by Hugh Lofting
“That’s the idea,” said Polynesia. “Only don’t say a hundred pounds:say two-thousand five-hundred pesetas. Now come and find old DonRicky-ticky and try to look rich.”
So we crossed the street again and slipped into the bed-maker’s shopwhile the Doctor was still busy with his boots.
“Don Enrique,” said Bumpo, “allow me to introduce myself. I am theCrown Prince of Jolliginki. Would you care to have a small bet with meon to-morrow’s bullfight?”
Don Enrique bowed.
“Why certainly,” he said, “I shall be delighted. But I must warn youthat you are bound to lose. How much?”
“Oh a mere truffle,” said Bumpo—“just for the fun of the thing, youknow. What do you say to three-thousand pesetas?”
“I agree,” said the Spaniard bowing once more. “I will meet you afterthe bullfight to-morrow.”
“So that’s all right,” said Polynesia as we came out to join theDoctor. “I feel as though quite a load had been taken off my mind.”
_THE EIGHTH CHAPTER_
THE GREAT BULLFIGHT
THE next day was a great day in Monteverde. All the streets werehung with flags; and everywhere gaily dressed crowds were to be seenflocking towards the bull-ring, as the big circus was called where thefights took place.
The news of the Doctor’s challenge had gone round the town and, itseemed, had caused much amusement to the islanders. The very idea ofa mere foreigner daring to match himself against the great Pepito deMalaga!—Serve him right if he got killed!
The Doctor had borrowed a bullfighter’s suit from Don Enrique; and verygay and wonderful he looked in it, though Bumpo and I had hard workgetting the waistcoat to close in front and even then the buttons keptbursting off it in all directions.
When we set out from the harbor to walk to the bull-ring, crowds ofsmall boys ran after us making fun of the Doctor’s fatness, callingout, “_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 lookat the bulls before the fight began; and we were at once led to thebull pen where, behind a high railing, six enormous black bulls weretramping around wildly.
In a few hurried words and signs the Doctor told the bulls what he wasgoing to do and gave them careful instructions for their part of theshow. The poor creatures were tremendously glad when they heard thatthere was a chance of bullfighting being stopped; and they promised todo exactly as they were told.
Of course the man who took us in there didn’t understand what we weredoing. He merely thought the fat Englishman was crazy when he saw theDoctor making signs and talking in ox tongue.
From there the Doctor went to the matadors’ dressing-rooms while Bumpoand I with Polynesia made our way into the bull-ring and took our seatsin 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 happyand cheerful.
Right at the beginning Don Enrique got up and explained to the peoplethat the first item on the program was to be a match between theEnglish Doctor and Pepito de Malaga. He told them what he had promisedif the Doctor should win. But the people did not seem to think therewas much chance of that. A roar of laughter went up at the verymention of such a thing.
When Pepito came into the ring everybody cheered, the ladies blewkisses and the men clapped and waved their hats.
Presently a large door on the other side of the ring was rolled backand in galloped one of the bulls; then the door was closed again. Atonce the matador became very much on the alert. He waved his red cloakand the bull rushed at him. Pepito stepped nimbly aside and the peoplecheered again.
This game was repeated several times. But I noticed that wheneverPepito got into a tight place and seemed to be in real danger from thebull, an assistant of his, who always hung around somewhere near, drewthe bull’s attention upon himself by waving another red cloak. Thenthe bull would chase the assistant and Pepito was left in safety. Mostoften, as soon as he had drawn the bull off, this assistant ran for thehigh fence and vaulted out of the ring to save himself. They evidentlyhad it all arranged, these matadors; and it didn’t seem to me that theywere in any very great danger from the poor clumsy bull so long as theydidn’t slip and fall.
After about ten minutes of this kind of thing the small door into thematadors’ dressing-room opened and the Doctor strolled into the ring.As soon as his fat figure, dressed in sky-blue velvet, appeared, thecrowd rocked in their seats with laughter.
Juan Hagapoco, as they had called him, walked out into the centre ofthe ring and bowed ceremoniously to the ladies in the boxes. Then hebowed to the bull. Then he bowed to Pepito. While he was bowing toPepito’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 foldedhis arms, fixed the on-rushing bull with his eye and frowned a terriblefrown.
Presently a curious thing happened: the bull’s speed got slower andslower. It almost looked as though he were afraid of that frown. Soonhe stopped altogether. The Doctor shook his finger at him. He began totremble. At last, tucking his tail between his legs, the bull turnedround and ran away.
The crowd gasped. The Doctor ran after him. Round and round the ringthey went, both of them puffing and blowing like grampuses. Excitedwhispers began to break out among the people. This was something newin bullfighting, to have the bull running away from the man, insteadof the man away from the bull. At last in the tenth lap, with a finalburst of speed, Juan Hagapoco, the English matador, caught the poorbull by the tail.
