WHERE WE SAW THE DUKE.
"The Holy Week is over, carriages once more appear in the streets. The
world claims its own again. I have been to a bull fight and am even now
shivering with disgust of myself. Still, it was a magnificent
spectacle--that grand amphitheatre of beautiful faces, the hilarity and
gay confusion, the open homage, the child-like enjoyment. Until these
wild, brave animals came bounding into the arena, there was nothing in
the scene which any out-door amusement might not exhibit. Indeed, the
gathering of an assembly in Spain is full of spirited life. If a woman
is beautiful, a hundred voices tell her so as she presents herself to
the general gaze. When our party entered the amphitheatre, a general
murmur of admiring comments hailed us. Beautiful--superb--fair as a
lily--bright as an angel! were the exclamations that followed that
lovely creature as she moved to her seat, leaning upon James
Harrington's arm. No wonder he looked proud of her!
"Mrs. Harrington did not care to see a scene so revolting, and I would
have stayed at home gladly, but they refused to hear of it, reason as I
might. It seems as if they were determined to chain me like a slave to
this girl's chariot wheels. Well, I can endure it. There must have been
thousands of persons present, for the great amphitheatre was full long
before the Infanta appeared with her family and her royal guests. She
was received with exclamations, and took her seat with a slight bow of
recognition and a smile full of eloquent thanks for the popular favor so
pleasantly manifested. Two or three lovely children were in the box,
evidently eager for the fighting to commence. Soon after the Infanta was
seated, a man richly dressed, and of noble presence, strode across the
arena, flung his cap on the ground, and made a profound bow to the royal
party. The Infanta arose, leaned a little forward and cast a golden key
at his feet. This key was to unlock the door which connected the arena
with the compartment outside, in which the wild bulls were kept.
"All this time the man had stood with his back toward us. When he
stooped to pick up the key and turned from the presence, Lucy Eaton
uttered a faint cry, and her mother caught hold of my arm with a grasp
that pained me. 'Oh mercy--oh mercy! It is--it is the Duke,' she
exclaimed, 'What can he be doing there?'
"'I think it is his place,' I answered in a low voice. 'Hush, I would
say nothing about it.'
"I looked at Lucy. She was white as snow, and her eyes dwelt on the man
with a frightened stare.
"'Why is he there?' she whispered, shivering perceptibly. 'Tell me, if
you can, what it means.'
"'What are you inquiring about?' questioned General Harrington, bending
toward us with suave politeness. 'Anything that I can tell you?'
"'Who is that man?' I inquired, observing that Lucy could not speak
without bursting into tears.
"'Which man?'
"'That person in the arena, who was just bowing to the Infanta.'
"'Oh that man? He is the chief matadore. The best bull-fighter in all
Spain.'
"'A matadore, a bull fighter!' almost shrieked Mrs. Eaton, turning upon
her daughter and snatching a moss rose from her bosom where it held the
folds of her muslin dress together. 'Fling it away, child. Pitch it
after him. The humbug--the impostor--the--the--'
"Here the good woman broke down for want of breath, and rattled her fan
open with a vicious twist of the hand, as if she longed to box some
one's ears with it.
"I saw that Lucy was troubled and that her lips were quivering. General
Harrington had turned his attention to the arena, for that moment the
matadore was crossing towards a door in the wall, and the first wild
bull was expected momentarily. He was so absorbed that he did not heed
Mrs. Eaton's angry exclamations, though her husband did.
"'What is the matter, mother. Why, you will smash that fan to flinders;
it cost--'
"'No matter how much it cost,' said Mrs. Eaton; 'I don't think these
Spaniards care about that, or anything else but cheating the very eyes
out of your head. The impostors!'
"'Why, who has been cheating us, mother?'
"'Never you mind. Oh mercy!'
"Lucy, too, gave a faint scream and clung to me like a frightened child.
No wonder. That instant a door in the wall swung open, and a black bull
rushed through. With a bound or more he plunged into the heart of the
arena, tossed his head upwards, and stood motionless surveying the great
concourse of people with his flaming eyes, as if making up his mind
where to plunge first.
"A shout followed his appearance, for he was a beautiful savage
creature, with a superb chest and head, black and glossy as a raven.
Ladies clapped their hands and waved their gossamer handkerchiefs in
wild enthusiasm, while the general shout rolled upward like thunder.
This terrified the creature till he tore up the earth and plunged hither
and thither in his madness, bellowing hoarsely through the tumult, and
leveling his horns at the crowd as if he burned to toss every one in
sight.
