gorgeously dressed in green, violet, and light blue satin, covered
with gold lace; all wore the national Spanish dress--jacket, short
breeches, and silk stockings, their hair being twisted up in a knot
behind, and secured in a silk net. At the end of the procession came
two picadores, mounted on two sorry steeds, who looked only fit for
the knacker, as indeed they were. Their riders wore broad-brimmed grey
felt hats and had their legs encased in iron and leather, to withstand
the bull's horns. Each was armed with a _garrocha_, or spear, the
blade of which, however, is only about an inch long, as the picadores
are not allowed to kill the bull, but merely to irritate and goad him.
They are subject to narrow squeaks sometimes, and few have a sound rib
left, owing to the fearful falls they get, when the bull sometimes
tosses both man and horse in the air. As I have said, the horses are
fit for little else than the knacker, and as such are the excuse for
most unmeasured cruelties, as the reader will see anon. The poor
brutes' eyes are bound round with white cloths, or they would probably
refuse to face the bull. If merely wounded, the gap is sewn up, and
stuffed with tow, and I saw one poor brute who was desperately gored
in the first encounter, go through three succeeding fights with blood
pouring from wounds in his side, until a more furious charge, and
plunge of the bull's horns put an end to his misery. The procession
over, there was a breathless pause while the chulos got into
position, and this being finished, and everything ready, the doors of
his prison were opened, and the bull trotted out. He had evidently
been well goaded in his cell before being released, as was evinced by
the suppressed roars he gave as he caught sight of the chulos. The
first act of the drama now commences, and the chulos pursue him round
the arena with their red cloths, showing the while most wonderful
grace and activity. The bull invariably charges at the _cloth_, and
not the man; sometimes, however, making a frantic rush at both, when
the chulos vaults over the barrier, so closely pressed as to give one
the idea of his being lifted over by the bull's horns. This was
carried on for about five minutes, when another trumpet sounded, and
the picadores entered, mounted on the poor brutes (a brown and a grey)
already mentioned.

The bandage having slipped off from over the grey horse's eyes, it was
hastily readjusted, and only just in time, for t