34 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



the matador with his sword. He was a large black 

 bull, without any particular marks of ferocity about 

 him ; but a man who sat in our box, and for whose 

 judgment I had conceived a great respect, lighted a 

 new straw cigar, and pronounced him " muy bravo!' 

 There was no bellowing, blustering, or bravado 

 about him, but he showed a calmness and self- 

 possession which indicated a consciousness of 

 strength. The picadores attacked him on horse- 

 back, and, like the Noir Faineant, or Sluggish 

 Knight, in the lists at Ashby, for a time he content- 

 ed himself with merely repelling the attacks of his 

 assailants ; but suddenly, as if a little vexed, he laid 

 his head low, looked up at the spears pointed at his 

 neck, and, shutting his eyes, rushed upon a picador 

 on one side, struck his horse in the belly with his 

 horns, lifted him off his feet, and brought horse and 

 rider headlong to the ground. The horse fell upon 

 the rider, rolled completely over him, with his heels 

 in the air, and rose with one of the rider's feet en- 

 tangled in the stirrup. For an instant he stood 

 like a breathing statue, with nostrils wide and ears 

 thrown back, wild with fright ; and then, catching 

 sight of the bull, he sprang clear of the ground, and 

 dashed off at full speed around the ring, dragging 

 after him the luckless picador. Around he went, 

 senseless and helpless, his whole body grimed with 

 dirt, and with no more life in it, apparently, than in 

 a mere log of wood. At every bound it seemed as 

 if the horse must strike his hind hoofs into his fore- 



