Besides, there is
the cock sitting upon it; who won't let any of them come near, once he
has taken to hatching?"

"Is it true, then, that the cock does the hatching?" interrogates
Ludwig.

"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, _senoritos_, 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 _rec