"What was that, Uncle?" exclaimed Francisco, startled, as a large bird with yellow breast and gray wings screeched across their path, emitting a harsh cry of several syllables.
"Why do they call it ugly bug? It is a bird."
"Because its cry is not unlike those words. Listen again and you will hear how plainly he says it. It is a bird of prey and lives on smaller birds. That bird just fluttering up out of the grass at your left is a scissors bird."
"Oh, I know why. See how its two long tail feathers clip the air like scissors as it flies."
They passed numbers of small gray owls; and once Francisco spied a flock of flamingoes across the water of a small lake. Occasionally they passed a shepherd's hut; but now they were getting on beyond the sheep grazing pastures and great herds of cattle came in sight.
Francisco leaped in his saddle with joy. "Oh! Uncle, are we coming to the cowboys?"
His boyish enthusiasm had pictured them on their native heath so often, and now he was really to see them! He had watched them when they came to the city on holidays and walked along the Paseo de Julio, where the pawn shops, with their tempting offers of silver sheathed knives, gaily striped _ponchos_, and silver mounted _rebenques_[18] draw them as honey draws bees; but to see them on the plains,--that was what he wanted!
[Illustration: "SOON AFTER HIS EAGER QUESTION THEY PASSED A GROUP OF THEM."]
He did not have to call on his reserve of patience; indeed, soon after his eager question they passed a group of them, crouched on the ground around a fire of dry thistles, over which hung a can, suspended by wire from a tripod, and which held the water for their morning _máte_. They arose to their feet as the Colonel galloped past and greeted him with _vivas_.
"Do they often use those murderous looking knives on each other, Uncle?" asked Francisco; the sight of their weapons having subdued his zeal somewhat. They were rougher looking men in their working clothes than when they came to the city dressed for a lark.
"Seldom, Niño; unless they are intoxicated. They are not very civilized and they have no education whatever. They fairly live on their horses' backs and cannot be persuaded to do any work that must be done outside their saddles."