It was enough for him to contemplate for a few moments a herd of cattle, to know its exact number.

He would go galloping along with an indifferent air, around an immense group of horned and stamping beasts, and then would suddenly begin to separate the different animals.

He had discovered that they were sick.

With a buyer like Madariaga, all the tricks and sharp practice of the drovers came to naught.
His serenity before trouble was also admirable.

A drought suddenly strewed his plains with dead cattle, making the land seem like an abandoned battlefield.