–No, and the delay in giving me such good news I do not forgive Transit.
–I told Braulio to tell you, because my father thought it was better that way.
–I am as grateful to you for this choice as you cannot imagine; but it is in the hope that you will soon make me a compadre.
Braulio looked most tenderly at his beautiful bride, and, embarrassed, she hurried off to arrange lunch, taking Lucia with her.
My meals at Josе's house were no longer like the one I described on another occasion: I was part of the family; and without any table apparatus, except the one piece of cutlery that was always given to me, I received my ration of frisoles, mazamorra, milk and chamois from the hands of Mrs. Luisa, sitting no more and no less than Josе and Braulio, on a bench made of guadua root. It was not without difficulty that I got them used to treating me like this.
Years later, as I travelled through the mountains of Joseph's country, I saw, at sunset, cheerful peasants arrive at the hut where I was given hospitality: after praising God before the venerable head of the family, they waited around the hearth for the supper that the old and affectionate mother was distributing: a plate was enough for each pair of spouses; and the little ones were making pinafores leaning on their parents' knees. And I turned my eyes away from these patriarchal scenes, which reminded me of the last happy days of my youth....
Lunch was succulent as usual, and seasoned with conversation that revealed Braulio and Josе's impatience to start the hunt.
It was about ten o'clock when, with everyone ready, Lucas loaded with the cold meat that Luisa had prepared for us, and after Josе's entrances and exits to put cabuya cubes and other things that he had forgotten, we set off.
There were five of us hunters: the mulatto Tiburcio, a labourer at the Chagra; Lucas, a Neivano from a neighbouring hacienda; Josе, Braulio and myself. We were all armed with shotguns. Those of the first two were shotguns, and excellent, of course, according to them. Josе and Braulio also carried lances, carefully fitted with spears.
There was not a useful dog left in the house: they all, two by two, swelled the expeditionary party, howling with pleasure; and even cook Martha's favourite, Pigeon, whom the rabbits feared with blindness, stuck out his neck to be counted in the number of the skilful; but Joseph dismissed him with a zumba! followed by some humiliating reproaches.
Luisa and the girls were uneasy, especially Trаnsito, who knew that it was her boyfriend who would be in the greatest danger, as his suitability for the case was indisputable.
Taking advantage of a narrow, tangled trail, we began to ascend the northern bank of the river. Its slanting riverbed, if such can be called the jungle bottom of the gully, hemmed in by crags on the tops of which grew, as on roofs, curling ferns and reeds entangled by flowering creepers, was obstructed at intervals by huge stones, through which the currents escaped in swift waves, white gushes and whimsical plumage.
We had gone little more than half a league, when Josе, stopping at the mouth of a wide, dry ditch, walled in by high cliffs, examined some badly gnawed bones scattered on the sand: they were those of the lamb that had been used as bait by the wild beast the day before. Braulio preceded us, and Josе and I went deeper into the ditch. The tracks were rising. Braulio, after about a hundred rods of climbing, stopped, and without looking at us motioned for us to stop. He listened to the rumours of the jungle; sucked in all the air his chest could hold; looked up at the high canopy that the cedars, jiguas and yarumos formed above us, and walked on with slow, silent steps. He stopped again after a while; repeated the examination he had made at the first station; and showing us the scratches on the trunk of a tree rising from the bottom of the ditch, he said, after a new examination of the tracks: "This is the way he came out: it is known to be well eaten and well baquiano". The chamba ended twenty rods ahead by a wall from the top of which it was known, from the hole dug at the foot, that on rainy days the streams of the foothills would flow down from there.
Against my better judgement, we looked for the river bank again, and continued up it. Soon Braulio found the tiger's tracks on a beach, and this time they went all the way to the shore.
It was necessary to make sure whether the beast had passed that way to the other side, or whether, prevented by the currents, which were already very strong and impetuous, it had continued up the bank where we were, which was more likely.
Braulio, shotgun cocked on his back, forded the stream, tying a rejojo to his waist, the end of which Josе held to prevent a misstep from rolling the boy into the immediate waterfall.
There was a profound silence, and we silenced the occasional impatient yelp from the dogs.
