The cheers and yells which arose from the _peon_ audience were deafening, and then an ominous calm. The bull advanced towards me and--I must confess it--loomed large as a locomotive! But perhaps fortune favours the brave, and whether from often having seen it done or whether from good luck alone, I placed the decorated _banderillas_ successfully in the animal's neck, and instantly leaped aside with instinctive agility, having felt the breath from his nostrils upon my face, whilst the animal, smarting with the pain from the barbed points, bounded some paces away, and the audience cheered itself hoarse and gave repealed _vivas_ for the _ingles_. Now was the moment to retire in "peace with honour," but desirous of showing how little I cared for the animal--a sentiment I did not really feel--I turned my back to the bull, and ostentatiously unrolled a Havana cigar from its lead-foil covering, and calmly cutting off the end, I proceeded to light it. The bull saw it. With a bound he was upon me, and as I turned to leap aside his horns passed clean under my waistcoat and shirt, and ripped them open to the flesh. Hurled aside by the impact, I lost my balance and staggered wildly, but faced the brute again, whilst deafening yells--whether of delight at possible disaster or encouragement to go on, I could not tell--arose from the spectators who thronged the barriers. But up came the _capeadores_, and diverting the animal's attention as was their office, I retired, not without dignity, and received the congratulations of my friends, and a Spanish sash from the presiding "queen" of the entertainment. But I took no credit for it myself; rather I felt that I had done wrong and barely escaped punishment, in countenancing and taking part in what every Englishman must consider an uncivilising form of sport. Horsemanship and its accompanying callings play a prominent part in rural life in Mexico. The _hacendado_, or estate owner, or _ranchero_, mounts his horse directly after early morning coffee, in order to make the round of his plantations. The _vaquero_, or cowboy of Mexico, is possibly the most expert horseman in the world, and the method of training the horse to the lightest touch of the rein, and the comfortable yet swift _paso_, or rapid march to which the animal is trained, are such as the foreign observer notes with interest. Indeed, is he wise he adopts this _paso_ himself, instead of the English trot.