THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 



181 



nim ; but an hour before day-break the peon came 

 to say that the capataz had turned him away; 

 that he had spent the two dollars I had given 

 him in drinking with his wife ; that he had not 

 given us the proper quantity of spare mules at 

 Mendoza, and he begged us to take him before 

 the governor. 



The sun was already up, when the capataz 

 arrived. He had brought several of the poor 

 tired mules, fresh mules for the riders, and a 

 broken-kneed horse for me ; but he was himself 

 mounted on a fine prancing horse. I took his 

 horse from him, put my saddle upon it, and de- 

 siring my party to take him before the governor, 

 galloped off towards Santiago. 



The road soon became very bad, as the path 

 ascends a cuesta, which it is necessary to climb 

 and to descend by zig-zags ; however, as soon as 

 I got on level ground by myself 1 galloped along, 

 and it w^as quite delightful to be thus reminded 

 of the pace of the Pampas, after having crawled 

 along so many days on the back of a mule. 



I soon got to the house at which we had 

 agreed to sleep, and which is about half way 



