we were mere American soldiers they
would cut our throats at once: as it is they may keep us for a more
ceremonial killing.'

"As we were talking we were being led up toward the central hut,
which was evidently the abode of the chief. He was standing at the
door, tapping his riding-boot impatiently with a heavy whip; a man
was holding his horse in readiness. One of the other leaders was
standing talking to him. 'Jehoshophat!' said I, 'he is going out.
We are safe for awhile.'

"El Zeres was a slight, wiry man, with a small wicked-looking eye,
which gave one the 'squerms' to look at, and a thin mouth curved up
in a cruel smile. He was the savagest and most bloodthirsty of all
the Mexican partisans. The man with him was a tall, swarthy,
ferocious-looking villain.

"El Zeres looked at us for some time without a word. Then he said,
'I've got you at last; I've been on the lookout for you for a long
time past.'

"'It hasn't been our fault we haven't met before,' said Rube; which
was true enough, for we had given him a close chase several times.
El Zeres only gave an evil smile, but the other Mexican exclaimed
savagely, 'You dog, do you dare to answer?' and struck Rube across
the face with all his force with his heavy whip.

"Rube turned quite white, and then with a tremendous effort he
broke the cowhide thongs which fastened his hands--not new rope,
mind you, but cowhide--just as if it had been so much grass, and
went right at the fellow who had struck him. The Mexicans gave a
cry of astonishment, and threw themselves upon Rube, El Zeres
shouting at the top of his voice, 'Don't draw a knife, don't draw a
knife; I'll hang any man who injures him.'

"Rube had got the fellow by the throat with both hands, and though
the crowd of men who threw themselves upon him pulled him to the
ground, he never let go, but brought the man down too. I knew it
was all over with him. I was quite mad to join in and help; but
though I tugged and strained at my thongs till they cut right into
my wrists, I could not succeed. For awhile they lay in a struggling
mass on the ground, and then Rube shook himself free of them for a
moment and got to his feet. A dozen men were upon him in a moment;
but he was blind with rage, and would not have minded if it had
been a thousand. Those who came in front went down as if shot
before the blows of his fists; but others leaped on him from
behind, and then the struggle began again. I never saw sich a thing
before, and never shall again. It was downright awful. They could
not hold his arms. Their weight, over and over again, got him upon
the ground, and over and over again he was up on his feet; but his
arms, somehow, they could not hold, and the work he did with them
was awful. Anything he hit went down, and when he could not hit he
gripped. It was like a terrier with rats: he caught 'em by the
throat, and when he did it was all up with them. Some of them made
a grab for their knives, but they had no time to use them. In a
moment their eyes would seem to start from their heads; and then,
as he threw 'em away, they fell in a dead lump."

How long this went on I can't say--some minutes, though--when a
Mexican snatched the lasso, which every Mexican carries, from the
saddle of El Zeres' horse, and dropped the noose over Rube's neck.
In another moment he was lying half-strangled upon the ground, and
a dozen hands bound his hands behind him and his feet together with
cowhide thongs. Then they stood looking at him as if he was some
devil. And no wonder. Seven Mexicans lay dead on the ground, and
many more were lying panting and bleeding around. The Mexicans are
an active race of men, but not strong--nothing like an average
American--and Rube at any time was a giant even among us scouts;
and in his rage he seemed to have ten times his natural strength.
El Zeres had never moved; and except shouting to his men not to use
their knives, he had taken no part whatever in it--watching the
struggle with that cruel smile, as if it had only been a terrier
attacked by rats. When it was over he mounted his horse, and said
to one of his lieutenants who was standing near: 'I must go now. I
leave these men in your charge, Pedro. Fasten that one's hands
behind him; then take them inside. Put them in the inner room.
Clear my things out. Take ten picked men, and don't let any one in
or out till I return. I shall be back before daybreak. I shall
amuse myself to-day with thinking how I shall try the nerves of
these Americanos. I can promise you all a handsome amusement of
some sort, anyhow.' And he rode off.

"I have often faced death, and ain't afraid of it; but the
unruffled face and the cruel smile of that man made my flesh creep
on my bones, as I thought of what Rube and I had got to go through
the next day. And now," Seth said, breaking off, "it's getting
late, and I haven't talked such a heap for years. I will finish my
yarn another night."

Very warm were the young Hardys in their thanks to Seth for this
exciting story from his own experience, and great was the
discussion among themselves that arose as to how the two Americans
could possibly have made their escape from their terrible
predicament.




CHAPTER VII.

SETH CONTINUES HIS NARRATIVE OF THE MEXICAN ADVENTURE.


The next evening the young Hardys again took their seats by Seth,
and, without any delay, he went on with his story.

"After El Zeres had ridden off, the lieutenant, Pedro, selected ten
from the men around--for pretty well the whole camp had gathered
round us--and told them, in the first place, to clear the house of
the hammock and other belongings of El Zeres, and when this was
done to carry Rube in. Bound and helpless as he was, there was a
visible repugnance on the part of the men to touch him, so great
was the fear which his tremendous strength had excited. However,
six of them took him up and carried him into the hut--for it was
little more--and threw him down like a log in the inner room. I
walked in of my own accord, and sat down on the ground near him. I
heard Pedro give orders to some of the men outside to take away the
dead bodies and bury them, and for the rest to go down to their
campfires. Then he entered the house with his other four men.

"The house was just the ordinary Mexican hut. It contained two
rooms, or rather, one room partially divided into two, the inner
compartment forming the sleeping-room of the family. There was no
door between the rooms, nor was there any window; the light
entering through the wide opening into the outer room. The outer
room had no regular windows, only some chinks or loopholes, through
which a certain amount of light could come; but these were stopped
up with straw, for the Mexicans are a chilly people; and as the
door was always open, plenty of light came in through it. The house
was not built of adobe, as are most Mexican huts, but of stones,
with the interstices plastered with mud."

"Never in my life did I feel that the game was up as I did when I
sat down there and looked round. The men were seated on the ground
in the next room, in full view of us, and every now and then one
walked in to look at us. Helpless as we were, they had an uneasy
doubt of what we might do. Rube still lay at full length on the
ground. For a quarter of an hour I did not speak, as I thought it
best to let him cool and quiet down a bit; and I thought and
thought, but I couldn't, for the life of me, think out any plan of
getting clear away. At last I thought I would stir Rube up."

'How do you feel, Rube?'

'Well, I feel just about tired out,' Rube said; 'just as if I had
walked a hundred miles right on end. I've been a fool again, Seth,
sure enough; but I've given some of them goss, that's a comfort.
I'll just take a sleep for a few hours, and then we'll see about
this business. 'Hello, there!' he shouted in Spanish; 'water.' For
awhile no one attended to him; but he continued to shout, and I
joined him, so that the men in the next room were obliged to leave
off their talk to do as we wanted them. One of them got up and took
a large copper pan, filled it with water from a skin, and placed it
down between us; and then giving me a hearty kick--even then he did
not dare kick Rube--went back to his pillow. It took some trouble
and much rolling over before we could get so as to get our mouths
over the pan to drink. When we had satisfied our thirst we rolled
over again, made ourselves as comfortable as we could under the
circumstances--which warn't saying much--and in a short time were
both asleep, for we had only been four hours in bed for two nights.
I was pretty well accustomed to sleep on the ground, and I slept
without waking for nearly seven hours; for when I did so I saw at
once it was nearly sunset. I can't say it was an agreeable waking,
that; for I felt as if my shoulders were out of joint, and that I
had two bands of red-hot iron round my wrists. My first move was to
roll over and have another drink. Then I sat up and looked round.
Rube was sitting up, looking at me.

