THE BATTLE OF THE HORSES 49 



"'Oh, the dreary, dreary moorland! Oh, the weary, weary 

 shore ' (of the Chico) ! I took my gun down to the river and 

 shot five widgeon {Mareca sibilatrix) and six martinetas (Calo- 

 dxomas elegans). 



" Late in the evening Scrivenor and I went up over the ridge of 

 bare hills rather with the idea of shooting, if possible, a condor we 

 had seen poised high up. Sight at back came off Scrivenor's 

 Mauser.* We went on and saw a herd of guanaco, one much 

 nearer than the rest, and we crawled towards him. The stones were 

 a penance. The only cover was thorn, and little of that up there 

 on the high pampa above the valley where our camp is. At two 

 hundred yards I shot and hit him, but he went on, and presently 

 swayed his neck and lay down. I crawled up and had a shot at 

 his neck. Thereafter followed periods of cantering in a rickety 

 way, followed by periods of lying down, and at last we went round 

 over a rise and crawled down on him. I thought he was dead but for 

 the shadow of his neck, and I crawled on with but one cartridge left 

 in my gun. As I neared him, up he got and I fired again and hit 

 him. He was growin;^ very weak. Scrivenor shouted that he had 

 no revolver, and so here were we with only our knives. I followed 

 I he guanaco and Scrivenor went round. I was upon him first 

 but my knife was weak. Scrivenor, startled from his usual calm, 

 and with a shout, leaped at the guanaco and caught him round 

 the neck. So we bore him to earth and slew him. I examined 

 him for wounds and found four. Two of the shots were vital, 

 yet he had led us a chase of two and a half miles, and we had 

 to carry the meat back to camp. Arrived there, and preparing 

 a meal by the fire, in came Burbury and Jones. They had met 

 a Gaucho trekking to Colohuapi, who told them that Colohuapi 

 was yet twenty-five leagues away and that there were no bolts 

 or wood to be had there. I went to bed and smoked, feeling 

 pretty sad. There is but one thing to do. We must jettison some 

 of the cargo and sew up the rest in the skins of guanacos, and go 

 forward with pack-horses." 



* This happened in the case of two Mausers I had with me. One came off at the 

 third shot from the mere recoil — a serious business. 



