“Quite true—all of it; and he’s got a good many eggs to cover. I’ve counted over fifty in one nest. That of itself shows no single hen could have laid them; for, as it would take her a long time, the first ones would be rotten before the last came. As for the cock when sitting, he’s as cross as an old duck doing the same, but ten times more dangerous to go near. I’ve known of a gaucho getting a kick from one he’d started from off the nest, almost as hard as if it had been given by a mule. And to hear them hiss then! Ah! that was nothing we’ve just heard from this fellow.”
“Is it true they can swim, Gaspar?” again questions Ludwig.
“Like swans. No, I’m wrong there, for nothing can be more unlike. So far as the swimming goes, the avestruz can do it, but in quite a different way from swans. They swim with their bodies under water, and only their shoulders, with the head and neck, above. It’s a funny sight to see a flock of them crossing one of the big rivers; and scores of times I’ve been eye-witness to that bit of comicality. Carramba! a curious bird, the avestruz is altogether, and a useful one, as we’ve now good reason to know. So, señoritos, let us be thankful to Providence that there’s such a plenty of them on these pampas, and above all, for guiding the steps of this fine specimen, as to place it so directly and opportunely in our way.”
The discourse about ostriches is brought to a close with the breakfast upon that which had led to it; both, along with the incident of the bird’s capture, having occupied little more time than is here taken in telling of them. So little, indeed, that the sun’s disc is not yet all above the horizon, when, having completed the repast, the trackers start up from their seats around the fire, and proceed to caparisoning their animals.
Nor do they spend many moments at this. Ever mindful of what has brought them thither—no mere excursion for pleasure’s sake, but an expedition forced upon them through sad, painful necessity—they waste not a second that can be saved. Quickly, therefore, their horses are got under saddle, and bridled, with every article of their impedimenta fixed and fastened in its respective place, besides, something on the croup of Ludwig recado, which was not hitherto there. Where the lost traps had been carried, are now seen the two thigh-bones of the cock ostrich, with most of the flesh still adhering, each as large as a leg of mutton. There is a heart, liver, and gizzard also stowed away in a wrap of a vihao, or wild plantain leaves, which, tied in a secure packet, dangles alongside; the whole, as Gaspar declared, enough to keep them provisioned for at least a couple of days.
But although everything seems in readiness, they are not yet prepared to take a final departure from the place. A matter remains to be determined, and one of the utmost importance—being no less than the direction in which they should go. They have thought of it the night before, but not till darkness had come down upon them. Still unrecovered from the excitement consequent on the attack of the gymnoti, and afterwards occupied in drying their wet garments, with other cares of the occasion, even Gaspar had failed during daylight to examine the nether side of the ford at its outcoming, where he supposed he might hit upon the trail they were in search of. It was not because he had forgotten it, but that, knowing they would stay there all night, he also knew the tracks, if any, would keep till the morning.
Morning having arrived, from earliest daybreak and before, as is known, they have been otherwise occupied; and only now, at the moment of moving off, do they find time to look for that which must decide their future course and the route they are to take.
With a parting glance at the place of bivouac, and each leading his own horse, they move out of the algarobia grove, and on down to the edge of the riacho, stopping at the spot where they came across.
But not a moment spend they there, in the search for hoof-marks other than those of their own horses. They see others soon as arrived at the stream’s edge; scores of them, and made by the same animals they have been all along tracking. Not much in this it might appear; since unfortunately, these hoof-marks can be distinguished no farther than to the summit of the sloping bank. Beyond they are covered up, as elsewhere, by the mud. But Gaspar’s keen eye is not to be thus baffled; and a joyful ejaculation escaping his lips tells he has discovered something which gives him gladness. On Cypriano asking what it is, he makes answer—
“Just what we’re wanting to find out; the route the redskins have taken after parting from this place. Thanks to the Virgin, I know the way they went now, as well as if I’d been along with them.”