'So you are awake, Seth?'

'Yes,' said I. 'Are you all right now, Rube?'

'As right as can be,' Rube said in his ordinary cheerful tone;
'except that I feel as if a fellow was sawing away at my ankles and
wrists with a blunt knife.'

'That's about the state of my wrists,' I said.

'I don't mind my wrists so much,' he said; 'it's my feet bothers
me. I shall be such a time before I can walk.'

'You needn't bother about that, Rube,' said I. 'It isn't much more
walking your feet have got to do.'

'I hope they've got more to do than they've ever done yet, old
hoss,' Rube said; 'at any rate, they've got a good thirty miles to
do to-night.'

'Are you in earnest, Rube?' said I.

'Never more so,' said he. 'All we've got to do is to get away, and
then tramp it.'

'How do you mean to get away, Rube?'

'Easy enough,' Rube said carelessly. 'Get our hands loose first,
then our legs, then kill them fellows and make tracks.'

Now it ain't very often that I larf out. I don't suppose I've
larfed right out three times since I was a boy; but Rube's coolness
tickled me so that I larfed out like a hyena. When I began, Rube he
began; and when he larfed it was tremendous. I don't think Rube
knew what I war larfin' at; but he told me afterward he larfed to
see me larf, which, in all the time we had been together, he hadn't
seen. What made us larf worse was that the Mexicans were so
startled that they seized their rifles and rushed to the doorway,
and stood looking at us as if we were wild beasts. Keeping the guns
pointed at us, they walked round very carefully, and felt our cords
to see that they were all right; and finding they were, went back
into the next room, savage and rather scared. Our larfing made them
terribly uneasy, I could see; and they had an idea we couldn't have
larfed like that if we hadn't some idea of getting away. When we
had done I said:

'Now, Rube, tell me what you have planned out, that is, if you're
downright in arnest.'

'In arnest!' says he, almost angry; 'of course I'm in arnest. Do
you think I'm going to be fool enough to stop here to be frizzled
and sliced by that El Zeres to-morrow? 'No, it's just as I said: we
must get our hands free; we must kill all these fellows, and be
off.'

'But how are we to get our hands free, Rube?'

'That's the only point I can't make out,' he said. 'If these
fellows would leave us alone, it would be easy enough; we could
gnaw through each other's thongs in ten minutes; but they won't let
us do that. All the rest is easy enough. Just think it over, Seth.'

I did think it over, but I did not see my way to getting rid of our
thongs. That done, the rest was possible enough. If we could get
hold of a couple of rifles and take them by surprise, so as to
clear off four or five before they could get fairly on their legs,
I had little doubt that we could manage the rest. No doubt they
would shut the door as it got later, and it was possible that the
row might not be heard. If that was managed, I was sure we could
crawl through the lines and get off. Yes, it was straightforward
enough if we could but get rid of our cords. As I was thinking it
over my eye fell upon the pan of water. An idea came across me.

'I don't know, Rube, that it would stretch them enough to slip our
hands out, but if we could wet these hide thongs by dipping them in
water, we might stretch them a bit, anyhow, and ease them.'

'That would be something, Seth, anyhow.'

We shuffled by turn, next to the pan, and leaned back so that our
wrists were fairly in the water. The water relieved the pain, and I
could feel the thongs give a little, but it was only a little; they
had been tied too carefully and well to render it possible to
unloose them. We came to this conclusion after an hour's straining,
and at the cost of no little pain. We agreed it was no use, and sat
thinking over what was the next thing to do, and taking it by turns
to cool our wrists. We did not altogether give up hope, as we
agreed that we must try, in the short intervals between the visits
of the Mexicans, to untie the knots of each other's cords with
our teeth. It was possible, anyhow, for the knots would draw pretty
easy now that the leather was wet. Suddenly an idea struck me. I
squeezed myself back to the wall, and leaned against it.

'It's all right, Rube,' said I; 'our cords are as good as off.'
'How's that?' said Rube. 'This wall is made of rough stones, Rube,
and there are plenty of sharp edges sticking out through the mud.
They will cut through these wet thongs like knives.'

'Hoorah!' shouted Rube at the top of his voice, with a yell that
startled the Mexicans from their seats again, and then he commenced
thundering out one of the songs the soldiers used to sing on the
march. Several Mexicans came running up from the camp to ask if
anything was the matter, Rube's yell having reached their ears.
They were told it was only those mad Americanos amusing themselves,
and with many angry threats of the different sort of yells we
should give next day, they sauntered off again.

'That's rather a good thing,' Rube said to me when he stopped
making a noise. 'If any sound of the little fight we are going to
have here reaches the camp, they will put it down to us shouting
for our amusement.'

By this time it had become perfectly dark, and the guard lighted a
fire in the middle of the room in which they sat. A pile of wood
had been brought in for the purpose, and when the smoke had a
little abated, the door was shut and barred. Every three or four
minutes one of the men would take a lighted brand and come in to
see that we were not near to each other, and that all was secure.

'What time shall we begin, Seth?' Rube asked.

'In another hour or so,' I said; 'by eight. They will be gambling
and quarreling round the fire by nine o'clock; and the talk, and
the noise of the horses, will prevent them hearing anything here.
We must not think of going out for two hours later, and even then
they won't be all asleep; but we dare not put it off later, for El
Zeres may come back earlier than he said he should, and if he does
it's all up with us. Let's arrange our plans for good,' I said,
'and then we can each sit up against a corner and pretend to go to
sleep. When I am going to cut my cord I will give a very little
cough, and then you do the same when you are free. We had better do
that before very long, for you will be a long time before you will
get any feeling in your feet. Rub them as hard as you can; but you
can't do that till you get the use of your hands. When you are
quite ready, snore gently; I'll answer in the same way if I am
ready. Then we will keep quiet till the fellow comes in again, and
the moment he is gone let us both creep forward: choose a time when
the fire is burning low. You creep round your side of the room; I
will keep mine, till we meet in the corner where the rifles are
piled. We must then open the pans, and shake all the powder out,
and, when that is done, each take hold of one by the barrel and
hit. Do you quite understand and agree?'

'Quite, Seth. Is there anything else?'

'Yes,' I said; 'you take the door, I will take the corner where the
arms are. We must try and keep them from coming within arm's reach
to use their knives; but if either of us are hard pressed he must
call, and the other must come to him.'

'All right, old hoss, I long to be at work.'

'So do I,' I said. 'And now don't let's have any more talk; shut
your eyes, and keep quiet till I cough.'

