Montes the Matador | Page 9

a salary of a hundred duros a month.
"'What!' said Juan. 'Come, tell the truth; make it fifty.'
"'No,' I said; 'it was a hundred,' and I pulled out the money.
"'Well,' he said, 'that only shows what it is to be small and young and
foolhardy! Here am I, after six years' experience, second, too, in the
cuadrilla of Girvalda, and I'm not getting much more than that.'
Still, in spite of such little drawbacks, in spite, too, of the fact that Juan
had to go away early, to meet 'a lovely creature,' as he said, that
evening was one of the happiest I ever spent.
"All that summer through I worked every Sunday, and grew in favour
with the Madrile–os, and with the Madrile–as, though not with these in
Juan's way. I was timid and young; besides, I had a picture of a woman
in my mind, and I saw no one like it. So I went on studying the bulls,
learning all I could about the different breeds, and watching them in the
ring. Then I sent money to my sister and to my father, and was happy.
"In the winter I was a good deal with Antonio; every day I did a spell of
work in his shop to strengthen myself, and he, I think, got to know that

I intended to become an espada. At any rate, after my first performance
with the capa, he believed I could do whatever I wished. He used often
to say God had given him strength and me brains, and he only wished
he could exchange some of his muscle for some of my wits. Antonio
was not very bright, but he was good-tempered, kind, and hard-working,
the only friend I ever had. May Our Lady give his soul rest!
"Next spring when the director sent for me, I said that I wanted to work
as a banderillero. He seemed to be surprised, told me I was a favourite
with the capa, and had better stick to that for another season at least.
But I was firm.
Then he asked me whether I had ever used the banderillas and where?
The director always believed I had been employed in some other ring
before I came to Madrid.
I told him I was confident I could do the work. 'Besides,' I added, 'I
want more pay,' which was an untruth; but the argument seemed to him
decisive, and he engaged me at two hundred duros a month, under the
condition that, if the spectators wished it, I should work now and then
with the capa as well. It didn't take me long to show the aficionados in
Madrid that I was as good with the banderillas as I was with the capa. I
could plant them when and where I liked. For in this season I found I
could make the bull do almost anything. You know how the
banderillero has to excite the bull to charge him before he can plant the
darts. He does that to make the bull lower his head well, and he runs
towards the bull partly so that the bull may not know when to toss his
head up, partly because he can throw himself aside more easily when
he's running fairly fast. Well, again and again I made the bull lower his
head and then walked to him, planted the banderillas, and as he struck
upwards swayed aside just enough to avoid the blow. That was an
infinitely more difficult feat than anything I had ever done with the
capa, and it gave me reputation among the aficionados and also with
the espadas; but the ignorant herd of spectators preferred my trick with
the capa. So the season came and went. I had many a carouse with Juan,
and gave him money from time to time, because women always made
him spend more than he got. From that time, too, I gave my sister fifty

duros a month, and my father fifty. For before the season was half over
my pay was raised to four hundred duros a month, and my name was
always put on the bills. In fact I was rich and a favourite of the public.
"So time went on, and my third season in Madrid began, and with it
came the beginning of the end. Never was any one more absolutely
content than I when we were told los toros would begin in a fortnight.
On the first Sunday I was walking carelessly in the procession beside
Juan, though I could have been next to the espadas, had I wished, when
he suddenly nudged me, saying:
"'Look up! there on the second tier; there's a face for you.'
"I looked up, and saw a girl with the face of my dreams,