Then how the delighted spectators clapped their
hands and cried "Brava!" to the bull, who pranced about the plaza,
dragging the carcass of the bear after him, his head high, his big
eyes red and rolling! The women tore off their rebosos and waved them
like banners, smashed their fans, and stamped their little feet; the
men whirled their sombreros with supple wrists. But the bull was not
satisfied; he pawed the ground with demanding hoofs; and the vaqueros
galloped into the ring with another bear. Nor had they time to detach
their reatas before the bull was upon the second antagonist; and they
were obliged to retire in haste.
Estenega, who stood between Chonita and myself, watched The Doomswoman
attentively. Her lips were compressed fiercely: for a moment they
bore a strange resemblance to his own as I had seen them at times.
Her nostrils were expanded, her lids half covered her eyes. "She has
cruelty in her," he murmured to me as the first battle finished; "and
it was her imperious wish that the bull should win, because he is the
more lordly animal. She has no sympathy for the poor bundle of hair
and quivering flesh that bounded on the mountain yesterday. Has she
brutality in her?--just enough--"
"Brava! Brava!" The women were on their feet; even Chonita for the
moment forgot herself, and beat the railing with her small fist.
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