286 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



the butcher's hammer, but are pursued in the open 

 pasture and killed on the spot. The hunter is on 

 horseback. For weapon he has the lasso ; that is to 

 say, a very long and tough leather thong, fastened 

 at one end to the saddle-bow, armed at the other 

 with balls of lead. When the hunted animal is 

 within reach, the hunter throws the perfidious 

 leather thong, which, whistling and following the 

 course of the lead, encircles the animal's horns and 

 neck. At the touch of the spur the horse gallops off, 

 putting forth all its strength, and drags the half- 

 strangled ox after it. A plunge of the dagger in 

 the heart finishes the beast. After removing the 

 skin and rolling it up on the crupper of his horse, 

 the cattle-hunter resumes his quest, leaving to the 

 birds of prey the dead bodies whose bones, whitened 

 by rain and sun, will serve him on future expeditions 

 as material for building himself a hut. ' ' 



"A hut of bones !" exclaimed Emile. 



"Yes, my friend. On those vast plains wood is 

 lacking as well as stones. Therefore bones, piled 

 one on top of another, serve the hunter of the pam- 

 pas for building him a. shelter, where he rests under 

 a grass roof. The skull of an ox with long horns 

 serves him as a seat by day and a pillow at night." 



"It seems to me I shouldn't sleep very well with 

 my head between the two horns of an ox's skull." 



' ' The hardened hunter of the pampas sleeps on it 

 as on feathers. ' ' 



"And what do they do with all those hides that 

 they get by hunting the- ox?" asked Jules. 