Then leading the now timid creature into the middle of the ring, theDoctor made him do all manner of tricks: standing on the hind legs,standing on the front legs, dancing, hopping, rolling over. He finishedup by making the bull kneel down; then he got on to his back and didhandsprings and other acrobatics on the beast’s horns.
Pepito and his assistant had their noses sadly out of joint. The crowdhad forgotten them entirely. They were standing together by the fencenot far from where I sat, muttering to one another and slowly growinggreen with jealousy.
Finally the Doctor turned towards Don Enrique’s seat and bowing said ina loud voice, “This bull is no good any more. He’s terrified and out ofbreath. 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 themall in the ring at once, please.”
At this a cry of horror burst from the people. They had been used toseeing matadors escaping from one bull at a time. But _five_!—That mustmean certain death.
Pepito sprang forward and called to Don Enrique not to allow it, sayingit was against all the rules of bullfighting. (“Ha!” Polynesiachuckled into my ear. “It’s like the Doctor’s navigation: he breaks allthe rules; but he gets there. If they’ll only let him, he’ll give themthe 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’sside. At last the Doctor turned to Pepito and made another very grandbow which burst the last button off his waistcoat.
“Did acrobatics on the beast’s horns”]
“Well, of course if the caballero is afraid—” he began with a blandsmile.
“Afraid!” screamed Pepito. “I am afraid of nothing on earth. I am thegreatest matador in Spain. With this right hand I have killed ninehundred and fifty-seven bulls.”
“All right then,” said the Doctor, “let us see if you can kill fivemore. Let the bulls in!” he shouted. “Pepito de Malaga is not afraid.”
A dreadful silence hung over the great theatre as the heavy door intothe bull pen was rolled back. Then with a roar the five big bullsbounded into the ring.
“Look fierce,” I heard the Doctor call to them i
n cattle language.“Don’t scatter. Keep close. Get ready for a rush. Take Pepito, the onein purple, first. But for Heaven’s sake don’t kill him. Just chase himout of the ring—Now then, all together, go for him!”
The bulls put down their heads and all in line, like a squadron ofcavalry, charged across the ring straight for poor Pepito.
For one moment the Spaniard tried his hardest to look brave. But thesight of the five pairs of horns coming at him at full gallop was toomuch. He turned white to the lips, ran for the fence, vaulted it anddisappeared.
“Now the other one,” the Doctor hissed. And in two seconds the gallantassistant was nowhere to be seen. Juan Hagapoco, the fat matador, wasleft alone in the ring with five rampaging bulls.
The rest of the show was really well worth seeing. First, all fivebulls went raging round the ring, butting at the fence with theirhorns, pawing up the sand, hunting for something to kill. Then each onein turn would pretend to catch sight of the Doctor for the first timeand giving a bellow of rage, would lower his wicked looking horns andshoot like an arrow across the ring as though he meant to toss him tothe sky.
It was really frightfully exciting. And even I, who knew it was allarranged beforehand, held my breath in terror for the Doctor’s lifewhen I saw how near they came to sticking him. But just at the lastmoment, when the horns’ points were two inches from the sky-bluewaistcoat, the Doctor would spring nimbly to one side and the greatbrutes would go thundering harmlessly by, missing him by no more than ahair.
Then all five of them went for him together, completely surroundinghim, slashing at him with their horns and bellowing with fury. How heescaped alive I don’t know. For several minutes his round figure couldhardly be seen at all in that scrimmage of tossing heads, stampinghoofs and waving tails.—It was, as Polynesia had prophesied, thegreatest bullfight ever seen.
One woman in the crowd got quite hysterical and screamed up to DonEnrique,
“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 thefight!”
But presently the Doctor was seen to break loose from the mob ofanimals that surrounded him. Then catching each of them by the horns,one after another, he would give their heads a sudden twist and throwthem down flat on the sand. The great fellows acted their partsextremely well. I have never seen trained animals in a circus dobetter. They lay there panting on the ground where the Doctor threwthem as if they were exhausted and completely beaten.
Then with a final bow to the ladies John Dolittle took a cigar from hispocket, lit it and strolled out of the ring.
_THE NINTH CHAPTER_
WE DEPART IN A HURRY
AS soon as the door closed behind the Doctor the most tremendous noiseI 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 tohave 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 startedtaking off their flowers, their rings, their necklaces, and theirbrooches and threw them down at his feet. You never saw anything likeit—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 upall those trinkets and we’ll sell ’em. That’s what the big matadorsdo: leave the jewelry on the ground and their assistants collectit for them. We might as well lay in a good supply of money whilewe’ve got the chance—you never know when you may need it when you’retraveling with the Doctor. Never mind the roses—you can leave them—butdon’t leave any rings. And when you’ve finished go and get yourthree-thousand pesetas out of Don Ricky-ticky. Tommy and I will meetyou outside and we’ll pawn the gew-gaws at that Jew’s shop opposite thebed-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 ofexcitement. Violent arguments were going on everywhere. Bumpo joinedus with his pockets bulging in all directions; and we made our wayslowly through the dense crowd to that side of the building where thematadors’ dressing-room was. The Doctor was waiting at the door for us.
