pt in my bed. One night I felt
something soft by my feet. I thought it was the kittens, but, putting my
hand down, I found my feet covered with blood. I jumped out of bed, and
found a young hare half eaten and my sheets covered with blood.

The first thing I had to do was to skin a cow, and it made me feel very
uncomfortable to look at the horrid sight. The next day I was sent to
fetch the fat from a dead cow. When I got there I could not see any fat
and wondered what it was. I saw the intestines and carried them bodily
on my new recado (native saddle). My horse got excited and I arrived
dead beat. I told my companion I had the fat: then he burst out laughing
and said I had got the intestines. Needless to say my recado was the
worse for wear.

The food was different from what I was used to, and I felt ill for a
time.

In the summer I was up at between three and four, having "mate-cocido"
(cooked Paraguayan tea--the native drink) with a hard biscuit; at
eleven, breakfast of puchero (big pieces of meat boiled in a pot), then
maize with milk and a biscuit. Sometimes tea at four, but very seldom;
supper consisted of an asado and mate at seven or eight o'clock.

I had charge of two valuable stallions--they had a stable of mud and
straw.

At branding time the capataz (foreman) came up with his men for a week.
Up before three o'clock, quite dark, we branded 6,000 calves, and I
enjoyed it.

The Boss seldom came; when he did, his trap would be sure to run over a
piece of wire, and then we heard of it; nothing missed him.

Then our cook began stealing provisions from the store box. We changed
the locks three times, and each time she bought a key to the same. One
night I asked her for some coffee. She said there was none. I could see
she had some in a small bag, and I went to fetch it. She took up a knife
and threatened me. I soon twisted the knife from her. Our food was bad,
my companion was careless, and frightened of her. One day he had a row,
and she got the sack, using strong language. We then did our own cooking
for eight months: the first one home from camp had to begin cooking.

The meat we got was often green and bitter. All the time we had puchero
and asado, and an occasional ostrich egg.

Ostriches swarmed everywhere, and it was good sport lassoing them. I
found one nest with fifty eggs, laid by different birds. My cooking was
rather a failure at first, the smoke was so thick we could not see each
other. I wa