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this, at least, is beyond all possibility of question. It is an everyday feat for them to clear the barrera at least once; and the barrier's height averages considerably over five feet. At Málaga, some six years ago, a bull leaped over the barrier at precisely the same spot, fourteen times in swift succession. At Madrid, in 1898, another cleared both barriers, landing with his head among the spectators, but falling back into the callejón. On April 30th, 1899, at Madrid, Ermitaño, the second bull of the corrida, cleared the barrier four times, jamming a carpenter between a pair of doors and severely injuring him. All of the above I have myself witnessed; but other feats, perfectly authenticated, are even more remarkable. At Valdepeñas, on June 15th, 1876, Totobio completely cleared both barriers, killed a child, wounded two attendants of the plaza, and committed other havoc; and only four years ago another animal repeated the same experiment and had to be shot by a guardia civil. I may say that the inner barrier or contrabarrera is two and a half feet higher than the outer. Does not this

prove that, when he chooses, the Spanish bull can leap like any greyhound?

The bullfighter, then, is called upon to outwit an animal which is always strong, swift, and savage, and occasionally crafty. The course of taurine studies is therefore likely to be a long one, before the aspirant can hope to become at all proficient in the "art of Montes." Many begin as hangers-on at plazas of small importance, with now and then a poke with the estoque at a becerrada. Others frequent the matadero or slaughterhouse, where they find abundant oppor

tunity for scrutinizing the behaviour and movements of the cattle, and can gather hints as to how to play and kill them. For the characters of bulls, like those of humans, vary very greatly. Some will charge the man in preference to the engaño-muleta or capote, as the case may be-and are, in consequence, exceptionally troublesome to deal with. They are said to comerle el terreno or "eat the ground" from before the torero, when they invade his territory, encroaching restlessly upon the ground he occupies in order to fight them. As a general rule, the more cowardly the bull, the more dangerous and difficult he is to fight. When he faces his tormentor without flinching, charges straight, and struggles honestly to the last, he is said to be noble. But a good bull is often turned into a coward by unskilful fighting.

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The accomplished matador, therefore, must realize what kind of beast he is killing, and make his passes" with suitable circumspection. A "noble ” bull lends itself, during the lidia, to a number of effective suertes, where the same suertes, attempted with a cowardly beast, would infallibly mean a cogida. Any matador whose name is well before the public and who fights at Madrid, Seville, and other of the leading plazas, as well as during the principal ferias throughout the provinces, has reached the top of the tree, and is supposed to have some years of taurine education behind him, so that he is fitted, as far as practice can make him, to judge what kind of animal confronts him. In all probability he started as a novillero, or fighter of young or defective cattle, or else-perhaps in addition-he has served as a banderillero in the cuadrilla of some bygone worthy,

figuring now and again as sobresaliente, or matador in reserve. In any case, practice will have taught him much. "La letra," says the Spanish pedagogic adage, “con sangre entra "-" lessons are thrashed in with whipping"; so our hero, by dint of repeated revolcones, and probably a nasty cogida or two, will have learned to scan his enemy with a wary eye, before he makes his pretty speech to the presidencia and advances sword in hand to meet him.

But not all the practice in the world can render the torero's trade a sinecure. Mistakes are common to humanity, and a bull often turns out to be other than was anticipated. Even a slip may prove the matador's undoing, especially where, as at Madrid, the bestial custom is resorted to of pelting an unlucky fighter with oranges. In the actual moment of delivering the estocada, the matador must achieve both one and other of two objects. He must kill the bull, and avoid being killed himself; the first by driving his sword with proper strength and in the proper direction, into a very limited and un-get-atable area; the second, by simultaneously affording the animal a proper egress with the muleta. Of course this sounds particularly easy, but possibly, with those needle-like horns a couple of inches from your chest, the impression is less exhilarating.

Neither is the risk run by the banderilleros a slight one; for to drive a couple of barbs at a short yard's distance into the hide of a furious and nimble beast, is also an operation of considerable nicety, although, as we saw in the last chapter, the initiated may perform it in more ways than one. Guerrita, whenever he condescends to take "the

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