The men were engaged now in talking over the deeds in which they
had been engaged, and so revolting and cold-blooded were the
atrocities of which they boasted that I longed for the time when
Rube and I should fall upon them. In half an hour I gave the
signal. I had picked out a sharp stone in a convenient position,
and it was not a minute before I felt the coil of cords loosen with
a sudden jerk, and knew that I was free. I found my hands were
completely numbed, and it was a long time before I could restore
the circulation. It must have been a good half-hour before Rube
gave the signal that he had got the cords that bound his ankles
loosened, as of course he could not begin at them until he had the
free use of his hands. As I had anticipated, the visits of our
guards were rather less frequent now that they believed us to be
asleep. Fortunately, the din and talk in the next room was now loud
and incessant, which enabled Rube to rub, and even stamp his feet a
little. In half an hour I heard a snore, which I answered. The
moment the next visit was over I crawled to the door, and then,
lying pretty nigh on my stomach, crept round to where the rifles
were piled.

The fire was burning low, and the guard were sitting so closely
round it that the lower part of the room was in black shadow; so
that, though I was looking out for Rube, I didn't see him till he
was close enough to touch me. It was a delicate job opening all the
pans, but we did it without making as much noise as would scare a
deer, and then, each taking a rifle by the barrel, we were ready.
Pedro was just telling a story of how he had forced an old man to
say where his money was hid, by torturing his daughters before his
eyes, and how, when he had told his secret, and the money was
obtained, he had fastened them up, and set the house alight--a
story which was received with shouts of approving laughter. As he
finished down came the butt of Rube's rifle on his head with a
squelch, while mine did the same on the head of the next man. For
an instant there was a pause of astonishment, for no one knew
exactly what had happened; then there was a wild yell of surprise
and fear, as our rifles came down again with a crashing thud. All
leaped to their feet, the man I aimed my next blow at rolling over,
and just escaping it. Rube was more lucky, and just got his man as
he was rising.

'Hoorah! Seth,' he shouted, 'five down out of eleven.'

We drew back now to our posts as agreed on, and the Mexicans
drawing their knives, made a rush forward. They ain't cowards, the
Mexicans--I will say that for them; and when these fellows found
they were caught like rats in a trap, they fought desperately. They
knew there was no mercy to expect from Rube and me. They divided,
and three came at each of us. Two went down as if they were shot,
and I was just whirling my rifle for another blow, when I heard a
crash, and then a shout from Rube,

'Help, Seth!'

I saw at once what had happened. Rube's rifle, as he was making a
blow at a man, had struck a beam over his head, and the shock had
made it fly from his hands across the room. In another moment the
two Mexicans were upon him with their knives. He hit out wildly,
but he got a gash across the forehead and another on the arm in a
moment. I made two strides across the hut, and the Mexicans who
were attacking me, instead of trying to prevent me, made a rush to
the corner where their rifles were, which I had left unguarded. It
was a fatal mistake. My gun came down crash upon the head of one of
Rube's assailants before he knew of my approach, and another minute
did for the second. As I turned from him the remaining two Mexicans
leveled at Rube, who had rushed across to pick up his gun, and
myself, and gave a cry as the flints fell and there was no report.
For a minute or two they fought desperately with the guns; but it
was no use, and it was soon over, and we stood the masters of the
hut, with eleven dead men round us. For they were dead every one,
for we examined them. The stocks of our guns had broken with the
first blow, and the rest had been given with the iron, and in no
case had we to hit twice. I don't say it was anything like Samson
and the donkey's jaw-bone you were telling me about, but it war
very fair hitting. It was scarcely over when we heard several men
come running up outside.

'Is anything the matter, Pedro? We thought we heard a yell.'

'No, nothing,' I said, imitating Pedro's gruff voice, which I felt
sure they would not know through the door; 'it's only these mad
Americanos yelling.'

The men were apparently quite satisfied with the explanation, for
in a minute or two we heard their voices receding, and then all
became still. Presently we opened the door and looked out. Many of
the fires had begun to burn low, but round others there was still a
sound of laughing and singing.

'Another hour,' Rube said, 'and they will all be asleep,'

We threw some more wood on the fire, took some tobacco and
cigarette paper from the pocket of one of the Mexicans, and sat
down to smoke comfortably. We were both plaguey anxious, and
couldn't pretend we warn't, for at any moment that rascal El Zeres
might arrive, and then it would be all up with us. At last we
agreed that we could not stand it any longer, and made up our minds
to go outside and sit down against the wall of the hut till it was
safe to make a start, and then if we heard horses coming in the
distance we could make a move at once. We each took a hat and
cloak, a brace of pistols, and a rifle, and went out. There we sat
for another hour, till the camp got quiet enough to make the
attempt. Even then we could hear by the talking that many of the
men were still awake, but we dared not wait any longer, for we
calculated that it must be near eleven o'clock already. We chose a
place where the fires had burned lowest, and where everything was
quiet, and, crawling along upon the ground, we were soon down among
the horses. We had been too long among the Indians to have a bit of
fear about getting through these fellows; and, lying on our faces
we crawled along, sometimes almost touching them, for they lay very
close together, but making no more noise than two big snakes. A
quarter of an hour of this and we were through them, and far enough
out on the plain to be able to get up on to our feet and break into
a long stride. Ten more minutes and we broke into a run: there was no
fear now of our steps being heard.

'Done them, by thunder!' Rube said; 'won't El Zeres curse?'

We might have been a mile and a half from the camp, when in the
quiet night air we heard the sound of the howl of a dog. We both
stopped as if we were shot.

'Thunder!' Rube exclaimed furiously, 'if we haven't forgot the
bloodhound.'

I knew what Rube meant, for it was a well-known matter of boast of
El Zeres that no one could ever escape him, for that his bloodhound
would track them to the end of the world.

'There's only one thing to be done,' I said; 'we must go back and
kill that critter.'

'Wait, Seth,' Rube said; 'we don't know where the darned brute is
kept. He warn't up at the hut, and we might waste an hour in
finding him, and when we did, he ain't a critter to be wiped out
like a babby.'

'We must risk it, Rube.' I said. 'It's all up with us if he's once
put on our track.' Rube made no answer, and we turned toward the
camp.

We hadn't gone twenty yards when Rube said, 'Listen.' I listened,
and sure enough I could hear out on the plain ahead a low
trampling. There was no need of any more talk. We ran forward as
hard as we could go, turning a little out of our course to let the
horsemen who were coming pass us.

'In another quarter of an hour they'll know all about it, Rube. It
will take them as much more to get ready and put the dog on the
track. They'll have some trouble in getting him to take up our
scent with all that blood in the room. I should say we may fairly
reckon on three-quarters of an hour before, they're well out of the
camp.'

'That's about it,' Rube said. 'They will have to tie the dog, so as
not to lose him in the darkness. They won't gain on us very fast
for the next two hours; we can keep this up for that at a pinch.
After that, if we don't strike water, we are done for.'

'We passed a stream yesterday, Rube; how far was it back?'

