The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (15 page)

Don Enrique bowed.

"Why certainly," he said, "I shall be delighted. But I must warn you
that you are bound to lose. How much?"

"Oh a mere truffle," said Bumpo—"just for the fun of the thing, you
know. What do you say to three-thousand pesetas?"

"I agree," said the Spaniard bowing once more. "I will meet you after
the bullfight to-morrow."

"So that's all right," said Polynesia as we came out to join the Doctor.
"I feel as though quite a load had been taken off my mind."

THE next day was a great day in Monteverde. All the streets were hung
with flags; and everywhere gaily dressed crowds were to be seen flocking
towards the bull-ring, as the big circus was called where the fights
took place.

The news of the Doctor's challenge had gone round the town and, it
seemed, had caused much amusement to the islanders. The very idea of
a mere foreigner daring to match himself against the great Pepito de
Malaga!—Serve him right if he got killed!

The Doctor had borrowed a bullfighter's suit from Don Enrique; and very
gay and wonderful he looked in it, though Bumpo and I had hard work
getting the waistcoat to close in front and even then the buttons kept
bursting off it in all directions.

When we set out from the harbor to walk to the bull-ring, crowds of
small boys ran after us making fun of the Doctor's fatness, calling
out, "Juan Hagapoco, el grueso matador!" which is the Spanish for, "John
Dolittle, the fat bullfighter." As soon as we arrived the Doctor said
he would like to take a look at the bulls before the fight began; and
we were at once led to the bull pen where, behind a high railing, six
enormous black bulls were tramping around wildly.

In a few hurried words and signs the Doctor told the bulls what he was
going to do and gave them careful instructions for their part of the
show. The poor creatures were tremendously glad when they heard that
there was a chance of bullfighting being stopped; and they promised to
do exactly as they were told.

Of course the man who took us in there didn't understand what we were
doing. He merely thought the fat Englishman was crazy when he saw the
Doctor making signs and talking in ox tongue.

From there the Doctor went to the matadors' dressing-rooms while Bumpo
and I with Polynesia made our way into the bull-ring and took our seats
in the great open-air theatre.

It was a very gay sight. Thousands of ladies and gentlemen were there,
all dressed in their smartest clothes; and everybody seemed very happy
and cheerful.

Right at the beginning Don Enrique got up and explained to the people
that the first item on the program was to be a match between the English
Doctor and Pepito de Malaga. He told them what he had promised if the
Doctor should win. But the people did not seem to think there was much
chance of that. A roar of laughter went up at the very mention of such a
thing.

When Pepito came into the ring everybody cheered, the ladies blew kisses
and the men clapped and waved their hats.

Presently a large door on the other side of the ring was rolled back and
in galloped one of the bulls; then the door was closed again. At once
the matador became very much on the alert. He waved his red cloak and
the bull rushed at him. Pepito stepped nimbly aside and the people
cheered again.

This game was repeated several times. But I noticed that whenever Pepito
got into a tight place and seemed to be in real danger from the bull, an
assistant of his, who always hung around somewhere near, drew the bull's
attention upon himself by waving another red cloak. Then the bull would
chase the assistant and Pepito was left in safety. Most often, as soon
as he had drawn the bull off, this assistant ran for the high fence
and vaulted out of the ring to save himself. They evidently had it all
arranged, these matadors; and it didn't seem to me that they were in any
very great danger from the poor clumsy bull so long as they didn't slip
and fall.

After about ten minutes of this kind of thing the small door into the
matadors' dressing-room opened and the Doctor strolled into the ring. As
soon as his fat figure, dressed In sky-blue velvet, appeared, the crowd
rocked in their seats with laughter.

Juan Hagapoco, as they had called him, walked out into the centre of the
ring and bowed ceremoniously to the ladies in the boxes. Then he bowed
to the bull. Then he bowed to Pepito. While he was bowing to Pepito's
assistant the bull started to rush at him from behind.

"Look out! Look out!—The bull! You will be killed!" yelled the crowd.

But the Doctor calmly finished his bow. Then turning round he folded
his arms, fixed the on-rushing bull with his eye and frowned a terrible
frown.

Presently a curious thing happened: the bull's speed got slower and
slower. It almost looked as though he were afraid of that frown. Soon
he stopped altogether. The Doctor shook his finger at him. He began to
tremble. At last, tucking his tail between his legs, the bull turned
round and ran away.

The crowd gasped. The Doctor ran after him. Round and round the ring
they went, both of them puffing and blowing like grampuses. Excited
whispers began to break out among the people. This was something new in
bullfighting, to have the bull running away from the man, instead of the
man away from the bull. At last in the tenth lap, with a final burst of
speed, Juan Hagapoco, the English matador, caught the poor bull by the
tail.

Then leading the now timid creature into the middle of the ring, the
Doctor made him do all manner of tricks: standing on the hind legs,
standing on the front legs, dancing, hopping, rolling over. He finished
up by making the bull kneel down; then he got on to his back and did
handsprings and other acrobatics on the beast's horns.

