Gaspar the Gaucho: A Story of the Gran Chaco
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Reid Mayne. Gaspar the Gaucho: A Story of the Gran Chaco
Chapter One. The Gran Chaco
Chapter Two. Paraguay’s despot
Chapter Three. The Hunter-Naturalist
Chapter Four. His Nearest Neighbours
Chapter Five. A Deserted Village
Chapter Six. An Old Enemy in a New Place
Chapter Seven. Valdez the “Vaqueano.”
Chapter Eight. A Compact between Scoundrels
Chapter Nine. A Red-Handed Ruffian
Chapter Ten. Gaspar, the Gaucho
Chapter Eleven. A Silent Fellow-Traveller
Chapter Twelve. Skulking Back
Chapter Thirteen. A Party not to be pursued
Chapter Fourteen. Why come they not?
Chapter Fifteen. A Tedious Journey
Chapter Sixteen. Dead!
Chapter Seventeen. On the Trail
Chapter Eighteen. Who rode the Shod Horse?
Chapter Nineteen. The “Lost Ball.”
Chapter Twenty. Obstructed by a “Biscachera.”
Chapter Twenty One. A Shoulder out of Joint
Chapter Twenty Two. The Barometer-Tree
Chapter Twenty Three. The Captive Train
Chapter Twenty Four. Caught in a Dust-Storm
Chapter Twenty Five. A Rush for Shelter
Chapter Twenty Six. An Unwelcome Intruder
Chapter Twenty Seven. Between Torrent and Tiger
Chapter Twenty Eight. Saved by a Spitting-Devil
Chapter Twenty Nine. A Rock-bound Sleeping Room
Chapter Thirty. The “Sacred Town.”
Chapter Thirty One. Taste after Powder
Chapter Thirty Two. Stopped by a “Riacho.”
Chapter Thirty Three. A Fish Dinner at Second-Hand
Chapter Thirty Four. Attacked by Gymnoti
Chapter Thirty Five. Under the Carob Trees
Chapter Thirty Six. A Chat about Electric Eels
Chapter Thirty Seven. Nothing for Breakfast
Chapter Thirty Eight. A Counterfeit Crane
Chapter Thirty Nine. The Avestruz
Chapter Forty. On the Salitral
Chapter Forty One. Travelling Tandem
Chapter Forty Two. Picking up Pearls
Chapter Forty Three. In the Sacred Town
Chapter Forty Four. An Indian Belle
Chapter Forty Five. An Elevated Graveyard
Chapter Forty Six. A Dead Man Identified
Chapter Forty Seven. Gaspar Despondent
Chapter Forty Eight. Breaking bad News
Chapter Forty Nine. Gaspar means Masquerading
Chapter Fifty. A Midnight Promenader
Chapter Fifty One. A Dispenser of Spells
Chapter Fifty Two. A Friend Unexpected
Chapter Fifty Three. A Deluded Jailer
Chapter Fifty Four. An Unlooked-for Deliverer
Chapter Fifty Five. An Unlucky Tumble
Chapter Fifty Six. An Infuriated Female
Chapter Fifty Seven. The Captive Recaptured
Chapter Fifty Eight. Va Con Dios
Chapter Fifty Nine. Friends or Foes?
Chapter Sixty. Speedy Retribution
Chapter Sixty One. Conclusion
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Notwithstanding what I have said of the Chaco remaining uncolonised and unexplored, I can tell of an exception. In the year 1836, one ascending the Pilcomayo to a point about a hundred miles from its mouth, would there see a house, which could have been built only by a white man, or one versed in the ways of civilisation. Not that there was anything very imposing in its architecture; for it was but a wooden structure, the walls of bamboo, and the roof a thatch of the palm called cuberta– so named from the use made of its fronds in covering sheds and houses. But the superior size of this dwelling, far exceeding that of the simple toldos of the Chaco Indians; its ample verandah pillared and shaded by a protecting roof of the same palm leaves; and, above all, several well-fenced enclosures around it, one of them containing a number of tame cattle, others under tillage – with maize, manioc, the plantain, and similar tropical products – all these insignia evinced the care and cultivating hand of some one else than an aboriginal.
Entering the house, still further evidence of the white man’s presence would be observed. Furniture, apparently home-made, yet neat, pretty, and suitable; chairs and settees of the caña brava, or South American bamboo; bedsteads of the same, with beds of the elastic Spanish moss, and ponchos for coverlets; mats woven from fibres of another species of palm, with here and there a swung hammock. In addition, some books and pictures that appeared to have been painted on the spot; a bound volume of music, with a violin and guitar – all speaking of a domestic economy unknown to the American Indian.
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For all this, Ludwig Halberger had no fear of crossing over to the Chaco side, nor penetrating into its interior. He had often gone thither on botanising and hunting expeditions. But for this apparent recklessness he had a reason, which must needs here be given. Between the Chaco savages and the Paraguayan people there had been intervals of peace —tiempos de paz– during which occurred amicable intercourse; the Indians rowing over the river and entering the town to traffic off their skins, ostrich feathers, and other commodities. On one of these occasions the head chief of the Tovas tribe, by name Naraguana, having imbibed too freely of guarapé, and in some way got separated from his people, became the butt of some Paraguayan boys, who were behaving towards him just as the idle lads of London or the gamins of Paris would to one appearing intoxicated in the streets. The Prussian naturalist chanced to be passing at the time; and seeing the Indian, an aged man, thus insulted, took pity upon and rescued him from his tormentors.
Recovering from his debauch, and conscious of the service the stranger had done him, the Tovas chief swore eternal friendship to his generous protector, at the same time proffering him the “freedom of the Chaco.”
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