o find such an anomaly among Gauchos. He knew the pampas well,
and the Andes too, and was far more at home in the wilds than at the
_estancia_. A man like this, Moncrieff told us, was worth ten times his
weight in gold.

And so it turned out.

* * * * *

The summer had well-nigh gone when our caravan at length left Moncrieff's
beautiful valley. The words 'caravan at length' in the last sentence may
be understood in two ways, either as regards space or time. Ours was no
caravan on wheels. Not a single wheeled waggon accompanied us, for we
should cross deserts, and pass through glens where there would be no road,
perhaps hardly even a bridle-path. So the word caravan is to be understood
in the Arab sense of the word. And it certainly was a lengthy one. For we
had a pack mule for every two men, including our five Gauchos.

Putting it in another way, there were five of us Europeans--Donald,
Dugald, Archie Bateman, Sandie Donaldson, and myself; each European had a
horse and a Gaucho servant, and each Gaucho had a mule.

Bombazo meant to have come; he said so to the very last, at all events,
but an unfortunate attack of toothache confined him to bed. Archie, who
had no very exalted idea of the little Spanish captain's courage, was rude
enough to tell us in his hearing that he was 'foxing.' I do not pretend to
understand what Archie meant, but I feel certain it was nothing very
complimentary to Bombazo's bravery.

'Dear laddies,' old Jenny had said, 'if you think you want onybody to darn
your hose on the road, I'll gang wi' ye mysel'. As for that feckless loon
Bombazo, the peer[13] body is best in bed.'

Our arms consisted of rifles, shot-guns, the bolas, and lasso. Each man
carried a revolver as well, and we had also abundance of fishing tackle.
Our tents were only three in all, but they were strong and waterproof, a
great consideration when traversing a country like this.

We were certainly prepared to rough it, but had the good sense to take
with us every contrivance which might add to our comfort, so long as it
was fairly portable.

Archie had one particular valise of his own that he declared contained
only a few nicknacks which no one ought to travel without. He would not
gratify us by even a peep inside, however, so for a time we had to be
content with guessing what the nicknacks were. Archie got pretty well
chaffed about his Gladstone bag, as he called it.

'You sure