uld go
thundering harmlessly by, missing him by no more than a hair.

Then all five of them went for him together, completely surrounding him,
slashing at him with their horns and bellowing with fury. How he escaped
alive I don't know. For several minutes his round figure could hardly
be seen at all in that scrimmage of tossing heads, stamping hoofs
and waving tails.--It was, as Polynesia had prophesied, the greatest
bullfight ever seen.

One woman in the crowd got quite hysterical and screamed up to Don
Enrique,

"Stop the fight! Stop the fight! He is too brave a man to be killed.
This is the most wonderful matador in the world. Let him live! Stop the
fight!"

But presently the Doctor was seen to break loose from the mob of animals
that surrounded him. Then catching each of them by the horns, one after
another, he would give their heads a sudden twist and throw them down
flat on the sand. The great fellows acted their parts extremely well.
I have never seen trained animals in a circus do better. They lay
there panting on the ground where the Doctor threw them as if they were
exhausted and completely beaten.

Then with a final bow to the ladies John Dolittle took a cigar from his
pocket, lit it and strolled out of the ring.

THE NINTH CHAPTER. WE DEPART IN A HURRY

AS soon as the door closed behind the Doctor the most tremendous noise
I have ever heard broke loose. Some of the men appeared to be angry
(friends of Pepito's, I suppose); but the ladies called and called to
have the Doctor come back into the ring.

When at length he did so, the women seemed to go entirely mad over him.
They blew kisses to him. They called him a darling. Then they started
taking off their flowers, their rings, their necklaces, and their
brooches and threw them down at his feet. You never saw anything like
it--a perfect shower of jewelry and roses.

But the Doctor just smiled up at them, bowed once more and backed out.

"Now, Bumpo," said Polynesia, "this is where you go down and gather up
all those trinkets and we'll sell 'em. That's what the big matadors
do: leave the jewelry on the ground and their assistants collect it for
them. We might as well lay in a good supply of money while we've got the
chance--you never know when you may need it when you're traveling with
the Doctor. Never mind the roses--you can leave them--but don't leave
any rings. And when you've finished go and get your three-thousand
pesetas out of Don Ri