'About an hour after daylight. Yes, nearly three hours from camp.
But we are going faster now than we did then. We ought to do it in
two hours.'

"After this we didn't say any more. We wanted all our breath. It
was well for us we had both been tramping half our lives, and that
our legs had saved our necks more times than once on the prairies.
We were both pretty confident we could run sixteen miles in two
hours. But we dared not run straight. We knew that if they found we
were keeping a line, they would let the dog go their best pace and
gallop alongside; so we had to zigzag, sometimes going almost back
upon our own track. We did not do this so often as we should have
done if we had had more time."

"But how did you know which way to go, Seth," Hubert asked.

"We went by the stars," Seth said. "It was easier than it would
have been by day, for when the sun's right overhead, it ain't a
very straightforward matter to know how you are going; but there
would be no difficulty then to scouts like Rube and me. Well, we
had run, maybe, an hour and a quarter when we heard a faint, short
bark far behind."

'The brute is on our trail,' Rube said; 'they haven't given us so
much start as I looked for. Another half-hour and he will be at our
heels sure enough.'

I felt this was true, and felt very bad-like for a bit. In another
quarter of an hour the bark was a good bit nearer, and we couldn't
go no faster than we were going. All of a sudden I said to Rube,
'Rube, I've heard them dogs lose their smell if they taste blood.
Let's try it; it's our only chance. Here, give me a cut in the arm,
I can spare it better than you can; you lost a lot to-night from
that cut.'

We stopped a minute. I tore off the sleeve of my hunting shirt, and
then Rube gave me a bit of a cut on the arm. I let the blood run
till the sleeve was soaked and dripping, then Rube tore off a strip
from his shirt and bandaged my arm up tight. We rolled the sleeve
in a ball and threw it down, then took a turn, made a zigzag or two
to puzzle the brute, and then went on our line again. For another
ten minutes we could hear the barking get nearer and nearer, and
then it stopped all of a sudden. On we went, and it was half an
hour again before we heard it, and then it was a long way off.

'I expect we're all right now, Seth,' Rube said.

'I guess we are,' I said; 'but the sooner we strike water the
better I shall be pleased.'

It was nigh another half-hour, and we were both pretty nigh done,
when we came upon the stream, and the dog couldn't have been more
than a mile off. It was a bit of a thing five or six yards wide,
and a foot or two deep in the middle.

'Which way?' says Rube. 'Up's our nearest way, so we had better go
down.'

'No, no,' says I; 'they're sure to suspect that we shall try the
wrong course to throw them off, so let's take the right.'

Without another word up stream we went, as hard as we could run. In
a few minutes we heard the dog stop barking, when we might have
been half a mile up stream.

'We must get out of this, Rube,' I said. 'Whichever way they try
with the dog, they are safe to send horsemen both ways.'

'Which side shall we get out, Seth?'

'It don't matter,' I said; 'it's all a chance which side they take
the dog. Let's take our own side.'

Out we got; and we hadn't ran a quarter of a mile before we heard a
tramping of horses coming along by the stream. We stopped to
listen, for we knew if they had the dog with them, and if he was on
our side of the river, we were as good as dead.

'If they take the trail, Seth,' Rube said, 'it's all up with us.
Don't let's run any more. We are men enough to shoot the four first
who come up, and I only hope one of them may be El Zeres; that'll
leave us a pistol each, and we will keep them for ourselves. Better
do that, by a long way, than be pulled to pieces with hot pincers.'

'A long way, Rube,' I said. 'That's agreed, then. When I give the
word, put the barrel against your eye and fire; that's a pretty
safe shot.'

As the Mexicans got to the place where we had got out, we stopped
and held our breath. There was no pause--on they went; another
minute, and we felt certain they had passed the spot.

'Saved, by thunder!' Rube said; and we turned and went off at a
steady trot that we could keep up for hours. 'How long shall we
get, do you think, Seth?'

'That all depends how long they follow down stream. They can't tell
how far we are ahead. I should think they will go two miles down;
then they will cross the stream and come back; and if they don't
happen to be on the right side of the stream as they pass where we
got out, they will go up another two or three miles, and near as
much down, before they strike the trail. We're pretty safe of half
an hour's start, and we might get, if we're lucky, near an hour. We
ain't safe yet, Rube, by a long way. It's near thirty miles from
Pepita's to the camp. We've come sixteen of it good--eighteen I
should say; we have got another twelve to the road, and we ain't
safe then. No; our only chance is to come across a hacienda and get
horses. There are a good many scattered about; but it's so dark we
might pass within fifty yards and not see it. There won't be a
streak of daylight till four, and it ain't two yet.'

'Not far off, Seth.' By this time we had got our wind again, and
quickened up into a fast swing; but our work had told on us, and we
couldn't have gone much over seven miles an hour. Several times, as
we went on, we could hear a trampling in the dark, and knew that we
had scared some horses; but though we had a lasso we had brought
with us, we might as well have tried to catch a bird with it. In an
hour we heard the dog again, but it was a long way behind. There
was nothing for it now but hard running, and we were still seven
miles from the road, and even that didn't mean safety. I began to
think we were going to lose the race, after all. In another quarter
of an hour we stopped suddenly.

'Thunder!' said Rube; 'what's that?' Some animal, that had been
lying down, got up just in front of us.

'It's a horse! Your lasso, Rube!' Rube, however, had made a
tremendous rush forward, and, before the animal could stretch
himself into a gallop, had got close, and grasped him by the mane.

'It's no go,' Rube said, as the horse made a step forward; 'he's an
old un, dead lame.'

'Don't leave go, Rube,' I said. 'He'll do for our turn.' He was a
miserable old beast, but I felt that he would do as well as the
best horse in the world for us. Rube saw my meaning and in a minute
we were both astride on his back. He tottered, and I thought he'd
have gone down on his head. Kicking weren't of no good; so I out
with my knife and gave him a prod, and off we went. It weren't far,
some two hundred yards or so, but it was the way I wanted him,
right across the line we were going. Then down he tumbled.

'All right,' said I. 'You've done your work, old man; but you
mustn't lay here, or they may light upon you and guess what's been
up.'

So we lugged him on to his feet, gave him another prod, which sent
him limping off; and on we went on our course, sure that we were at
last safe, for we had thrown the bloodhound altogether off our
trail. For a mile or so we kept right away from our course, for
fear that they should keep straight on, and, missing the scent,
lead the dog across the trail, and so pick it up again; then we
turned and made straight for the road.

'I don't think, Rube,' I said after awhile, 'that we shall strike
the road far off where we left it at Pepita's.'

'No, I expect not, Seth. We had better bear a little more to the
south, for they will most likely make for Pepita's, and day will
soon be breaking now.'

'We'd better not strike the road at all, Rube; likely enough, they
will follow it down for a few miles in hopes of picking us up.'

'I hope they will,' Rube said; 'and I expect so. Won't it be a
lark, just?'

'What do you mean, Rube?'

