He Turned
In The Direction I Had Asked Him To Take, And We Started Off At A
Breakneck Speed, Which His Fiery Horse Kept Up.
I cannot say he
followed his nose, or the reader might ask me which nose, but he led
me in a straight line to an eminence, from whence he pointed out the
estancia I was seeking.
The house was still distant, yet I was not
sorry to part with my strange guide, who seemed disinclined to
conduct me further. I gave him his fee, and he grunted his thanks and
left me to pursue my journey more leisurely. A hut I came to had been
struck by lightning, and a woman and her child had been buried in the
debris. Inquiring the particulars, I was informed that the woman was
herself to blame for the disaster. The saints, they told me, have a
particular aversion to the ombu tree, and this daring Eve had built
her house near one. The saints had taken spite at this act of
bravado, and destroyed both mother and daughter. Moral: Heed the
saints.
A FLEET-FOOTED DEER.
One day an old man seriously informed me that in those parts there
was a deer which neither he nor any other one had been able to catch.
Like the Siamese twins, it was two live specimens in one. When I
asked why it was impossible to catch the animal, he informed me that
it had eight legs with which to run.
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