Evening star., 1925-08-09

T HOUGH any day in a civilized
country one may read in his
daily paper of the exploits of
Il gunmen, Of the hold-up of a
bank or jewelry store, Of kill
ings, the great cattle plains in the
heart of South America are one of
the last parts Of the world where life
rs it is lived is still really wild
I have travelled over these plains,
tat under the shade of an ombre tree
Watching the gaucho cattle men play
iaba, seen them tame" a potro wild
horse) in an hour, stood on the corral
while they worked the wild Zebu and
crafty criollo steers, sat around the
campfire eating in my fingers my
share of the roasted sheep, sucked
from the soCiable mate bowl. drunk
their fiery cana-in effect, shared in
some degree their lives
These cattle men of Gaucho stock
are a picturesque people. quick of
temper. eye and hand. They live in
an adventurous country, many die in
their boots. But the foreigner-gringo.
as they call them-is safe among
them If he keeps himself to himself
My only knowledge of the South
west of the United States has been
acquired from motion picture plays
and books. From these it would seem
that the code there is very different
from the unwritten laws of the cattle
men of Argentina and Brazil.
In the Southwest, l gather, a man
gives his enemy chance-he warns
before he shoots. In Argentina a man
never draws gun or knife unless he
means to kill. To point your gun at
man in Argentina is a deadly insult
If You don't shoot him then he will
shoot you later.
Art1 ll,r ;e
weapon in Argentina-an ordinary,
long knife, carried in the belt, with
which the men eat, skin their meat,
and kill each other
X x x
A a mans longevity IN the South
= west used to depend on his quick
ness on the draw, so it does in Ar
gentina today. The following scene
may instance this:
A cowboy came to work on Monday
morning with the fiery cana spirit
still burning in his veins He had
long had a grudge against his fore
mana black-eyed, wiry Correntino
The two came to words in the corral.
They stood facing each other, eve to
eye. The foreman's hands lay idly at
his side; the cowboys right hand was
near his knife. 1t was a tense and
famed with liquor and the other in
authority, blood was sure to flow.
Suddenly the cowboy drew his
knife. Now knife fights can best be
measured in fractions of seconds Yet
IN the fraction of second that passed
all sized the situation up. AS the
knife was being drawn on him, the
Correntino foreman stood motionless.
1t must be that he had left his knife
hl L..
he had entered into an argument with
an armed cowboy, drunk on cana and
bearing a grudge against him? He
would lose his life assuredly.
The drunken cowboys arm went
forward as he struck 1t was an ap-
palling sight to see. as it always is
when one man knifes another-in this
case more appalling than ever, with
the Correntino standing there help
less.
And then. just as it seemed the
cowboys knife would enter the Cor
rentino'S body. something happened.
so rapidly that it was difficult to see
the details. The cowboy, the point of
his knife a bare fraction of an inch
from the others body, sagged for
ward and collapsed in heap at the
Correntino's feet. The Correntino was
seen 10 bend and calmly wipe his knife
on the grass, put it away and walk out
Of the corral.
1t was like sleght of hand Some
how, perhaps from his sleeve at the
moment the other attacked him, the
Correntino had drawn a knife. Using
thrust that travelled no more than a
few inches, as often the decisive blow
In boxing match will do, he had
placed his knife with perfect accuracy
in his assailant's heart as the latter
struck at him. That foreman was one
Of the finest knife fighters in the dis
trict. which was one of the reasons he
held his job.
x x
GO much for informal fights among
~ the cowboys, which are of such
frequent occurrence that at most of
the cattle town drinking booths a man
must hand his weapons across the
counter before the bar man will serve
him wit iiUIlOr this n