Animals -- Juvenile fiction; Fantasy literature; Human-animal communication -- Juvenile fiction; Voyages and travels -- Juvenile fiction
In a few hurried words and signs the Doctor told the bulls what he was
going to do and gave them careful instructions for their part of the
show. The poor creatures were tremendously glad when they heard that
there was a chance of bullfighting being stopped; and they promised to
do exactly as they were told.
Of course the man who took us in there didn’t understand what we were
doing. He merely thought the fat Englishman was crazy when he saw the
Doctor making signs and talking in ox tongue.
From there the Doctor went to the matadors’ dressing-rooms while Bumpo
and I with Polynesia made our way into the bull-ring and took our seats
in the great open-air theatre.
It was a very gay sight. Thousands of ladies and gentlemen were there,
all dressed in their smartest clothes; and everybody seemed very happy
and cheerful.
Right at the beginning Don Enrique got up and explained to the people
that the first item on the program was to be a match between the
English Doctor and Pepito de Malaga. He told them what he had promised
if the Doctor should win. But the people did not seem to think there
was much chance of that. A roar of laughter went up at the very
mention of such a thing.
When Pepito came into the ring everybody cheered, the ladies blew
kisses and the men clapped and waved their hats.
Presently a large door on the other side of the ring was rolled back
and in galloped one of the bulls; then the door was closed again. At
once the matador became very much on the alert. He waved his red cloak
and the bull rushed at him. Pepito stepped nimbly aside and the people
cheered again.
This game was repeated several times. But I noticed that whenever
Pepito got into a tight place and seemed to be in real danger from the
bull, an assistant of his, who always hung around somewhere near, drew
the bull’s attention upon himself by waving another red cloak. Then
the bull would chase the assistant and Pepito was left in safety. Most
often, as soon as he had drawn the bull off, this assistant ran for the
high fence and vaulted out of the ring to save himself. They evidently
had it all arranged, these matadors; and it didn’t seem to me that they
were in any very great danger from the poor clumsy bull so long as they
didn’t slip and fall.
After about ten minutes of this kind of thing the small door into the
matadors’ dressing-room opened and the Doctor strolled into the ring.
As soon as his fat figure, dressed in sky-blue velvet, appeared, the
crowd rocked in their seats with laughter.
Juan Hagapoco, as they had called him, walked out into the centre of
the ring and bowed ceremoniously to the ladies in the boxes. Then he
bowed to the bull. Then he bowed to Pepito. While he was bowing to
Pepito’s assistant the bull started to rush at him from behind.
“Look out! Look out!—The bull! You will be killed!” yelled the crowd.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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