We passed the whole day laughing and talking, at the same time rapidly advancing towards the rancho where we were to pass the night.
"Look," said the gaucho to me, pointing out a slight column of smoke, which was ascending spirally towards the sky; "that is where we are going, and in a quarter of an hour we shall be there."
"Thank God," I answered, "for I begin to feel fatigued."
"Yes," said he to me, "you have not yet become used to long journeys; but patience, in a few days you will think nothing of it."
"By-the-bye," said he, as if the thought suddenly occurred to him, "you have not yet told me the name of the pícaro who abandoned you."
"Robbing me of a gun, a sabre, and a horse--things for which I have ceased to grieve."
"Why, because it is probable that the bribón will not bring them back to me."
"You are wrong to think that; although the desert may be large, a rascal cannot so easily conceal himself there as you think."
"You do not know what may happen; perhaps someday I shall come across him."
"That is true; they call him, in Buenos Aires, Pigacha, but his real name among his own people is the Venado; he is blind of the right eye. I hope that is sufficient description," I added.
"I believe so," answered he; "and I promise you if I meet him I shall recognise him. But here we are."
In fact, at twenty paces before me appeared a rancho, the complete outline of which the first shades of night prevented me from making out, but the sight of which, after a fatiguing day, and especially after the wild life to which I had been so long condemned, rejoiced my heart in giving rise to the hope of that frank and cordial hospitality which is never refused in the pampa.
Already the dogs hailed our arrival with their deafening bark, and leaped furiously around our horses. We were obliged to give them a taste of the whip, and soon our horses stopped before the entrance to the rancho, where a man was standing with a lighted torch in one hand, and a gun in the other. This man was tall, with bold features, and a bronzed complexion lit up by the ruddy reflection of the torch which he held above his head gave me a good idea, with his athletic form and wild appearance, of the true gaucho of the pampas. On perceiving my companion, he bowed deferentially.