^64 



THE PAMPAS. 



off with her fingers, and seemed resolved that I 

 should have every particle of it. 



There was no candlestick, but, with the beef, a 

 little black girl about seven years old, and almost 

 naked, brought in a crooked, brown, tallow-candle, 

 which she held in her hand all the time I dined. 

 The little creature had gold ear-rings and a neck- 

 lace of red beads. I gave her a large piece of 

 bread, which she eat very slowly, with the most 

 perfect gravity of countenance. As I was dining, 

 I occasionally looked at her; nothing was white 

 but her eyes and the piece of bread in her mouth; 

 she was watching every mouthful I ate, and her eyes 

 accompanied my fork from the pewter dish to my 

 mouth. With her left hand she was scratching her 

 little woolly head, but nothing moved except her 

 black fingers, and she stood as still as a bronze statue. 



The carriage did not arrive, so I laid my saddle 

 in front of the post, and slept there. It was 

 late in the morning before one of the peons came 

 to tell me that the two-wheeled carriage had broken 

 down in spite of all its repairs ; that it was in the 

 middle of the plain, and that the party had been 

 obliged to ride, and put the baggage on post-horses, 