'Mean? Why, didn't the Cap tell us to leave San Miguel before
daybreak, and to ride to meet him? It warn't likely that he meant
us to ride more than ten miles or so; so that he will be within
that distance of San Miguel by an hour after daybreak, and will be
at Pepita's half an hour later. If them fellows ride on, they are
safe to fall into as nice a trap as--'

'Jehoshophat!' said I. 'You're right, Rube. Let's make tracks. It
can't be more than another four or five miles to the road, and day
will break in half an hour.'

'How strong do you reckon them, Seth?'

'Fifty or sixty,' said I, 'by the regular sound of the horses.'

'That's about what I guessed,' Rube said. 'There are forty of our
chaps, and they will be fresh. We'll give 'em goss.'

"We had now long ceased to hear the baying of the dog, which had
been most unpleasantly clear when we got off the old hoss that had
done us such a good turn. We made sure, too, that we were well
ahead, for they would likely wait an hour in trying to pick up the
trail again. Daylight came at last; and when it was light enough to
see we stopped and took a look from a slight rise, and there,
across the plain, we could see the road just where we expected.
Nothing was moving upon it, nor, looking back, could we see any
sign of the Mexicans. Away to the left, a mile or so, we could see
a clump of trees, and something like the roof of a house among
them. This, we had no doubt, was Pepita's. About a mile down the
road the other way was a biggish wood, through which the road ran."

'Let's make for that wood, Rube, and wait; the Cap will be up in
another half-hour, and it ain't likely the Mexicans will be along
much before that. They're likely to stop for a drink at Pepita's.'

In another ten minutes we were in shelter in the wood, taking care
not to get upon the road, in case the Mexicans should come along
with the hound before our men. We hadn't been there twenty minutes
before we both heard a trampling of horses; but it was a minute or
two more before we could decide which way they were coming. At
last, to our great comfort, we found it was the right way. Just
before they came up I had an idea I caught a sound from the other
way, but I couldn't have sworn to it. We lay till the troop came
fairly up, as it might be another party of Mexicans; but it was all
right, and we jumped out, with a cheer, into the middle of them.
Mighty surprised they were to see us, on foot, and all dust and
sweat. Rube's face, too, was tied up; and altogether we didn't look
quite ourselves. They all began to talk at once; but I held up my
hand urgent, and when they saw it was something particular they
shut up, and I said to the Cap: 'Don't ask no questions, Cap; I'll
tell you all arterwards. El Zeres with about fifty of his men will
be here in about three minutes, I reckon. They've ridden thirty
miles, and the beasts ain't fresh; so it's your own fault if one
gets away.'

The Cap didn't waste a moment in words. He ordered half his men to
ride back two hundred yards, and to charge when they heard his
whistle; and he and the rest turned off into the wood, which was
very thick, and screened 'em from any one passing. Rube and I, not
having horses, were no good for a charge; so we went on in the
wood, as near as we could guess, halfway between them, so as to be
ready to jump out and join in the skrimmage. It all takes some time
to tell, but it didn't take two minutes to do, and in another
minute we could hear the Mexicans close. On they came: we knew now
that they had passed the Cap, and we clutched our rifles tight and
peered out through the leaves. On they came, and we could see El
Zeres riding first, with the bloodhound trotting along by the side
of his horse. Just as he was opposite we heard a loud, shrill
whistle, and the Mexicans halted with a look of uneasiness. They
weren't left to wonder long, for in a moment there was a trampling
of horses, and down came our fellows on both sides of them. Just
before they got up we stepped forward with our rifles up.

'El Zeres!' Rube shouted, and startled as the Mexican was, he
looked round. He had just time to see who it was, when Rube's ball
hit him in the head, and down he went as dead as a stone. The hound
turned and came right at us with a deep growl of rage. I sent a
ball through his chest and rolled him over, and just as I did so
our fellows came down upon the Mexicans. It was a fierce fight, for
the Mexicans were in a trap, and knew that there was no mercy for
them. Rube and I sprang out and paid a good many of 'em off for the
scare they had given us. We wiped them right out to the last man,
losing only six ourselves. I don't know as ever I see a better
skrimmage while it lasted. After it was over Rube and I mounted two
of their horses, and rode on with the rest of them to San Miguel;
but before we started off we told our story to the Cap, and he sent
a couple of men back with a dispatch to the general, asking for
five hundred men to destroy El Zeres' band at a blow. We stopped at
Pepita's, and I never see a girl have a much worse scare than we
gave her. She made sure it was El Zeres, and came running out to
see if he had caught us; and when she found that she had fallen
into the hands of the Rangers, and that we were among them, she was
as white as a shirt in a minute. She was plucky enough, though; for
as soon as she could get her tongue she cursed us like a wild
woman. I expect she made sure we should have shot her for her
treachery--and a good many of our bands would have done so right on
end--but the Rangers never touched women. However, she warn't to go
scot free; so we got fire, and set the house and stable in a blaze.

As we rode off Rube shouted out, 'If you change your mind again
about coming with me to Missouri, you just drop me a line, Pepita.'

"I thought, as I looked at her, it was lucky for Rube she hadn't a
rifle in her hand; she'd have shot him if she had been hung for it
a minute afterward. We rode on to San Miguel, took Colonel Cabra
prisoner, with his papers, and sent him back under an escort. At
dusk the same day we got on our horses and rode back to where
Pepita's house had stood, and where our captain expected the troops
he had sent for. In half an hour they came up. They had a couple of
hours to rest their horses, and then Rube and I led them straight
to the Mexican camp. No doubt they heard us coming when we were
close, but made sure it was El Zeres, and so didn't disturb
themselves; and it warn't till we had wheeled round and fairly
surrounded them that they smelt a rat. But it was too late then,
for in another minute we were down upon them, and I don't believe
twenty out of the whole lot got away. It was, altogether, one of
the most successful businesses in the whole war. And I think that's
about all the story."

"Oh, thank you very much, Seth. It is a most exciting story. And
what became of Rube?"

"Rube married a year after we got back to the States, and took up a
clearing and settled down. It was then I felt lonesome, and made up
my mind to go south for awhile. I promised Rube that I would go and
settle down by him after a bit, and I've concluded that it's about
time to do so. I've saved a few hundred dollars out here, and I am
going to start to-morrow morning at daybreak to catch the steamer
at Rosario. I shall go up straight from Buenos Ayres to New
Orleans, and a steamer will take me up the river in three days to
Rube's location. Good-by, all of you. I told your father this
afternoon."

There was a hearty leave-taking, and many expressions of regret at
his leaving; and after a shake of the hand, and many good wishes,
the young Hardys went up to the house, really sorry to part with
their Yankee friend.




CHAPTER VIII.

FARM WORK AND AMUSEMENTS.


