THE RIVER VALLEYS 8i 



his head in a bush. We closed up and attracted the bull in 

 another direction, then went to look for the corpse of our comrade, 

 who, however, to our surprise, issued safe from the bush, where he 

 had lain quiet and unhurt, though the horse was killed. This 

 little incident cast a gloom over our day's pleasure, and lost us our 

 Christmas dinner, as Orkeke ordered a retreat to the spot where 

 we had left our mantles, although we tried to persuade him to 

 attack the beast again, or, at any rate, remain and eat some of the 

 dead horse, and try our luck next day, but he was inflexible. . . . 

 On our way across the plain previously described, wild cattle were 

 seen, and one chased ; but he, although balled by Orkeke, con- 

 trived to slip the bolas, and escaping to cover, stood to bay, where 

 he was left master of the field." 



In the present instance, however, nothing at all exciting was in 

 store for us. My first bullet struck the cow behind the shoulder a 

 little high, she went down upon her knees, and a second shot 

 brought her to the ground. On our approaching she staggered to 

 her feet, whereupon Jones gave her a shot in the brain. We then 

 set about grallocking and skinning our quarry, and were delighted 

 to find that she carried a good deal of fat. We were at the 

 time running very short of this essential article of diet, for, as 

 has been said, the guanacos supply none at this season of the 

 year, when they are still in poor condition after the hardships 

 of the winter. 



When we had finished cutting up the meat, we packed it as 

 well as we could upon our saddles and rode away. The amount 

 of meat with which we had laden our saddles made them extremely 

 uncomfortable ; this was very much so in my own case, as I was 

 riding a little black horse whose temper was not of the sweetest, 

 and which had been but seldom ridden since our start, and was 

 consequently very fresh and skittish. We had spent a long time 

 over our task of cutting up the cow, and the troop had gone far 

 ahead. After riding about an hour we saw a white bull upon the 

 hillside above us, but on using the telescope perceived it carried a 

 brand upon its flank. We therefore left it in peace. 



A little later, as we were riding under the western barranca 

 of the canadon of the River Mayo, we came upon some fairly fresh 



