Chased by a Goro Bravo 127 
‘first aid,” a réle which constantly falls to me, and found the 
poor old man with a nasty wound in the thigh caused by a horn 
and with his head and face badly cut. Among these wild folk 
nobody has the slightest sympathy for a sufferer on such occasions— 
in fact, it is looked upon as a huge joke, and in this case the old 
man was instantly dubbed ‘“ Zagartzjo,” the pet name of a famous 
bull-fighter of the “seventies,” by which cognomen he has been 
since known and his mishap is ever the source of much amusement. 
Nowadays, the bulls destined for the ring are no longer bred in this 
part of the country. Up to three and four years old the young bulls 
are comparatively harmless, all the same it is best not to venture 
among a herd, if on foot. But in every herd there are a few old 
bulls of six or seven years and these should always be avoided 
on principle, and in no case approached save on horseback. 
To be chased by a bull on the open vega is a species of sport 
which does not appeal to me. Many years ago when with 
Harry Fergusson of my regiment we were crossing a plain, he 
on foot and I on horseback and we noticed an old black bull 
about a mile off watching us intently. At that time there were 
toros bravos or bulls of the fighting strain in the district and 
so we immediately altered our course and moved off, Fergusson 
walking beside my horse. Presently the bull began to follow us, 
at first at a walk and then at a trot. This was too much, so 
taking up Fergusson behind me, I made for the nearest shelter, 
the bull following us at a gallop. We were over a mile and 
a half from an old stone drinking trough on the side of a 
rocky hill and by the time we gained this point the bull was 
uncomfortably close behind us. In fact, he followed us to the 
foot of the hill and then, turning, trotted off. Our old Spanish 
attendant, Juan Palo, an inveterate wag, told us subsequently, 
in response to our inquiries as to why the bull had been so 
ageressive, that the foros éravos particularly disliked English 
