That Was One Of The Images My Mind Received On That Adventurous Day
Which Have Not Faded - The Long, Low,
Mud built house, standing on the
wide, empty, treeless plain, with three ancient, half-dead, crooked
acacia trees growing close
To it, and a little further away a corral
or cattle-enclosure and a sheep-fold. It was a poor, naked, dreary-
looking house without garden or shade, and I dare say a little English
boy six years old would have smiled, a little incredulous, to be told
that it was the residence of one of the principal land-owners in that
part.
Then, as we have seen, I got my horse, and being delivered from the
fear of evil-minded cows with long, sharp horns, I spent a good deal
of my time on the plain, where I made the acquaintance of other small
boys on horseback, who took me to their homes and introduced me to
their people. In this way I came to be a visitor to that lonely-
looking house on the other side of the river, and to know all the
interesting people in it, including Don Evaristo himself, its lord and
master. He was a middle-aged man at that date, of medium height, very
white-skinned, with long black hair and full beard, straight nose,
fine broad forehead, with large dark eyes. He was-slow and deliberate
in all his movements, grave, dignified, and ceremonious in his manner
and speech; but in spite of this lofty air he was known to have a
sweet and gentle disposition and was friendly towards every one, even
to small boys who are naturally naughty and a nuisance to their
elders.
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