



mA 



iV 



V / 





■' . > v 







n 



made it exceedingly difficult to place the saddle-cloths upon the 

 horses' backs. I have often noticed that, when saddling up a colt 

 or wild horse, it is well to make use each day of the same saddle- 

 cloths, as he grows used to these, and does not fear them, espe- 

 cially if you allow him to bite and smell them. 



At length, however, shortly after midday the horses began to 

 get worn out. The cargoed ones ceased to struggle and lay still, 

 tongues out, fat-barrelled, like a troop on a battle-field, humped 

 with cargo and grotesquely dead. In the fighting-line, I remember, 

 remained only a horse named Horqueta (the slit-eared), and the 

 indefatigable Gateado. Horqueta's cargo consisted of a pair of 

 tin boxes, for, bucking apart, he was a fairly steady pack-horse. 

 He and the Gateado were the last to be finished, the others having 

 yielded after the long struggle of the forenoon. 



All would now have gone well had it not been for the fact that 

 the handles of one of the tin boxes upon Horqueta were loose. 



56 



