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THE BULLFIGHT 273
Every time he imagines he has one of them on his
horns and makes a gesture to toss him to the sky, he
finds he has nothing to toss! He feels the futility of
possessing a neck that could support a millstone with-
out bending, and horns that measure five feet from tip
to tip, in this ridiculous combat with phantoms.
The bull tires of this game and wants to go home;
he runs around the inside of the fence, looking for an
exit. There is no exit. Then he places his chin on
the edge of the fence, moves back his hind legs and
begins to work his way over the fence. The spectators
crowd toward him from all directions, they abuse the
bull, beating him with their canes and hats. The
twenty or thirty policemen who have been on guard in
the circular corridor forget their dignity and turn
somersaults over the fence to get down into the arena.
They run about insane with fright while one chulo
after the other waves a red blanket before their noses,
as if taking them for bulls. The public shouts, “He’s
coming! He’s coming!” to terrify the policemen still
more. At several points in the fence there are little
gates which, when opened, block the passageway.
Through one of these gates, the bull again reaches his
proper habitat, and the gendarmes again execute their
humiliating maneuvers, in the opposite direction, to
the accompaniment of an ear-splitting jubilation. In
the arena, a picador stands impatiently awaiting the
vagrant bull who makes for him directly, and before
the man has had time to assume a defensive posture,
both man and horse are hurled into the air and drop
to the ground like felled trees. The chulos entice the
bull away. The stable man comes jumping over the
fence and pulls out the picador from under the horse;
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