Pepito and his assistant had their noses sadly out of joint. The crowd
had forgotten them entirely. They were standing together by the fence
not far from where I sat, muttering to one another and slowly growing
green with jealousy.

Finally the Doctor turned towards Don Enrique's seat and bowing said in
a loud voice, "This bull is no good any more. He's terrified and out of
breath. Take him away, please."

"Does the caballero wish for a fresh bull?" asked Don Enrique.

"No," said the Doctor, "I want five fresh bulls. And I would like them
all in the ring at once, please."

At this a cry of horror burst from the people. They had been used to
seeing matadors escaping from one bull at a time. But FIVE!—That must
mean certain death.

Pepito sprang forward and called to Don Enrique not to allow it, saying
it was against all the rules of bullfighting. ("Ha!" Polynesia chuckled
into my ear. "It's like the Doctor's navigation: he breaks all the
rules; but he gets there. If they'll only let him, he'll give them the
best show for their money they ever saw.") A great argument began. Half
the people seemed to be on Pepito's side and half on the Doctor's side.
At last the Doctor turned to Pepito and made another very grand bow
which burst the last button off his waistcoat.

"Well, of course if the caballero is afraid—" he began with a bland
smile.

"Afraid!" screamed Pepito. "I am afraid of nothing on earth. I am the
greatest matador in Spain. With this right hand I have killed nine
hundred and fifty-seven bulls."

"All right then," said the Doctor, "let us see if you can kill five
more. Let the bulls in!" he shouted. "Pepito de Malaga is not afraid."

A dreadful silence hung over the great theatre as the heavy door into
the bull pen was rolled back. Then with a roar the five big bulls
bounded into the ring.

"Look fierce," I heard the Doctor call to them in cattle language.
"Don't scatter. Keep close. Get ready for a rush. Take Pepito, the one
in purple, first. But for Heaven's sake don't kill him. Just chase him
out of the ring—Now then, all together, go for him!"

The bulls put down their heads and all in line, like a squadron of
cavalry, charged across the ring straight for poor Pepito.

For one moment the Spaniard tried his hardest to look brave. But the
sight of the five pairs of horns coming at him at full gallop was too
much. He turned white to the lips, ran for the fence, vaulted it and
disappeared.

"Now the other one," the Doctor hissed. And in two seconds the gallant
assistant was nowhere to be seen. Juan Hagapoco, the fat matador, was
left alone in the ring with five rampaging bulls.

The rest of the show was really well worth seeing. First, all five
bulls went raging round the ring, butting at the fence with their horns,
pawing up the sand, hunting for something to kill. Then each one in turn
would pretend to catch sight of the Doctor for the first time and giving
a bellow of rage, would lower his wicked looking horns and shoot like an
arrow across the ring as though he meant to toss him to the sky.

It was really frightfully exciting. And even I who knew it was all
arranged beforehand, held my breath in terror for the Doctor's life when
I saw how near they came to sticking him. But just at the last moment,
when the horns' points were two inches from the sky-blue waistcoat, the
Doctor would spring nimbly to one side and the great brutes would 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.

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 Ricky-ticky. Tommy and I will meet you outside and
we'll pawn the gew-gaws at that Jew's shop opposite the bed-maker's. Run
along—and not a word to the Doctor, remember."

Outside the bull-ring we found the crowd still in a great state of
excitement. Violent arguments were going on everywhere. Bumpo joined us
with his pockets bulging in all directions; and we made our way slowly
through the dense crowd to that side of the building where the matadors'
dressing-room was. The Doctor was waiting at the door for us.

"Good work, Doctor!" said Polynesia, flying on to his shoulder—"Great
work!—But listen: I smell danger. I think you had better get back to
the ship now as quick and as quietly as you can. Put your overcoat on
over that giddy suit. I don't like the looks of this crowd. More than
half of them are furious because you've won. Don Ricky-ticky must now
stop the bullfighting—and you know how they love it. What I'm afraid of
is that some of these matadors who are just mad with jealousy may start
some dirty work. I think this would be a good time for us to get away."

"I dare say you're right, Polynesia," said the Doctor—"You usually are.
The crowd does seem to be a bit restless. I'll slip down to the ship
alone—so I shan't be so noticeable; and I'll wait for you there. You
come by some different way. But don't be long about it. Hurry!"

As soon as the Doctor had departed Bumpo sought out Don Enrique and
said,

"Honorable Sir, you owe me three-thousand pesetas."

Without a word, but looking cross-eyed with annoyance, Don Enrique paid
his bet.

We next set out to buy the provisions; and on the way we hired a cab and
took it along with us.

Not very far away we found a big grocer's shop which seemed to sell
everything to eat. We went in and bought up the finest lot of food you
ever saw in your life.

As a matter of fact, Polynesia had been right about the danger we were
in. The news of our victory must have spread like lightning through the
whole town. For as we came out of the shop and loaded the cab up with
our stores, we saw various little knots of angry men hunting round the
streets, waving sticks and shouting,