THE BATTLE OF THE HORSES S5 



self to be saddled up with no more than the usual accompaniment 

 of blowing and snorting. He even suffered his cargo to be slung 

 and the noose to be slipped along the ctnck until it was in place. 



Every horse needs two men to put on his cargo. One ties the 

 knot and hauls while the other takes in the slack. The latter has 

 to hold up his side of the cargo with his shoulder, and to do this 

 must get pretty nearly under the animal. 



In our case, although we jettisoned a portion of our belongings — 

 including, I am sorry to say, a number of birds which I had spent 

 my evenings in skinning, and which 1 truly grieved to leave 

 behind — some of the packs were of necessity rather unwieldy. 

 This, indeed, is almost always the case during the earlier stages 

 of any expedition. 



The behaviour of the Gateado was similar to that of many of 

 the cargueros. He waited until his man was well under, and then 

 he came into action with a series of diabolically well-aimed, one- 

 legged kicks. Having after a little got rid of us by this means, 

 he went on to buck all his cargo off, and then stood with his saddle 

 cork-screwed round under his belly. Jones held on to the head- 

 rope, or no doubt the Gateado would have completed his perform- 

 ance by clearing off into the low hills or hummocks which sur- 

 rounded the place. 



Most of the others were, in their separate ways, as bad as the 

 Gateado. Some bucked, some reared, some would not be 

 approached, but all agreed in one thing — all, when cargoed up and 

 ready for the start, solemnly lay down and rolled on their cargoes. 

 If they got them loose, the wretched animals rose again and bucked 

 them within reach of their heels, after which they extricated them- 

 selves by kicking. 



That morning was, indeed, a study of shifting cargoes. They 

 came off all ways, bucked off, kicked off, rolled on. Some stuck 

 out to port of the horse and some to starboard, a few hung dis- 

 consolately beneath the cargueros body. Again and again we did 

 our part, and again and again the horses defeated us by their 

 horrible tricks of lying down and rolling. Meantime the sun had 

 risen, and heat and flies were added lo the long tally of the day's 

 disagreeable items. A very heavy wind was also blowing, which 