–There's no trace here," said Braulio after examining the sands and undergrowth.
As he stood up, turned towards us, on the top of a crag, we understood from his gestures that he was ordering us to stand still.
He slung the shotgun from his shoulders, leaned it against his chest as if to fire at the rocks behind us, leaned forward slightly, steady and calm, and fired.
–There! -he shouted, pointing towards the wooded crags whose edges we could not see; and leaping down to the bank, he added:
–The tight rope! The dogs higher up!
The dogs seemed to be aware of what had happened: as soon as we released them, following Braulio's order, while Josе helped him to cross the river, they disappeared to our right through the reed beds.
–Hold it," shouted Braulio again, gaining the bank. -cried Braulio again, gaining the bank; and as he hastily loaded the shotgun, catching sight of me, he added:
–You here, boss.
The dogs were in close pursuit of the prey, which must not have had an easy way out, as the barking came from the same point on the slope.
Braulio took a spear from Josе, saying to both of us:
–You lower and higher, to guard this pass, for the tiger will come back on his trail if he escapes from where he is. Tiburcio with you," he added.
And addressing Lucas:
–The two of them to go round the top of the rock.
Then, with his usual sweet smile, he finished by placing a piston in the shotgun's chimney with a steady hand:
–It's a kitten, and it's already wounded.
In saying the last words we dispersed.
Josе, Tiburcio and I climbed up to a conveniently located rock. Tiburcio looked and looked over the stock of his shotgun. Josе was all eyes. From there we could see what was happening on the crag and could keep the recommended pace; for the trees on the slope, though stout, were rare.
Of the six dogs, two were already out of action: one of them was gutted at the feet of the beast; the other, with his entrails showing through one of his ribs torn open, had come to look for us and was expiring with pitiful whimpers by the stone we were occupying.
With his back against a clump of oak trees, his tail swaying, his back bristling, his eyes blazing and his teeth bared, the tiger snorted hoarsely, and when he shook his huge head, his ears made a noise similar to that of wooden castanets. As he rolled over, harassed by the dogs, which were not frightened but not very healthy, blood dripped from his left flank, which he sometimes tried to lick, but to no avail, for then the pack would be on his tail with advantage.
Braulio and Lucas appeared coming out of the reed bed on the crag, but a little further away from the beast than we were. Lucas was livid, and the carate spots on his cheekbones were turquoise blue.
The hunters and the game formed a triangle and both groups could shoot at the same time without offending each other.
–Fire all at once! -shouted Josе.
–No, no; the dogs! -replied Braulio; and leaving his companion alone, he disappeared.
I realised that a general shot might end it all; but it was certain that some dogs would succumb; and the tiger not being dead, it was easy for him to do mischief by finding us without loaded guns.
Braulio's head, his mouth half-open and panting, his eyes unfolded and his hair dishevelled, peeped out from the reeds, a little behind the trees that defended the beast's back: in his right arm he held his spear, and with his left he deflected the vines that prevented him from seeing well.
We were all speechless; the dogs themselves seemed interested in the end of the game.
Josе shouted at last:
–Hubi! Killaleon! Hubi! -Hubi! Chop him, Truncho!
It was not advisable to give the beast any respite, and Braulio would not be put at greater risk.
The dogs returned to the attack simultaneously. Another one of them died without a whimper.
The tiger let out a horrified meow.
Braulio appeared behind the group of oak trees, towards our side, wielding the spear shaft without the blade.
The beast turned the same way in search of him; and he cried out:
–Fire! Fire! -leaping back to the same spot where he had struck.
The tiger was looking for him. Lucas had disappeared. Tiburcio was olive-coloured. He took aim and only the bait was burnt.
Josе fired: the tiger roared again, as if trying to bite its back, and leapt instantly back upon Braulio. The latter, turning again behind the oaks, rushed towards us to pick up the spear that Josе was throwing at you.
Then the beast faced us. Only my shotgun was available: I fired; the tiger sat on its tail, staggered and fell.
Braulio looked back instinctively to see the effect of the last shot. Josе, Tiburcio and I were already close behind him, and we all gave a shout of triumph at the same time.
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