The Blood of the Arena

It was eight o'clock. The _banderillero_ peeped out of the window, following with his gaze the _peon_ who ran along the road in front of the plantation until he came to the fart...

As Gallardo descended to the vestibule of the hotel he saw the street filled with a dense and noisy crowd as though some great event had taken place. The buzzing of the multitud...

"It seems a lie, Sebastian. A man like thee, with a wife and children, lending thyself to such wickedness. And I thought better of thee and had confidence in thee when thou wert...

She had returned to Seville only a few months before, arousing the enthusiasm of the young people. She came, after a long absence in foreign lands, eager for everything pertaini...

A great satisfaction was added to the numerous conceits which served to flatter Gallardo's vanity. When he talked with the Marquis of Moraima, he contemplated him now with an al...

Gallardo's prowess in fighting young bulls in the _pueblos_, heralded in Seville, caused the restless and insatiable amateurs, ever seeking a new luminary to eclipse those alrea...

Carmen gazed all around the abandoned courtyard. In the distance, behind the thick brick walls, sounded music, and the respiration of the multitude could be felt, broken by shou...

JUAN GALLARDO breakfasted early, as he did whenever there was to be a bull-fight. A slice of roast meat was his only dish. Wine he did not even touch; the bottle remained unopen...

It was cold. The gray sky was lavish of terrific rains, accompanied sometimes by flakes of snow. The people, already dressed in light clothing, opened wardrobes and chests to ge...

Just at that time Gallardo received several letters from Don Jose and from Carmen. The manager tried to encourage his _matador_, counselling him to walk straight up to the bulls...

On winter evenings when Gallardo was not at La Rinconada, a company of friends gathered in the dining-room of his house after supper. Among the first arrivals were the leather-w...

As Holy Week drew near, Gallardo gave his mother a great joy. In former years the swordsman used to join the procession of the San Lorenzo parish as a devotee of Our Lord Jesus...

Gallardo's family returned to the city for the _fiestas_ of Holy Week. He was to fight in the Easter _corrida_. It was the first time he would kill in the presence of Dona Sol s...

When Senora Angustias was bereft of her husband, Senor Juan Gallardo, the well known cobbler established in a _portal_ in the ward of the Feria, she wept with the disconsolatene...

During the whole night one dominant thought floated over the dark lake of Gallardo's dreams. He must get _close_! And the next morning the resolution was firmly rooted in his mi...

Saturday and Sunday morning Gallardo received calls from enthusiastic connoisseurs from outside Seville who had come for the _fiestas_ of Holy Week and to the Feria. All were sm...

Far into the night the doctor, the manager, and members of the _cuadrilla_ kept the wounded man company. When Potaje came he sat near the table trying to keep the bottles within...

They ate and drank with that savage voracity of nocturnal feasts, to which people go with the fixed intention of excess in everything, taking refuge in drunkenness as soon as po...