"Then the matadores came in, closely dressed, glittering with embroidery
and a profuse display of buttons. One carried a red cloak in his hand,
with which he taunted and exasperated the bull into hot rage. Then the
contact commenced. The Matadores, slight, agile and vigilant, fell to
tormenting the noble creature into new wrath. They flung their cloaks
over his eyes, they leaped on his back and away again, pricked him with
their swords, taunted him from a distance, and, when he made a mad
plunge upon them, slipped through some secret door in the wall and
laughed at his grave astonishment.
"Lucy looked on all this, fascinated. Tears stood in her eyes, but an
eager curiosity shone through them.
"'There must be some mistake,' I heard her murmur. 'He is not among
them.'
"She was undeceived. The bull had begun to exhaust his rage, his
tormentors had done their utmost, and the people wanted more excitement.
_He_ came in then, splendid as an Apollo, tall, lithe, powerful. Then
followed the lightning play of human intelligence and trained strength
against savage impulse. The man was everywhere at the same moment. His
sword flashed now here, now there, up and down like a quiver of
lightning. He would entice the animal close to him, and just as his
fierce horns were lowered, leap astride his neck, and land, with a
bound, ten feet away. Now he darted under him, now made a flying leap
over his back, cheered on, and accompanied by waving handkerchiefs,
eager hands, and bursts of admiring applause.
"A new feature was added to the scene. Several horses were brought in,
blindfolded and old, ridden by inferior matadores. One of these poor
creatures was urged up to the waiting bull, which made a rush at his
chest with both horns, tore his way to the vitals, and let the heart
out, almost heaving the beast from the earth as those murderous horns
rent their way out of his body.
"Oh! it was sickening; the smell of the hot blood, the overwhelming
bravos, the exultation of delicate women and innocent children, as the
infuriated bull plunged his horns, reddened to the frontlet, again and
again into that writhing breast. I wish I had never seen it. In fact I
could not see clearly, for every thing grew misty from the sick
shuddering that fell upon me. I shivered down in my seat and shut my
eyes, degraded and full of self contempt, that any thing should have
brought me to that horrid place.
"I would have gone home, but the confusion was so great, and the crowd
so dense, that I dared not propose it, especially as General Harrington
joined heartily in the enthusiasm, and would, I feared, resent any
interruption.
"So I sat there, with my head bowed and my face covered, loathing myself
and everything around me. A shriek from Lucy Eaton brought me out of
this state. Starting up, I saw the man she had called a duke, tossed
high in the air, whence he came to the earth with a crash. This stunned
him for a moment, but before the bull could follow up its advantage, he
sprung to his feet, flung his scarlet cloak over the creature's eyes,
and gave the signal for a general attack.
"Out rushed the matadores in a body, armed with javelins and darts,
feathered at the ends with fringes of variegated paper, and sharp as
steel at the head. These were hurled at the bull, and as each struck
through his jetty hide, fire-crackers concealed in the paper ornaments,
gave out a storm of noisy fire;--another and another darted through the
air, thicker and sharper, till the tortured animal bellowed out his
agony in pathetic helplessness, and fell upon his knees exhausted. Then
the matadore drew toward the Infanta and seemed waiting for some signal.
She smiled, lifted her hand, closing all but the delicate thumb. This
was a death signal for the poor brute, who seemed to know that his fate
was coming, and staggered up from his knees ready to fight for the last
breath of his life.
"Then commenced a fresh onset of death. The bull fought desperately,
staggering, reeling, plunging and making fierce attacks with his horns,
while the fire-crackers blazed around him, and a hundred javelins
quivered in his body. The matadore became cool and cautious as his
victim grew more and more frantic. He played with the creature's agony,
flitted here and there in the smoke of his torment, pierced his sides
with the point of his sword, and flung fresh javelins into the bleeding
wounds. The Infanta lifted her thumb again. The Matadore saw it. His
sword flashed in the sunbeams like a gleam of fire, fell on the animal's
dripping neck, and he sank to the earth, dead.
"More of this happened that day; twelve of those splendid beasts were
brought forth to slaughter and be slaughtered one after another. Some,
braver than the rest, were sent back alive; but that ornamented sledge
dragged off twelve of the finest creatures I ever saw. At last, even the
Spanish ladies became weary of this terrible work. As for me, I went
home sickened, and so nervous I could not rest."