WALKÜREN - THE THREE MARIAS Chapter One

 WALKÜREN - THE THREE MARIAS

Chapter One

The chanting of the old cart, which acted as a traveling kitchen, was making old Tião, official cook of the campaign, who was following through the green sea formed by the grass as far as the eye can see. That slow pace associated with the heat in the middle of the day made Tião and his helper, Leo, occasionally take a nap, as they were comfortably installed on the seat of the vehicle, pulled by a team of oxen... Close behind, the sound of the horn peal, guiding that great herd across the prairie. They intended to reach Espírito Santo do Pinhal before nightfall, as there they would have covered half the way to Quiririm, their final destination. It was a large batch of oxen that was in transit, commissioned by several breeders in that region of the Paraíba Valley. They were coming from Rio Verde, Goiás. They could not speed up the pace of the cattle, under the risk of the cattle arriving underweight for their new owners. And so they walked on in that calm that unnerves more than it calms... but there was no way, they had to move on...

The sun was sinking below the horizon. That sea of cattle advanced inexorably towards the river. They had to find a good place to spend the night. After all, they had been on the march since the sun rose in the East, and since then they had stopped a few times, enough for the herd and the men to rest. By the accounts of Zé Cardoso, the leader of the group, they were at least two days late with the campaign. It's just that they faced some problems along the way and lost a lot of time gathering the cattle when they dispersed... it was a big campaign... almost a thousand head of cattle... which denoted double care, because if they dispersed the work to regroup it would be much greater... and several times the cowboys had to regroup small groups that insisted on breaking formation. Zé was worried... he didn't know the region well and he didn't know if there were piranhas in the river they were going to cross... and he would have to check this issue before putting the cattle in the water... he asked his cowboys to choose one who was weak, to try the water... if it passed unscathed, then there was no danger. He sighed in relief. The cattle crossed calmly. Seeing that everything was right, he gave the order for the cattle to start crossing. The sun had already set for a long time when the last cattle finished the crossing. They gathered all the cattle in a big circle and prepared to spend the night. Zé spread some of his cowboys across several points, so that they could control the herd during the night. After everyone ate the ranch and drank strong coffee, they divided the watch shifts so that everyone had a chance to get some rest, as the walk the next day would be a long one...

Zé Cardoso was worried. Although the night was clear as day, as the full moon in the sky was so bright that it lit up everything around, something was bothering him. A seasoned cattle driver, he noticed that the cattle were especially restless that night. He couldn't make out what it was. Oz, it wasn't. For before deciding to camp in that place, scouts examined all the land around, and found no sign of this beautiful feline. But he sensed that something wasn't quite right... the cattle were getting more and more nervous, and that wasn't a good sign. After all, anything strange that happened in that place could cause an stampede of cattle... sometime some tapirs left the river bed and headed among the cattle. They mingled with the cattle, sharing the pasture with them... the first changing of the guard took place in the greatest tranquility. it was a little after eleven o'clock at night. They would take turns again around three in the morning and that way everyone would be rested to get back on the road... around four in the morning the animals, which until then had been calm, began to get agitated. Zé Roia, who was in charge while the leader was resting a little, tried to wake up some pedestrians and off they went to patrol the area, to see if everything was in order... the last thing they wanted at that point in the championship was to be surprised by the whatever it was. After some time, the cattle calmed down again, the cowboys returned and finally those who could, lay back on their hides, to take another hour or two of rest, while the rest of the people continued on full alert....

The first rays of sunlight began to appear around five thirty... it was summer, when the day came a little earlier. The breeze that blew from the east was gentle, as peaceful were the cattle that still slept in the field. Gradually the cowboys got up, spurred on by the smell of coffee coming from the improvised stove, along with the warm cornbread to go with it... Zé Cardoso was running from one side to the other, checking that everything was in order, checking that the peonada was all right, that all the posts were covered... after some time, Zé Cardoso noticed that one of the cowboys was missing. .. should be on guard in the farthest part of the group. Immediately, he asked one of the farmhands to go get the boy, because in a little while they would gather the cattle and it was not good to leave for the journey on an empty stomach...

About fifteen minutes after going in search of his partner, the boy returned, whiter than a sheet... when asked about what had happened, he could only stammer, with great effort...

- He... he's dead!

Everyone was around him....

- Who's dead, Valdomiro?

- Chiquinho... Chiquinho is dead!

- As?!

-His throat... was torn apart!

The news dropped like a bombshell on the campaign. Zé Cardoso decided to ask the cowboy for details of what had happened. But the boy, even used to the inhumane handling of the camp, was in a state of shock. Finally, Zé Cardoso decided to go with two cowboys to where Chiquinho was supposed to be. When they arrived, the shock... the boy had his head practically severed from his body... but strangely, little blood was spread around him...

The three dismounted and began examining the ground around the body. A fruitless search, as not even a bunch of crumpled grass was found in their search, which made Zé Cardoso curious... to be able to knock down and bite Chiquinho's neck like that, it couldn't be a small animal, it had to be some kind of animal. large size... but they didn't find the slightest sign of anything, neither next to the victim nor within a radius of a hundred meters from him... Zé Cardoso was thoughtful... what would he do now? According to the tradition of the countryside, they should open a grave and bury the poor cowboy there in the place of his passing... but times were changing, now this type of event was communicated to the nearest authorities... and the headquarters of the state police it was less than two kilometers from where they were....