Probably the most glorious
moment of his life was when he rode to a race-meeting or cattle-
marking or other gathering of the gaucho population of the district,
when all eyes would be turned to him on his arrival. Dismounting, he
would hobble his horse, tie the glittering reins to the back of the
saddle, and leave him proudly champing his big native bit and tossing
his decorated head, while the people gathered round to admire the
strangely-coloured animal as if it had been a Pegasus just alighted
from the skies to stand for a while exhibiting itself among the horses
of the earth.
My latest recollections of La Tapera are concerned more with Demetria
than the piebalds. She was not an elegant figure, as was natural in a
daughter of the grotesque Don Gregorio, but her countenance, as I have
said, was attractive on account of its colour and gentle wistful
expression, and being the daughter of a man rich in horses she did not
want for lovers. In those far-off days the idle, gay, well-dressed
young gambler was always a girl's first and often most successful
wooer, but at La Tapera the young lovers had to reckon with one who,
incredible as it seemed in a gaucho, hated gambling and kept a hostile
and rather terrifying eye on their approaches. Eventually Demetria
became engaged to a young stranger from a distance who had succeeded
in persuading the father that he was an eligible person and able to
provide for a wife.
Pages:
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195