The Spanish Fighting-Bull 207 
animals as these six demanded a Romero, a Montes, or a 
Guerrita as equals; instead, these young Toréros who faced them, 
courageous though they were, lacked calibre for such an under- 
taking. This corrida marked an epoch, but it acquired the 
proportions of a catastrophe. The bye-word that “where there 
are bulls there are no matadors” became that afternoon an axiom. 
A gettatura, or atmosphere of superstition, surrounded the 
bulls and unnerved or confounded their opponents. Pepete was 
caught by the first bull, Moréno de Alcala by the fourth, while 
Martin Vasquez (already thrice caught) succumbed to the fifth. 
The sixth bull thus remained unopposed champion of the 
Plaza—not a matador survived to face him, and it became 
necessary to entice an unfought bull (by means of trained oxen) 
to quit the arena—an event unprecedented in the age-long annals 
of Tauromachy ! 
A typical incident, trivial by comparison, intervened. A 
youthful spectator, frenzied to madness by the scene, had seized a 
sword, leapt into the ring, and promptly met his death. 
Every contention of the bull-fighters’ guild had been falsified, 
and the association collapsed. A Sevillian paper summed up the 
event thus :— 
The six bulls were each worthy to figure in toromaquian annals for 
their beautiful stamp, their lines, weight, bravery, and caste. We 
witnessed a tragedy when, on the death of the fifth bull, not a matador 
remained. But had that tragedy been caused by malice, wickedness, or 
treachery on the part of the bulls, surely a declaration of martial law in 
this city would have been demanded by not a few! But that was not 
so; each of the six competed in the qualities of bravery, nobility, and 
adaptability—such bulls are worthy of better swordsmen. 
