But What A Pleasure It Was To Lie Awake At Night
And Listen To Their Voices Calling The Hours!
The calls began at the
stroke of eleven, and then from beneath the window would come the
wonderful long
Drawling call of _Las on - ce han da - do y se - re - no,_
which means eleven of the clock and all serene, but if clouded the
concluding word would be _nu - bla - do,_ and so on, according to the
weather. From all the streets, from all over the town, the long-drawn
calls would float to my listening ears, with infinite variety in the
voices - the high and shrill, the falsetto, the harsh, raucous note
like the caw of the carrion crow, the solemn, booming bass, and then
some fine, rich, pure voice that soared heavenwards above all the
others and was like the pealing notes of an organ.
I loved the poor night-watchmen and their cries, and it grieved my
little soft heart to hear that it was considered fine sport by the
rich young gentlemen to sally forth at night and do battle with them,
and to deprive them of their staffs and lanterns, which they took home
and kept as trophies.
Another human phenomenon which annoyed and shocked my tender mind,
like that of the contests on the beach between young gentlemen and
washerwomen, was the multitude of beggars which infested the town.
These were not like our dignified beggar on horseback, with his red
poncho, spurs and tall straw hat, who rode to your gate, and having
received his tribute, blessed you and rode away to the next estancia.
These city beggars on the pavement were the most brutal, even
fiendish, looking men I had ever seen. Most of them were old soldiers,
who, having served their ten, fifteen, or twenty years, according to
the nature of the crime for which they had been condemned to the army,
had been discharged or thrown out to live like carrion-hawks on what
they could pick up. Twenty times a day at least you would hear the
iron gate opening from the courtyard into the street swung open,
followed by the call or shout of the beggar demanding charity in the
name of God. Outside you could not walk far without being confronted
by one of these men, who would boldly square himself in front of you
on the narrow pavement and beg for alms. If you had no change and
said, _"Perdon, por Dios,"_ he would scowl and let you pass; but if
you looked annoyed or disgusted, or ordered him out of the way, or
pushed by without a word, he would glare at you with a concentrated
rage which seemed to say, "Oh, to have you down at my mercy, bound
hand and foot, a sharp knife in my hand!" And this would be followed
by a blast of the most horrible language.
One day I witnessed a very strange thing, the action of a dog, by the
waterside. It was evening and the beach was forsaken; cartmen,
fishermen, boatmen all gone, and I was the only idler left on the
rocks; but the tide was coming in, rolling quite big waves on to the
rocks, and the novel sight of the waves, the freshness, the joy of it,
kept me at that spot, standing on one of the outermost rocks not yet
washed over by the water. By and by a gentleman, followed by a big
dog, came down on to the beach and stood at a distance of forty or
fifty yards from me, while the dog bounded forward over the flat,
slippery rocks and through pools of water until he came to my side,
and sitting on the edge of the rock began gazing intently down at the
water. He was a big, shaggy, round-headed animal, with a greyish coat
with some patches of light reddish colour on it; what his breed was I
cannot say, but he looked somewhat like a sheep-dog or an otter-hound.
Suddenly he plunged in, quite disappearing from sight, but quickly
reappeared with a big shad of about three and a half or four pounds'
weight in his jaws. Climbing on to the rock he dropped the fish, which
he did not appear to have injured much, as it began floundering about
in an exceedingly lively manner. I was astonished and looked back at
the dog's master; but there he stood in the same place, smoking and
paying no attention to what his animal was doing. Again the dog
plunged in and brought out a second big fish and dropped it on the
flat rock, and again and again he dived, until there were five big
shads all floundering about on the wet rock and likely soon to be
washed back into the water. The shad is a common fish in the Plata and
the best to eat of all its fishes, resembling the salmon in its rich
flavour, and is eagerly watched for when it comes up from the sea by
the Buenos Ayres fishermen, just as our fishermen watch for mackerel
on our coasts. But on this evening the beach was deserted by every
one, watchers included, and the fish came and swarmed along the rocks,
and there was no one to catch them - not even some poor hungry idler to
pounce upon and carry off the five fishes the dog had captured. One by
one I saw them washed back into the water, and presently the dog,
hearing his master whistling to him, bounded away.
For many years after this incident I failed to find any one who had
even seen or heard of a dog catching fish. Eventually, in reading I
met with an account of fishing-dogs in Newfoundland and other
countries.
One other strange adventure met with on the front remains to be told.
It was about eleven o'clock in the morning and I was on the parade,
walking north, pausing from time to time to look over the sea-wall to
watch the flocks of small birds that came to feed on the beach below.
Presently my attention was drawn to a young man walking on before me,
pausing and peering too from time to time over the wall, and when he
did so throwing something at the small birds.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 30 of 96
Words from 30508 to 31569
of 98444
