human
soaring in circles aloft--beautiful birds, but less emblematic of life than death. A bad omen he might deem their presence; and worse, if he but saw what they see. For, from their more elevated position, they command a view of the plain to a much greater distance, and see mounted men upon it; not a single party, but three distinct groups of them, leagues distant from each other, though all round for the _estancia_. They are approaching it by separate routes, and from different quarters of the compass; one party coming up the Pilcomayo's bank, and making straight for the old _tolderia_, a second moving towards the same place on the down-river trail; while the third, away from the river, and out upon the open plain, is heading more direct for the _estancia_ itself. The first cohort, which is the smallest, is composed of some forty or fifty horsemen, riding