A BULLFIGHT. 



299 



tect the spectators, astride which sat Carrera's disor- 

 derly soldiers to keep order. At one end, underneath 

 the corridor, was a large door, through which the bull 

 was to be let in. At the other end, separated by a par- 

 tition from the part occupied by the rest of the specta- 

 tors, was a large box, empty, formerly intended for the 

 captain general and other principal officers of govern- 

 ment, and now reserved for Carrera. Underneath was 

 a military band, composed mostly of Indians. Notwith- 

 standing the collection of people, and the expectation 

 of an animating sport, there was no clapping or stamp- 

 ing, or other expression of impatience and anxiety for 

 the performance to begin. At length Carrera entered 

 the captain general's box, dressed in a badly-fitting 

 blue military frock-coat, embroidered with gold, and at- 

 tended by Monte Rosa and other officers, richly dressed, 

 the alcalde and members of the municipality. All eyes 

 were turned toward him, as when a king or emperor 

 enters his box at the theatre in Europe. A year before 

 he was hunted among the mountains, under a reward 

 for his body, dead or alive," and nine tenths of those 

 who now looked upon him would then have shut the 

 city against him as a robber, murderer, and outcast. 



Soon after the matadores entered, eight in number, 

 mounted, and each carrying a lance and a red poncha ; 

 they galloped round the area, and stopped with their 

 lances opposite the door at which the bull was to enter. 

 The door was pulled open by a padre, a great cattle- 

 proprietor, who owned the bulls of the day, and the an- 

 imal rushed out into the area, kicking up fiis heels as if 

 in play, but at sight of the line of horsemen and lances 

 turned about and ran back quicker than he entered. 

 The padre's bull was an. ox, and, like a sensible beast, 

 would rather run than fight ; but the door was closed 



