ly haven't got the tall hat in it,' said Dugald.

'Of course you haven't forgotten your nightcap,' said Donald.

'Nor your slippers, Archie?' I added.

'And a dressing-gown would be indispensable in the desert,' said Sandie
Donaldson.

Archie only smiled to himself, but kept his secret.

What a lovely morning it was when we set out! So blue was the sky, so
green the fields of waving lucerne, so dense the foliage and flowers and
hedgerows and trees, it really seemed that summer would last for many and
many a month to come.

We were all fresh and happy, and full of buoyant anticipation of pleasures
to come. Our very dogs went scampering on ahead, barking for very joy. Of
these we had quite a pack--three pure Scotch collies, two huge
bloodhound-mastiffs, and at least half a dozen animals belonging to our
Gauchos, which really were nondescripts but probably stood by greyhounds.
These dogs were on exceedingly good terms with themselves and with each
other--the collies jumping up to kiss the horses every minute by way of
encouragement, the mastiffs trotting steadily on ahead cheek-by-jowl, and
the hounds everywhere--everywhere at once, so it appeared.

Being all so fresh, we determined to make a thorough long day's journey of
it. So, as soon as we had left the glen entirely and disappeared among the
sand dunes, we let our horses have their heads, the _capataz_ Gaucho
riding on ahead on a splendid mule as strong as a stallion and as lithe as
a Scottish deerhound.

Not long before our start for the hunting grounds men had arrived from the
Chilian markets to purchase cattle. The greatest dainty to my mind they
had brought with them was a quantity of _Yerba mate_, as it is called. It
is the dried leaves of a species of Patagonian ilex, which is used in this
country as tea, and very delightful and soothing it is. This was to be our
drink during all our tour. More refreshing than tea, less exciting than
wine, it not only seems to calm the mind but to invigorate the body. Drunk
warm, with or without sugar, all feeling of tiredness passes away, and one
is disposed to look at the bright side of life, and that alone.

We camped the first night on high ground nearly forty miles from our own
_estancia_. It was a long day's journey in so rough a country, but we had
a difficulty earlier in the afternoon in finding water. Here, however, was
a stream as clear as crystal, that doubtless made its way from springs in
the _sierras_ that