Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
nearer to Mancha than the latter approved of and had suffered accordingly. On examining him
I found that he had received a severe blow on the hip and that his shoulder-blade was broken.
Here was a situation worthy of a cartoonist's pencil. Far away from any habitation, stuck in
the mud, the rain soaking into my skin, with two half-wild horses and a crippled dog: hardly
an encouraging start. I did not want to shoot the dog, much less leave him where he was, and
as there was about as much chance of meeting any vehicle on that road as there is of seeing
polar bears in the Sahara Desert I decided to carry him to the main road. It was no easy job to
carrytheheavydogsometwohundredyards,deposithimbytheroadside,returntothehorses
and drag them along, and repeat this over and over again. At last we reached the road and I
sat down to await a passing motorist. The first car to pass was an exceedingly antiquated 'Tin
Lizzie'.Ibeckonedtothedrivertostopandaskedhimifhewouldcarrythedogtothenearest
townandleavehimforme.WithanaccentthatclearlybetrayedhisSpanishoriginheinquired
how much I was prepared to pay for the service, explaining that times were not as they used
to be, and so on and so forth. He became so flowery in his speech that I cut him short with a
cordial request that he would betake himself to a warmer climate and he departed, his old bus
rattling like an ironmonger's store in an earthquake. Presently another car came along and the
two gentlemen who were in it readily consented to help me, and carted the dog off to Moron
where I decided to put up for the night. My first act on reaching there was to telephone to a
friend, asking him to look after the dog, and when I returned after over three years' absence I
was delighted to find him in the best of condition.
The next job was to look for board and lodging for the horses. One would imagine this a
simple matter so near to the capital, but it was no such thing. All available stabling was occu-
pied, but at length I obtained permission to leave them at the Police Station for the night, and
having,afteralengthysearch,purchasedabaleofhay,andcarteditonmybacktothecorral,I
was free to look after myself. Accordingly I had a fairly respectable dinner and retired to bed,
fondly imagining that my troubles were over for the day. Alas for the frailty of human hopes!
The hotel was of a pattern almost universal throughout the Camp towns, as country towns are
called in the Argentine. The rooms are built round a square patio, or courtyard, and have large
double doors but no window, consequently no through ventilation. Each room has two, three,
orfourbeds,andhappyisthemanwhogetsaroomtohimself.Iwasnotoneofthese,forIhad
hardlyretiredwhenanothermanwasshownin,andshortlyafterwardstwomorearrived.Asis
the custom ofmany ofthe lower class Argentines, mycompanions insisted onthe doorsbeing
shut, thus cutting off all ventilation, while to make matters worse the two last comers started
to smoke, dividing their time pretty evenly between puffing and spitting. Everything comes to
anendsometime,andatlastwithmanygruntsandgroanstheycomposedthemselvestosleep.
I was just about to do the same when I felt - something. At first I took no notice, but when
that something began to multiply itself by hundreds I got up and struck a match.——!!! My
bed was like some plain during army manœuvres - regiments, army corps, marching to and
fro and scuttling to take cover from the light. I switched on the lamp and hurled the mattress
