by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER VII.
THE "VAQUERO."
Who was this deliverer? No other than the vaquero--the friend ofGuapo,--who now welcomed Guapo and his companions, telling them in thepolite phraseology of all Spanish-Americans that his _house(!)_ was attheir service. They were welcome to all it contained.
The macas, and maize, and a fresh steak from the wild bull, enabled themto make a most excellent supper. In return for this hospitality, DonPablo made the vaquero a handsome present out of his purse; but whatgratified him still more was a supply of coca which his friend Guapo wasenabled to bestow upon him, for his own stock had been exhausted forsome days. Guapo, on leaving Cuzco, had spent his last _peseta_ inbuying this luxury, and therefore was well provided for weeks to come.
After they had had supper, he and his friend seated themselves on oneside, and quietly chewed for a good half-hour, when at length Guapo, whoknew he could trust the vaquero--because the latter, like himself, wasone of the "patriotas"--communicated to him the object of their journeythrough that desolate region. The vaquero not only promised secrecy, butbound himself to put any party of pursuers completely off the trail.
The vaquero, even in his remote mountain-home, had heard of Don Pablo,knew that he was a good patriot and friend of the Indians, and he wouldtherefore have risked his life to serve such a man--for no people haveproved more devoted to the friends of their race than these simple andfaithful Indians of the Andes. How many instances of nobleself-sacrifice--even of life itself--occurred during the painful historyof their conquest by the cruel and sanguinary followers of Pizarro!
The vaquero, therefore, did all in his power to make his guestscomfortable for the night. His dogs--there were four of them--were notso hospitably inclined, for they did not seem to know friends fromenemies. They had come up shortly after their master himself arrived,and had made a desperate attack upon everybody. The vaquero, however,assisted by Guapo--who, being an Indian, was less troubled withthem--gave them a very rough handling with a large whip which hecarried; and then, securing the whole of them, tied them together in abunch, and left them at the back of the hut to snap and growl at eachother, which they did throughout the livelong night. Supper over, allthe travellers would have retired to rest; but the vaquero, havingannounced that he was going out to set snares for the chinchillas andviscachas, Leon could not rest, but asked permission to accompany him.This was granted both by Don Pablo and the vaquero himself.
The chinchilla, and its near relative the viscacha, are two littleanimals of the rodent, or grass-eating kind, that inhabit the veryhighest mountains of Peru and Chili. They are nearly of the same size,and each about as big as a rabbit, which in habits they very muchresemble. They have long tails, however, which the rabbit has not,though the latter beats them in the length of his ears. The colour ofthe chinchilla is known to everybody, since its soft, velvety fur ishighly prized by ladies as an article of dress, and may be seen in everyLondon fur-shop.
The animal is of a beautiful marbled grey, white and black, with purewhite feet. The fur of the viscacha is not so pretty, being of abrownish and white mixture. Its cheeks are black, with long, bristlymoustaches, like those of a cat; while its head resembles that of thehare or rabbit. Both these innocent little creatures live upon the highdeclivities of the Andes, in holes and crevices among the rocks, wherethey remain concealed during the day, but steal out to feed twice in thetwenty-four hours,--that is, during the evening twilight and in theearly morning. The mode of capturing them is by snares made ofhorse-hair, which are set in front of their caves--just as we snarerabbits in a warren, except that for the rabbits we make use of lightelastic wire, instead of the horse-hair.
Leon was delighted with the excursion, as the vaquero showed him how toset the snares, and told him a great many curious stories of Puna lifeand habits. Some of these stories were about the great condorvulture--which the narrator, of course, described as a much bigger birdthan it really is, for the condor, after all, is not so much bigger thanthe griffon vulture, or even the vulture of California. But you, youngreader, have already had a full account of the vultures of America--thecondor among the rest--therefore we shall not repeat what was said bythe vaquero about this interesting bird.
On the way to the place where the snares were to be set, they passed alagoon, or marshy lake, in which were many kinds of birds peculiar tothese high regions. Out on the open water they saw a wild goose of avery beautiful species. It is called the "Huachua" goose. Its plumage isof a snowy whiteness, all except the wings, which are bright green andviolet, while the beak, legs, and feet, are scarlet. They also saw twospecies of ibis wading about in the marsh, and a gigantic water-henalmost as big as a turkey. This last is of a dark grey colour, with ared beak, at the base of which is a large yellow knob of the shape of abean. On this account it is called by the Indians "bean nose."
Upon the plain, near the border of the marsh, they noticed a beautifulplover, having plumage marked very much like that of the "huachua"goose, with green wings shining in the sun like polished metal. Anothercurious bird also sat upon the plain, or flew around their heads. Thiswas a bird of prey of the species of jerfalcons (_Polyborus_). Thevaquero called it the "Huarahua." He told Leon it preyed only oncarrion, and never killed its own food; that it was very harmless andtame--which was evidently true, as, shortly after, one of them seatedupon a stone allowed the Indian to approach and knock it over with astick! Such a silly bird Leon had never seen.
The vaquero was quite a naturalist in his way--that is, he knew all theanimals of the Puna, and their habits, just as you will sometimes find agamekeeper in our own country, or often a shepherd or farm-servant. Hepointed out a rock-woodpecker, which he called a "pito" (_Colaptesrupicola_), that was fluttering about and flying from rock to rock. Likethe cliff-parrots we have already mentioned, this rock-woodpecker was acurious phenomenon, for, as their very name implies, the woodpeckers areall tree-dwelling birds, yet here was one of the genus living amongrocks where not a tree was to be seen, and scarcely a plant, except thethorny cactuses and magueys, with which succulent vegetables thewoodpecker has nothing to do. The "pito" is a small, brown, speckledbird, with yellow belly, and there were great numbers of them flyingabout.
But the bird which most fixed the attention of Leon was a little birdabout the size of a starling. Its plumage was rather pretty. It wasbrown, with black stripes on the back, and white-breasted. But it wasnot the plumage of the bird that interested Leon. It was what hiscompanion told him of a singular habit which it had--that of repeating,at the end of every hour during the night, its melancholy and monotonousnote. The Indians call this bird the "cock of the Inca," and theymoreover regard it with a sort of superstitious reverence.
Having placed his snares, the vaquero set out to return with hisyouthful companion. As they walked back along the mountain-foot, a foxstole out from the rocks and skulked towards the marshy lake, no doubtin search of prey. This fox was the _Canis Azarae_, a most troublesomespecies, found all through South America. He is the great pest of thePuna shepherds, as he is a fierce hunter, and kills many of the younglambs and alpacos.
The vaquero was sorry he had not his dogs with him, as, from the routethe fox had taken, he would have been certain to have captured him, andthat would have been worth something, for the great sheep-owners givetheir shepherds a sheep for every old fox that they can kill, and forevery young one a lamb. But the dogs, on this occasion, had been leftbehind, lest they should have bitten Leon, and the vaquero was compelledto let "Reynard" go his way. It was night when they returned to the hut,and then, after Leon had related the details of their excursion, allretired to rest.