Although but two months had elapsed since the ground was plowed up
and planted, the progress made by the crop of maize and pumpkins
was surprising: the former, especially, was now nearly six feet
high. This rapid growth was the result of the extreme fertility of
the virgin soil, aided by the late abundant supply of water, and
the heat of the sun. The maize had given them all a great deal to
do; for when it was about six inches high it had to be thinned out
so that the plants were nine or ten inches apart. This had been
done by the united strength of the party, Mr. Hardy and the boys
working for two hours each morning, and as much in the evening. The
girls also had assisted, and the peons had worked the whole day,
except from eleven to three, when the heat was too great even for
them. Many hands make light work, and in consequence the whole
ground under maize cultivation was thinned in little over a week.
Latterly the maize had grown so fast that the boys declared they
could almost see it grow, and at the end of two months after sowing
it was all in flower. The maize, or Indian corn, strongly resembles
water rushes in appearance, and the feathery blossom also resembles
that of the rush. Indian corn forms the main article of food in
South America, and in all but the Northern States of North America.
It is equally useful and common in India, and in other tropical
countries.

Scarcely less is it used in Italy, and other parts of southern
Europe. It was first introduced into Europe from the East by the
great family of Polenta, who ruled the important town of Ravenna
for nearly two hundred years. Ground maize is still called Polenta
throughout Italy; and the great family will live in the name of the
useful cereal they introduced when all memory of their warlike
deeds is lost except to the learned.

One evening when Mr. Hardy, with his wife and children, was
strolling down in the cool of the evening to look with pleasure
upon the bright green of their healthy and valuable crops, Hubert
said:

"Isn't Indian corn, papa, the great yallow heads covered with
grain-like beads one sees in corn-dealers' shops in England?"

"Yes, Hubert."

"Well, if that is so, I cannot make out how those long delicate
stems can bear the weight. They bend over like corn to every puff
of wind. It does not seem possible that they could bear a quarter
of the weight of their heavy yellow heads."

"Nor could they, Hubert; but nature has made a wise and very
extraordinary provision for this difficulty. All other plants and
trees with which I am acquainted have their fruits or seeds where
the blossom before grew. In maize it is placed in an entirely
different part of the plant. In a very short time you will
see--indeed you may see now in most of the plants--the stalk begin
to thicken at a foot or eighteen inches from the ground, and in a
little time it will burst; and the head of maize, so enveloped in
leaves that it looks a mere bunch of them, will come forth. It will
for a time grow larger and larger, and then the plant will wither
and die down to the place from which the head springs. The part
that remains will dry up until the field appears covered with dead
stumps, with bunches of dead leaves at the top. Then it is ready
for the harvest."

"What a strange plant, papa! I quite long for the time when the
heads will come out. What are you going to plant upon that bit of
land you have got ready for sowing now? It is about six acres."

"I mean to plant cotton there, Hubert. I have sent to Buenos Ayres
for seeds of what are called Carolina Upland, and I expect them
here in a few days."

"But it takes a great deal of labor, does it not, papa?"

"The calculation in the Northern States, Hubert, is that one man
can cultivate eight acres of cotton, assisted by his wife and
children at certain periods; and that as his labor is not always
required, he can with his family cultivate another eight or ten
acres of other produce; so that about half of a peon's labor will
be required, and in the hoeing and picking time we can all help."

"Is not machinery required to separate the seeds from the cotton?"
Charley asked.

"It is not absolutely necessary, Charley, although it is of course
economical when the cultivation is carried on upon a large scale.
The variety I am going to try is sometimes called 'bowed' Carolina,
because it used to be cleaned by placing it upon a number of
strings stretched very tight, which were struck with a sort of bow,
and the vibration caused the seed to separate from the cotton. I
have a drawing of one of these contrivances in a book up at the
house, and when the time comes you fellows shall make me one. It
will be work for us to do indoors when the weather is too hot to be
out. Of course if I find that it succeeds, and pays well, I shall
take on more hands, get proper machinery, and extend the
cultivation. I intend to plant the rows rather wide apart, so as to
use the light plow with the ridge boards between them, instead of
hoeing, to save labor."

"How much cotton do they get from an acre?" Mrs. Hardy asked.

"In the Southern States they expect twelve hundred pounds upon new
ground--that is, twelve hundred pounds of pods, which make about
three hundred of cleaned cotton. When I have got the cotton fairly
in the ground I mean to plant an acre or two of tobacco, and the
same quantity of sugar cane, as an experiment. But before I do that
we must make a garden up at the house: that is a really urgent
need."

"Couldn't we grow rice here, papa?"

"No doubt we could, Hubert; but I do not mean to try it. To succeed
with rice, we should have to keep the ground on which it grew in a
state of swamp, which would be very unhealthy. That is why I do not
irrigate the fields oftener than is absolutely necessary. Anything
approaching swampy, or even wet lands, in a climate like this,
would be almost certain to breed malaria. Besides, we should be
eaten alive by mosquitoes. No, I shall certainly not try rice.
Other tropical productions I shall some day give a trial to.
Ginger, vanilla, and other things would no doubt flourish here. I
do not believe that any of them would give an extraordinary rate of
profit, for though land is cheap, labor is scarce. Still it would
be interesting, and would cause a little variety and amusement in
our work, which is always an important point, and no doubt there
would be generally some profit, though occasionally we may make a
total failure."

Very often at daybreak the girls would go down with their brothers
to the river, and watch the waterfowl on its surface; they were so
amusing as they dabbled and played in the water, unsuspicious of
danger. Their favorites, though, were the beautiful scarlet
flamingoes, with their slender legs, and their long, graceful
necks, and whose great employment seemed to be to stand quiet in
the water, where it was only two or three inches deep, and to preen
their glossy red feathers. Over and over again the girls wished
that they could get a few waterfowl, especially flamingoes, to tame
them, in order that they might swim on the dam pond and come and be
fed; and the boys had several talks with each other as to the most
practicable way of capturing some of them. At last they thought of
making a sort of enclosure of light boughs, with an entrance into
which birds could easily pass, but through which they could not
easily return, and to scatter grain up to and into the enclosure,
to entice the birds to enter. On explaining this plan to Mr. Hardy,
he said that he had no doubt that it would succeed in capturing
birds, but that when caught it would be impossible to tame
full-grown wild-fowl, and that the only plan was to find their
nests, and take the eggs or very young birds. This they determined
to do; and as the bushes close to the river were too thick to
permit an examination from the shore, they started one morning
early, and, going down to the river, entered it, and waded along
for a considerable distance. They discovered two swans' nests, and
several of different descriptions of ducks. In some the birds were
sitting upon their eggs, in others the young brood were just
hatched, and scuttled away into the bushes with the parent birds
upon being disturbed.

Charley and Hubert made no remark at breakfast upon the success of
their expedition; but when Charley went two days after to Rosario,
he procured from Mr. Percy, who kept a quantity of chickens, two
sitting hens. These were placed with their nests in the bullock
cart in a hamper; and Mrs. Hardy, who had no idea of the purpose to
which they were to be put, was quite pleased, on their arrival at
Mount Pleasant, at this addition to the henhouse. Indeed it had
been long agreed that they would keep hens as soon as the maize was
ripe. The next morning the boys went again, and brought back twenty
eggs of various kinds of wild duck, including four swans' eggs--to
obtain which they had to shoot the parent birds, which furnished
the larder for days--which they placed under the hens in place of
their own eggs, and then took the girls in triumph to see this
commencement of their tame duck project. The little girls were
delighted, and it was an immense amusement to them to go down
constantly to see if the eggs were hatched, as of course no one
could tell how long they had been sat upon previous to being taken.
They had remarked that four of the eggs were much larger than the
others, but had no idea that they were swans'. In the course of a
few days six of the young ducklings were hatched, and the hens were
both so unhappy at their difficulty of continuing to sit while they
had the care of their young ones on their mind, that one hen and
all the little ones were removed to a distance from the other's
nest, and the whole of the eggs were put under the remaining hen.
The four swans and five more ducks were safely hatched, when the
hen refused to sit longer, and the remaining eggs were lost. Now
that the swans were safely hatched, the boys told their sisters
what they really were, and their delight was extreme.

