saddled comrades, who looked very much like criminals fastened in the stocks. We left them to their reflections, and galloped on towards some larger lakes, on one of which was a perfect cloud of birds very like our waterhens; we might have shot any quantity of them, but thinking them worthless we reserved our fire for the ducks.

The natives who supply these delicacies for the Buenos Ayrean market are very stingy of powder and shot, but they get at them by what our old friend Sir John Mandeville would call this soteltee.' Birds and beasts of all kinds on those plains have no fear of a horse, but cannot understand a man on foot. The native sportsman, therefore, gets a trained horse, which walks slowly towards the army of ducks; he creeps along by its side, so as to be nearly hidden by its body and legs, till he gets almost close and kills multitudes of them with a single charge. A much more amusing trick is resorted to in Central America, where a man puts on his head a hollow pumpkin with two holes for his eyes, something like a diver's helmet. Thus armed he wades into the water up to his neck, so that nothing is seen but a pumpkin, which appears to be floating upon the surface; he soon gets among the ducks, catches them one after the other by the legs, pulls them under water, and fastens them to a belt round his waist. Their companions never miss them, and he goes on quietly in this way till he has got as many as he can stagger under.

We dared not attempt the horse-trick with our present steeds, for the report of the gun would have left us instantly without a mount, and many miles from home; but luckily we had in our pockets a few of Eley's cartridges, which made splendid practice. As we approached another laguna the surface appeared covered with large bouquets of roses, and when we got a little nearer I found to my astonishment and delight that we had come upon hundreds of flamingoes. Stooping a little I walked towards them. They did not move, and I got a little closer: presently they raised themselves screaming from the water, and flew en masse across the laguna, which was there not very wide. Never have I seen such a beautiful sight as that rosy cloud of huge birds, shaded gradually from the delicate pink of their necks to the deep red of their long wings, which were tipped with black. The beauty of the sight and the rush of their flight as they crossed that silent lake almost bewildered me for a moment; but the slaughtering instinct of man overpowered my better feelings as I remembered that I had a cartridge in my left barrel. I fired at the head of the column when they were nearly on the other side, and two of the foremost fell. The distance was nearly, if not quite, 100 yards, and I was astonished at its effect on such powerful birds. Returning to the horses we rode round to the farther side of the lake, where we found the dead body of one victim; the other had life enough to struggle into deeper water,

and escaped us. It was indeed a most exquisite bird, not fully represented. in colour by the African flamingoes in the Zoological Gardens. All the most lovely shades of pink and red that can be conceived were to be found amongst its feathers, and its long legs were of the colour of blood. I could hardly forgive myself for the shot, but it was a wonderful test of Eley's cartridges, and I consoled my conscience by vowing that I would never shoot another.

Meanwhile it was evident that the thunder-storm had broken up the fine weather for the present. The wind shifted to south and south-east, a very bad quarter, and came mournfully sighing over the plains, raising a raw mist with its cold breath: every moment it blew harder and harder, the birds seemed more scared than ever, and the horses which had come down to drink looked as if they expected a bad night upon the open camp; darkness came on fast with a murky sky, and it was high time to make the best of our way homewards for fear of losing our only landmarks. The flamingo and the ducks were tied to our saddles, and away we galloped as fast as we could in the teeth of the blast. Clarke's house was nearly in our way, and we agreed to call there and ask if his hospitality would improve the stores of our larder. He kindly gave us a large joint of pork, a bottle of splendid Hollands, and some fresh bread, which was a special luxury in that land of wooden biscuits. Fair's strong arm carried the pork tied by a

towel to his bridle-wrist; the Hollands and the bread were disposed of in our pockets; we bade the good people a hasty adieu as the rain was already falling, and with the fading light to increase the danger of biscachoholes, we galloped back to the estancia all safe-guns, pork, bread, Hollands, ducks, and flamingo.

Was it

It was indeed a bad night. We unloaded our stores, unsaddled the horses, gave them a feed of dry alfalfa or lucerne, and left them to take care of themselves in the yard. At first I pitied them for having such a finish to a good day's work, but I did not yet know the toughness of their constitutions. The wind and the rain beat against the house furiously, so we made the doors and windows fast, and kept up a capital wood fire all the evening till we turned into bed, and I was soon asleep. A strange tapping on my pillow at regular intervals awoke me. What could it be? some unknown and perhaps direful insect? more loud taps convinced me of the cause. sive heat and drought had opened a crack in the roof, and the rain oozing through fell in heavy drips about six inches from my head. I found a basin, and squeezing myself as far as I could towards the wall, tried to go to sleep again; but the water falling into the basin made a noise even worse than before, and splashed me in the face about every other second; besides which I was presently attacked in the same way on the other side. I thought of that famous mediæval torture which con

A few

The exces

sisted in letting water drip on a victim's mouth till it drove him mad: so I got up and moved the bed into a part of the room where by the most careful listening I could not detect the immediate presence of the enemy. Next day matters were worse rather than better, for the weather did not improve, and Mrs. Macdonald came to report that there was no more dry wood. This was serious, but we found the frame of a large sofa uncovered, and somewhat dilapidated. Necessity has no laws an axe was sent for, and after a little active exercise we found ourselves supplied with enough firing for the rest of the day.

On the third morning came the first symptoms of improvement, and the afternoon was perfectly fine, so we had a quiet ride about the estancia. It was ascertained that the Monte Grande flocks had not suffered much, but as we rode along the side of the arroyo which divided them from those of the next proprietor, we saw the bodies of dozens of sheep, which seemed to have crawled under the lee of the river-bank and died there, probably from being previously out of condition.

The next four or five days were among the happiest I have ever spent. The weather was perfectly lovely, and continual sunshine on ground moistened by the rain soon began to give a fresh green tint to the camp. We were out all day riding and shooting, and as I became more accustomed to the horses and the customs of the country under the tutorship of a first-rate