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Perhaps it would all have happened as it did, even if Luis Cervallos and I had not sat in the box that day at the bull-ring in Quito. But this I know: we DID sit in the box that day. And I shall tell you what happened. The four of us were in the one box, guests of Luis Cervallos. I was next to the Presidente's box. On the other side was the box of General Jose Eliceo Salazar.

It is fine. It is rare." "Not always," said Luis Cervallos. "I have seen clumsy matadors, and I tell you it is not nice." He shuddered, and his face betrayed such what-you-call disgust, that I knew, then, that the devil was whispering and that he was beginning to play a part. "Senor Harned may be right," said Luis Cervallos. "It may not be fair to the bull.

With him were Joaquin Endara and Urcisino Castillo, both generals, and Colonel Jacinto Fierro and Captain Baltazar de Echeverria. Only Luis Cervallos had the position and the influence to get that box next to the Presidente. I know for a fact that the Presidente himself expressed the desire to the management that Luis Cervallos should have that box.

At last a stab went home, and the bull fell to the sand, dead immediately, and the mules were made fast and he was dragged out. "The Gringos say it is a cruel sport no?" said Luis Cervallos. "That it is not humane. That it is bad for the bull. No?" "No," said John Harned. "The bull does not count for much. It is bad for those that look on. It is degrading to those that look on.

I sat in the box with John Harned, and with Maria Valenzuela, and with Luis Cervallos. I saw it happen. I saw it all from first to last. I was on the steamer Ecuadore from Panama to Guayaquil. Maria Valenzuela is my cousin. I have known her always. She is very beautiful. I am a Spaniard an Ecuadoriano, true, but I am descended from Pedro Patino, who was one of Pizarro's captains.

"It is his nature to be deceived," said John Harned. "Wherefore he is doomed to fight wind. The toreadors know it, you know it, I know it we all know from the first that he will fight wind. He only does not know it. It is his stupid beast-nature. He has no chance." "It is very simple," said Luis Cervallos. "The bull shuts his eyes when he charges. Therefore "

"They are old horses," said Luis Cervallos, "that are not good for anything else." "I see," said John Harned. The third bull came on, and soon against it were both capadors and picadors. One picador took his stand directly below us. I agree, it was a thin and aged horse he rode, a bag of bones covered with mangy hide.

"It is not usual to have horses in the bull-ring at Quito," said Luis Cervallos, looking up from the program. "In Spain they always have them. But to-day, by special permission we shall have them. When the next bull comes on there will be horses and picadors-you know, the men who carry lances and ride the horses." "The bull is doomed from the first," said John Harned.

Luis Cervallos is my friend, the best of Ecuadorianos. He owns three cacao plantations at Naranjito and Chobo. At Milagro is his big sugar plantation. He has large haciendas at Ambato and Latacunga, and down the coast is he interested in oil-wells. Also has he spent much money in planting rubber along the Guayas. He is modern, like the Yankee; and, like the Yankee, full of business.

It was like a field of battle. The dead lay around everywhere, while the wounded sobbed and groaned and some of them died. One man, whom John Harned had thrust through the belly with the bayonet, clutched at himself with both his hands and screamed. I tell you for a fact it was more terrible than the screaming of a thousand horses. No, Maria Valenzuela did not marry Luis Cervallos.