r.

It was the scream of the horse that did it, yet why did not John Harned
go mad when the bull was killed? A beast is a beast, be it bull or
horse. John Harned was mad. There is no other explanation. He was
blood-mad, a beast himself. I leave it to your judgment. Which is
worse--the goring of the horse by the bull, or the goring of Colonel
Jacinto Fierro by the bayonet in the hands of John Harned! And John
Harned gored others with that bayonet. He was full of devils. He fought
with many bullets in him, and he was hard to kill. And Maria Valenzuela
was a brave woman. Unlike the other women, she did not cry out nor
faint. She sat still in her box, gazing out across the bull-ring. Her
face was white and she fanned herself, but she never looked around.

From all sides came the soldiers and officers and the common people
bravely to subdue the mad Gringo. It is true--the cry went up from
the crowd to kill all the Gringos. It is an old cry in Latin-American
countries, what of the dislike for the Gringos and their uncouth ways.
It is true, the cry went up. But the brave Ecuadorianos killed only
John Harned, and first he killed seven of them. Besides, there were many
hurt. I have seen many bull-fights, but never have I seen anything so
abominable as the scene in the boxes when the fight was over. It was
like a field of battle. The dead lay around everywhere, while the
wounded sobbed and groaned and some of them died. One man, whom John
Harned had thrust through the belly with the bayonet, clutched at
himself with both his hands and screamed. I tell you for a fact it was
more terrible than the screaming of a thousand horses.

No, Maria Valenzuela did not marry Luis Cervallos. I am sorry for that.
He was my friend, and much of my money was invested in his ventures. It
was five weeks before the surgeons took the bandages from his face. And
there is a scar there to this day, on the cheek, under the eye. Yet
John Harned struck him but once and struck him only with his naked
fist. Maria Valenzuela is in Austria now. It is said she is to marry an
Arch-Duke or some high nobleman. I do not know. I think she liked John
Harned before he followed her to Quito to see the bull-fight. But why
the horse? That is what I desire to know. Why should he watch the bull
and say that it did not count, and then go immediately and most horribly
mad because a horse screamed? There is no understanding the Gringos.
They are barbarians.

WHEN THE