In a few days they were all taken down to the dam, and soon found
their way into the water, to the great distress of their
foster-mother, who was obliged to stand upon the bank calling in
vain till the little ones chose to come ashore. A hencoop was soon
knocked together from an old box, and this was placed near the dam,
and ere long the hens became accustomed to the fancy of their
charges for the water, and would walk about picking up insects
while the little ones swam about on the pond. Twice a day the girls
went down to feed them with grain and bits of boiled pumpkin--for
the pumpkins soon began to come into bearing--and the ducklings and
cygnets, which last were at present but little larger than the
others, would swim rapidly toward them when they saw them, and
would feed greedily out of their hands.

It was not for some weeks later that the desire for young
flamingoes was gratified. The boys had been out for a ride, and
coming upon the river where it was wide, with flat sandy banks,
round which the timber grew, they determined to tie up their
horses and enter the stream, to see if they could get some more
eggs. With some difficulty they made their way through the bushes,
and, getting into the water, waded along until a turn in the river
brought them in sight of the flat bank. There were some twenty or
thirty flamingoes upon it, for these birds are very gregarious.
Some were standing in the water as usual, but the boys could not
make out what some of the others were doing. On the flat shore were
several heaps of earth, and across them some of the birds were
apparently sitting with one leg straddling out each side. So
comical was their aspect that the boys burst into a laugh, which so
scared the flamingoes that they all took flight instantly. The boys
now waded up to the spot, and then got ashore to see what these
strange heaps were for. To their great delight they found that they
were nests, and upon the top of several of them were eight or nine
eggs carefully arranged. The legs of the flamingo are so long that
the bird is unable to double them up and sit upon his nest in the
usual fashion. The hen bird therefore scrapes together a pile of
earth, on the top of which she lays her eggs, and then places
herself astride to keep them warm. The boys had an argument whether
they should take away two nests entire, or whether they should take
a few eggs from each nest; but they decided upon the former plan,
in order that each of the young broods might be hatched
simultaneously. Upon the boys reaching home with their treasure
their sisters' delight was unbounded, and the hens were soon placed
upon their new charges, and, both being good sitters, took to them
without much difficulty.

When the young broods were hatched the girls were greatly
disappointed at the appearance of little grayish fluffy balls,
instead of the lovely red things they had expected, and were by no
means consoled when their father told them that it would be three
or four years before they gained their beautiful color. However,
they became great pets, and were very droll, with their long legs,
and slender necks, and great curved bills. They became extremely
tame, and would, after a time, follow the girls about, and stalk up
to the house of their own accord to be fed, their food always being
placed in water, as they never feed by picking upon the ground, for
which, indeed, the peculiar construction of their beak is entirely
unfitted. They were perfectly fearless of the dogs, which, on their
part, were too well trained to touch them; and their funny way and
their extreme tameness were a source of constant amusement to the
whole family.

But we must now retrace our steps. After the important work of
getting a certain amount of land under cultivation, the next most
urgent business was the formation of a garden. The land inside the
enclosure round the house was first plowed up, and then dug by
hand, the turf being left in front of the house to serve as a lawn.
The rest was planted with seeds brought from England--peas, beans,
tomatoes, vegetable marrows, cucumbers, melons, and many others,
some of which were natives of warm climates, while others were
planted in small patches as an experiment. Fortunately, the well
supplied an abundance of water, whose only drawback was that, like
most water upon the pampas, it had a strong saline taste, which
was, until they had become accustomed to it, very disagreeable to
the Hardys. As the well had been dug close to the house on the
highest part of the slope, the water was conducted from the pump by
small channels all over the garden; and the growth of the various
vegetables was surprising. But long before these could come into
bearing a welcome supply was afforded by the yams and Indian corn.
The yams resemble a sweet potato; and if the Indian corn is
gathered green, and the little corns nibbled off, boiled, and mixed
with a little butter, they exactly resemble the most delicate and
delicious young peas.

The young potatoes, too, had come in, so that they had now an
abundance of vegetables, the only point in which they had before
been deficient. Their drink was the _mate_, which may be
termed the national beverage of Paraguay, Brazil, and the Argentine
Republic. It is made from the leaves of the _mate Yule_, a
plant which grows in Paraguay and Brazil. The natives generally
drink it without sugar or milk, sucking it up from the vessel in
which it is made through a small tube. It is, however, greatly
improved by the addition of sugar and milk, or, better still,
cream. This greatly softens the bitter taste which distinguishes
it. None of the party liked it at first; but as they were assured
by those in the country that they would like it when they became
accustomed to it, they persevered, and after a time all came to
prefer it even to tea.

Occasionally one or other of the boys went over to Rosario with the
cart, and Mr. Hardy bought some hundreds of young fruit
trees--apple, pear, plum, apricot, and peach--some of which were
planted in the garden at the sides and in rear of the house, others
in the open beyond and round it; a light fence with one wire being
put up to keep the cattle from trespassing. Clumps of young palms,
bananas, and other tropical trees and shrubs were also planted
about for the future adornment of the place. Fences were erected
round the cultivated ground, and an enclosure was made, into which
the cattle were driven at night. These fences were easily and
cheaply made. The wire cost little more at Rosario than it would
have done in England, and the chief trouble was bringing the posts,
which were made of algaroba wood, from the town. This wood grows
abundantly upon the upper river, and is there cut down and floated
in great rafts down to Rosario. It is a tough wood, which splits
readily, and is therefore admirably suited for posts. It is of a
reddish color, and has a pretty grain when polished. All the
furniture was made of it; and this, from constant rubbing by Sarah
and the girls, now shone brightly, and had a very good effect.

The ceilings were now put to the rooms, which were greatly improved
in appearance thereby, and the difference in temperature was very
marked. A very short time after the capture of the wild fowls' eggs
it was unanimously agreed that chickens were indispensable, and a
large hen-house was accordingly built at a short distance from the
dam, as it was considered as well not to have any buildings, with
the exception of the men's hut, near the house. The hen-house was
quickly built, as it was a mere framework covered with felt, with
bars across it for the fowls to perch upon.

The floor was made, as that of the house had been, of lime and clay
beaten hard; and a small cut was made to the dam, by which water
could, at will, be turned over the floor to keep it clean and neat.
The next time the cart went to Rosario it brought back fifty fowls,
which had only cost a few dollars. Henceforth eggs and omelets
became a regular part of the breakfast, and the puddings were
notably improved.

