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Don Pablo and his companions were running to and fro Guapo was tumbling about where he had fallen and the great lizard was writhing and flapping his tail, so that pots, pans, half-burnt faggots, and even Guapo's monkey, were being knocked about in every direction. Of course such a violent scene could not be of long duration. It must end one way or the other.
Guapo, however, was of a different opinion, and, going up to the body, he struck it a blow with his axe. To the surprise of the others, instead of the dead sound which they expected to hear, a dry crash followed the blow, and a dark hole appeared where a piece of thin shell-like substance had fallen off. Another blow from Guapo's axe, and the whole side went in.
Such was Guapo's account of these curious animals which are found only in the warmer regions of North and South America. Conversing in this way, the bark-hunters, at length, reached the cinchona-trees, and then all talk about armadillos was at an end. They went lustily to their work which was of more importance and, under Guapo's axe, several of the cinchonas soon "bit the dust."
Of course great practice is required before such an instrument can be used skilfully; and to the novice there is some danger of one of the balls hitting him a crack on the head, and knocking over himself instead of the game. But there was no danger of Guapo's friend the vaquero committing this blunder. He had been swinging the bolas around his head for more than forty years!
But the Church levies its tax upon the "chacu," and the skins worth a dollar each have to be given up to the priest of the village. A good round sum this amounts to, as frequently four or five hundred vicunas are taken at a single chacu. A good hunter is sometimes able to "approach" the vicuna. Guapo's friend was esteemed one of the best in all the Puna.
Guapo leaped hastily back as hastily, I will make bold to say, as any Indian of his years could have done, but not quick enough to clear himself quite. He wanted about eight inches; but in this case inches were as good as miles for the crocodile's purpose, for about eight inches of the tip of his tail came "smack" across Guapo's naked shins, and sent the old Indian head over heels.
Of course great practice is required before such an instrument can be used skilfully; and to the novice there is some danger of one of the balls hitting him a crack on the head, and knocking over himself instead of the game. But there was no danger of Guapo's friend the vaquero committing this blunder. He had been swinging the bolas around his head for more than forty years!
Guapo knew a good deal about these curious creatures, for he had eaten many a dozen of them in his time, and as many different kinds of them too. Their feeding upon carrion had no effect on Guapo's stomach, and, indeed, white people in South America relish them as much as Indians.
Not a bit of carcass was there; there were bones clean bones and dry hard skin, but no flesh, not an atom of flesh! "Tatou-poyou!" quietly remarked Guapo. "What!" said Don Pablo, "an armadillo, you think?" recognising, in Guapo's words, the Indian name for one of the large species of armadillos. "Yes," replied Guapo. "All eaten by the tatou-poyou. See! there's his hole."
The Spanish Americans have it in the phrase "Cada uno a su gusto;" "Chacun a son gout," say the French; and on hearing these tales about "ant-paste," and "roast monkey," and "armadillo done in the shell," and "bat-soup," you, boy reader, will not fail to exclaim "Every one to his liking." The vampire appeared to be to Guapo's liking.
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