pmost,
_coronilla_, being of bright-coloured cloth elaborately quilted; while
the bridle of plaited horse-hair is studded with silver joints, from
which depend rings and tassels, the same ornamenting the breast-piece
and neck straps attaching the martingale, in short, the complete
equipment of a _gaucho_. And a gaucho he is--Gaspar, the hero of our
tale.

It has been already said, that he is in the service of Ludwig Halberger.
So is he, and has been ever since the hunter-naturalist settled in
Paraguay; in the capacity of steward, or as there called _mayor-domo_; a
term of very different signification from the _major-domo_ or
house-steward of European countries, with dress and duties differing as
well. No black coat, or white cravat, wears he of Spanish America, no
spotless stockings, or soft slipper shoes. Instead, a costume more
resembling that of a Cavalier, or Freebooter; while the services he is
called upon to perform require him to be not only a first-class
horseman, but able to throw the lazo, catch a wild cow or colt, and tame
the latter--in short, take a hand at anything. And at almost anything
Gaspar can; for he is man-of-all-work to the hunter-naturalist, as well
as his man of confidence.

Why he is riding away from the estancia at such an hour--for it is
afternoon--may be guessed from what has gone before. For it is on that
same day, when Halberger and his daughter started off to visit the
Indian village; and as these had not returned soon as promised, the
anxiety of the wife, rendered keen by the presentiment which had
oppressed her at their parting, became at length unbearable; and to
relieve it Gaspar has been despatched in quest of them.

No better man in all the pampas region, or South America itself, could
have been sent on such an errand. His skill as a tracker is not
excelled by any other gaucho in the Argentine States, from which he
originally came; while in general intelligence, combined with courage,
no one there, or elsewhere, could well be his superior. As the Senora
said her last words to him at parting, and listened to his in return,
she felt reassured. Gaspar was not the man to make delay, or come back
without the missing one. On this day, however, he deviates from his
usual habit, at the same time from the route he ought to take--that
leading direct to the Indian village, whither he knows his master and
young mistress to have gone. For while riding along going at a gentle
canter