Tales of the Pampas | Page 3

evening I was at El Ombú, and was just starting for home, when
Santos saw me, and cried out, "Get off and let your horse go, Nicandro.
I am going to the monastery to-morrow, and you shall ride the laden
horse, and save me the trouble of leading it. You will be like a little
bird perched on his back and he will not feel your few ounces' weight.
You can sleep on a sheepskin in the kitchen, and get up an hour before
daybreak."
The stars were still shining when we set out on our journey the next
morning, in the month of June, and when we crossed the river
Sanborombón at sunrise the earth was all white with hoar frost. At
noon, we arrived at our destination, and were received by the friars,
who embraced and kissed Santos on both cheeks, and took charge of
our horses. After breakfast in the kitchen, the day being now warm and
pleasant, we went and sat out of doors to sip maté and smoke, and for
an hour or longer, the conversation between Santos and the Brothers
had been going on when, all at once, a youth appeared coming at a fast
gallop towards the gate, shouting as he came, "Los Ingleses! Los
Ingleses!" We all jumped up and ran to the gate, and climbing up by the
posts and bars, saw at a distance of less than half-a-league to the east, a

great army of men marching in the direction of Buenos Ayres. We
could see that the foremost part of the army had come to a halt on the
banks of a stream which flows past the monastery and empties itself
into the Plata, two leagues further east. The army was all composed of
infantry, but a great many persons on horseback could be seen
following it, and these, the young man said, were neighbours who had
come out to look at the English invaders; and he also said that the
soldiers, on arriving at the stream, had begun to throw away their
blankets, and that the people were picking them up. Santos, hearing this,
said he would go and join the crowd, and mounting his horse and
followed by me, and by two of the Brothers, who said they wished to
get a few blankets for the monastery, we set out at a gallop for the
stream.
Arrived at the spot, we found that the English, not satisfied with the
ford, which had a very muddy bottom, had made a new crossingplace
for themselves by cutting down the bank on both sides, and that
numbers of blankets had been folded and laid in the bed of the stream
where it was about twenty-five yards wide. Hundreds of blankets were
also being thrown away, and the people were picking them up and
loading their horses with them. Santos at once threw himself into the
crowd and gathered about a dozen blankets, the best he could find, for
the friars; then he gathered a few for himself and ordered me to fasten
them on the back of my horse.
The soldiers, seeing us scrambling for the blankets, were much amused;
but when one man among us cried out, "These people must be mad to
throw their blankets away in cold weather-- perhaps their red jackets
will keep them warm when they lie down to-night"--there was one
soldier who understood, and could speak Spanish, and he replied, "No,
sirs, we have no further need of blankets. When we next sleep it will be
in the best beds in the capital." Then Santos shouted back, "That, sirs,
will perhaps be a sleep from which some of you will never awake."
That speech attracted their attention to Santos, and the soldier who had
spoken before returned, "There are not many men like you in these
parts, therefore what you say does not alarm us." Then they looked at
the friars fastening the blankets Santos had given them on to their

horses, and seeing that they wore heavy iron spurs strapped on their
bare feet, they shouted with laughter, and the one who talked with us
cried out, "We are sorry, good Brothers, that we have not boots as well
as blankets to give you."
But our business was now done, and bidding good-bye to the friars, we
set out on our return journey, Santos saying that we should be at home
before midnight.
It was past the middle of the afternoon, we having ridden about six
leagues, when we spied at a distance ahead a great number of mounted
men scattered about over the plain, some standing still, others galloping
this way or that.
"El pato! el pato!" cried Santos with excitement, "Come, boys, let us go
and watch the battle while it is near,