furious pace, and behind came Claro at a swinging gallop. Possibly he
was a little too confident, and carelessly let his captive pull the
line that held her; anyhow, she turned suddenly on him, charged with
amazing fury, and sent one of her horrid horns deep into the belly of
his horse. He was, however, equal to the occasion, first dealing her
a smart blow on the nose, which made her recoil for a moment; he then
severed the lasso with his knife, and, shouting to me to drop the calf,
made his escape. We pulled up as soon as we had reached a safe distance,
Claro drily remarking that the lasso had been borrowed, and that the
horse belonged to the _estancia_, so that we had lost nothing.
He alighted, and stitched up the great gash in the poor brute's belly,
using for a thread a few hairs plucked from its tail. It was a difficult
task, or would have been so to me, as he had to bore holes in the
animal's hide with his knife-point, but it seemed quite easy to him.
Taking the remaining portion of the severed lasso, he drew it round
the hind and one of the fore feet of his horse, and threw him to the
ground with a dexterous jerk; then, binding him there, performed the
operations of sewing up the wound in about two minutes.

"Will he live?" I asked.

"How can I tell?" he answered indifferently. "I only know that now he
will be able to carry me home; if he dies afterwards, what will it
matter?"

We then mounted and rode quietly home. Of course, we were chaffed
without mercy, especially by the old negress, who had foreseen all
along, she told us, just how it would be. One would have imagined, to
hear this old black creature talk, that she looked on milk-drinking
as one of the greatest moral offences man could be guilty of, and that