“Good work, Doctor!” said Polynesia, flying on to his shoulder—“Greatwork!—But listen: I smell danger. I think you had better get back tothe ship now as quick and as quietly as you can. Put your overcoat onover that giddy suit. I don’t like the looks of this crowd. More thanhalf of them are furious because you’ve won. Don Ricky-ticky must nowstop the bullfighting—and you know how they love it. What I’m afraid ofis that some of these matadors who are just mad with jealousy may startsome 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 shipalone—so I shan’t be so noticeable; and I’ll wait for you there. Youcome by some different way. But don’t be long about it. Hurry!”
As soon as the Doctor had departed Bumpo sought out Don Enrique andsaid,
“Honorable Sir, you owe me three-thousand pesetas.”
Without a word, but looking cross-eyed with annoyance, Don Enrique paidhis bet.
We next set out to buy the provisions; and on the way we hired a caband took it along with us.
Not very far away we found a big grocer’s shop which seemed to selleverything to eat. We went in and bought up the finest lot of food youever saw in your life.
As a matter of fact, Polynesia had been right about the danger we werein. The news of our victory must have spread like lightning through thewhole town. For as we came out of the shop and loaded the cab up withour stores, we saw various little knots of angry men hunting round thestreets, waving sticks and shouting,
“The Englishmen! Where are those accursed Englishmen who stopped thebullfighting?—Hang them to a lamp-post!—Throw them in the sea! TheEnglishmen!—We want the Englishmen!”
After that we didn’t waste any time, you may be sure. Bumpo grabbed theSpanish cab-driver and explained to him in signs that if he didn’tdrive down to the harbor as fast as he knew how and keep his mouth shutthe whole way, he would choke the life out of him. Then we jumped intothe cab on top of the food, slammed the door, pulled down the blindsand away we went.
“We won’t get a chance to pawn the jewelry now,” said Polynesia, as webumped over the cobbly streets. “But never mind—it may come in handylater on. And anyway we’ve got two-thousand five-hundred pesetas leftout of the bet. Don’t give the cabby more than two pesetas fifty,Bumpo. That’s the right fare, I know.”
Well, we reached the harbor all right and we were mighty glad to findthat the Doctor had sent Chee-Chee back with the row-boat to wait forus at the landing-wall.
Unfortunately while we were in the middle of loading the supplies fromthe cab into the boat, the angry mob arrived upon the wharf and madea rush for us. Bumpo snatched up a big beam of wood that lay nearand swung it round and round his head, letting out dreadful Africanbattle-yells the while. This kept the crowd off while Chee-Chee andI hustled the last of the stores into the boat and clambered inourselves. Bumpo threw his beam of wood into the thick of the Spaniardsand leapt in after us. Then we pushed off and rowed like mad for the_Curlew_.
The mob upon the wall howled with rage, shook their fists and hurledstones and all manner of things after us. Poor old Bumpo got hit on thehead with a bottle. But as he had a very strong head it only raised asmall bump while the bottle smashed into a thousand pieces.
When we reached the ship’s side the Doctor had the anchor drawn up andthe sails set and everything in readiness to get away. Looking back wesaw boats coming out from the harbor-wall after us, filled with angry,shouting men. So we didn’t bother to unload our rowboat but just tiedit on to the ship’s stern with a rope and jumped aboard.
It only took a moment more to swing the
_Curlew_ round into the wind;and soon we were speeding out of the harbor on our way to Brazil.
“Ha!” sighed Polynesia, as we all flopped down on the deck to take arest and get our breath. “That wasn’t a bad adventure—quite remindsme of my old seafaring days when I sailed with the smugglers—Golly,that was the life!—Never mind your head, Bumpo. It will be all rightwhen the Doctor puts a little arnica on it. Think what we got out ofthe scrap: a boat-load of ship’s stores, pockets full of jewelry andthousands of pesetas. Not bad, you know—not bad.”
PART FOUR
_THE FIRST CHAPTER_
SHELLFISH LANGUAGES AGAIN
MIRANDA, the Purple Bird-of-Paradise had prophesied rightly when shehad foretold a good spell of weather. For three weeks the good ship_Curlew_ plowed her way through smiling seas before a steady powerfulwind.
I suppose most real sailors would have found this part of the voyagedull. But not I. As we got further South and further West the faceof the sea seemed different every day. And all the little things ofa voyage which an old hand would have hardly bothered to notice werematters of great interest for my eager eyes.
We did not pass many ships. When we did see one, the Doctor would getout his telescope and we would all take a look at it. Sometimes hewould signal to it, asking for news, by hauling up little colored flagsupon the mast; and the ship would signal back to us in the same way.The meaning of all the signals was printed in a book which the Doctorkept in the cabin. He told me it was the language of the sea and thatall ships could understand it whether they be English, Dutch, orFrench.