The chickens gave very little trouble, as they foraged about for
themselves, finding an abundance of insects everywhere, and getting
in addition a few pots of Indian corn every morning. Maud and Ethel
took it by turns, week about, to take charge of the hen-house; and
a great pleasure was it to them to watch the numerous broods of
young chickens, and to hunt up the eggs which, in spite of the
nests temptingly prepared for them, the hens would frequently
persist in laying in nests of their own in the long grass.

The hens had, however, a numerous foe, who were a great trouble to
their young mistresses. These were the skunks, an animal of the
weasel tribe, but much resembling squirrels in appearance, and
possessing a most abominable smell; so much so that the dogs, who
would attack almost anything, would run away from them. They were
at first exceedingly common, and created terrible depredations
among the hens. The girls were in despair, and called in their
brothers to their assistance. The boys shot a good many, for the
animals were very tame and fearless; but their number was so great
that this method of destruction was of slight avail. They then
prepared traps of various kinds--some made by an elastic stick bent
down, with a noose at the end, placed at a small entrance left
purposely in the hen-house, so that, when the skunk was about to
enter, he touched a spring, and the stick released, flew into the
air carrying the animal with it with the noose round its neck;
other traps let fall a heavy piece of wood, which crushed the
invader; and in these ways the skunks were pretty well got rid of,
the most unpleasant work being the removal of the body from the
trap. This had to be effected by taking hold of it with two pieces
of wood, for the odor was so powerful that if the body was touched
the smell would remain on the hands for days.

They had now added another species of domestic animal to their
stock, but this was the boys' charge. Mr. Hardy, when the pumpkins
began to ripen, bought six pigs. They were of little trouble, for
although a sty was built for them, they were allowed to wander
about as they pleased by day, another wire being added to the fence
round the cultivated land, to keep them from trespassing. The crop
of pumpkins was enormous; and Mr. Hardy determined that no pigs
should be killed for eighteen months, by which time, as these
animals increase rapidly, there would be quite a large herd of
them.

Although an immense deal of hard work was got through during the
four months which followed the completion of the house and the
arrival of Mrs. Hardy and her daughters, it must not be supposed
that it was not mingled with plenty of relaxation and amusement.

There were few days when one or other of the boys did not go out
with his gun for an hour either before sunrise or after sunset,
seldom failing to bring home a wild fowl or two of some kind or
other. And sometimes of an afternoon they would go out for a ride
with their sisters, and have a chase after an ostrich, or a run
after the gray foxes, which abounded, and were very destructive
among the young lambs. Once or twice during these rides the boys
brought a puma to bay; but as they always carried a ball in one of
their barrels, with these and their revolvers they soon dispatched
their unwelcome visitors.

They had contrived an apparatus with straps and a sort of little
pocket, in which the muzzle of the gun went, so that it hung from
the saddle down in front of their leg; the stock of the gun being
secured by a strap against the pommel of the saddle, at the other
side of which was their revolver holster. This was an inconvenient
way of carrying the gun in some respects, as the strap had to be
unfastened to get at it, and the chance of a shot thereby lost; but
they considered it preferable to the mode they had at first
adopted, of riding with their guns slung behind them. This they
gave up, because, with the utmost care, they occasionally got a
fall, when galloping, from the armadillo holes, and the shock was
greatly increased from the weight of the gun, besides the risk, to
any one riding near, of the gun exploding. When riding quietly, and
upon the lookout for game, they carried the gun in readiness upon
their arms.

It was after one of these rides, when Hubert had brought down with
a bullet a swan which was making for his bed in the river, that
Maud said at tea:

"I wish we could shoot too; it would be a great amusement, and I
should enjoy my rides a good deal more if I knew that I could take
a shot in case a lion or a deer came out."

"Well, girls," Mr. Hardy said, "I had always intended that you
should learn to shoot. We have had so much to do since you came
here that I did not think of it, and I had besides intended to wait
until one of you expressed a desire to learn. I brought out three
light rook-shooting rifles on purpose for you and your mamma, and
you can begin to-morrow morning if you like."

"Oh, thank you, papa, thank you very, very much; that will be
nice!" both the girls exclaimed, clapping their hands in their
excitement.

"And what do you say, mamma?" Mr. Hardy asked.

"No, thank you," Mrs. Hardy said; "I have plenty to do, and, with a
husband and two sons and two daughters to defend me, I do not
consider that it is essential. But I think that it will be a nice
amusement for the girls."

And so next morning, and nearly every morning afterward, the girls
practiced with the light rifle at a mark, until in time their hands
became so steady that at short distances of sixty or seventy yards
they could beat their brothers, who were both really good shots.
This was principally owing to the fact that the charge of powder
used in these rifles was so small that there was scarcely any
recoil to disturb the aim. It was some time before they could
manage to hit anything flying; but they were very proud one evening
when, having been out late with the boys, a fat goose came along
overhead, and the girls firing simultaneously, he fell with both
bullets in his body. After this they, too, carried their rifles out
with them during their rides.

Any one who had known Maud and Ethel Hardy at home would have
scarcely recognized them now in the sunburnt-looking lassies, who
sat upon their horses as if they had never known any other seat in
their lives. Their dress, too, would have been most curious to
English eyes. They wore wide straw hats, with a white scarf wound
round the top to keep off the heat. Their dresses were very short,
and made of brown holland, with a garibaldi of blue-colored
flannel. They wore red flannel knickerbockers, and gaiters coming
up above the knee, of a very soft, flexible leather, made of deer's
skin. These gaiters were an absolute necessity, for the place
literally swarmed with snakes, and they constantly found them in
the garden when going out to gather vegetables. Most of these
snakes were harmless; but as some of them were very deadly, the
protection of the gaiters was quite necessary. The girls did not
like them at first, especially as their brothers could not help
joking them a little, and Hubert said that they reminded him of two
yellow-legged partridges. However, they soon became accustomed to
them, and felt so much more comfortable about snakes afterward that
they would not have given them up upon any account.

The boys always wore high boots for the same reason, and had no
fear whatever of the snakes; but Mr. Hardy insisted that each of
them should always carry in a small inner pocket of their coats a
phial of spirits of ammonia, a small surgical knife, and a piece of
whipcord; the same articles being always kept in readiness at the
house. His instructions were, that in case of a bite they should
first suck the wound, then tie the whipcord round the limb above
the place bitten, and that they should then cut deeply into the
wound crossways, open it as much as possible, and pour in some
spirits of ammonia; that they should then pour the rest of the
ammonia into their water-bottle, which they always carried slung
over their shoulders, and should drink it off. If these directions
were instantly and thoroughly carried out, Mr. Hardy had little
fear that the bite, even of the deadliest snake, would prove fatal.
In addition he ordered that in case of their being near home they
should, upon their arrival, be made to drink raw spirits until they
could not stand, and that, if they were some distance away from
home, and were together, the one bitten should lie down while the
other galloped at full speed to take back a bottle of brandy, and
order assistance to be sent. This remedy is well known throughout
India. Any one bitten by a poisonous snake is made to drink
spirits, which he is able to do without being

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