A Large Stone Fountain Threw Out Pure Water, From Four
Mouths, Into A Basin, Before The Church Door; And We Were On The
Point Of Riding Up To Let Our Horses Drink, When It Occurred To Us
That It Might Be Consecrated, And We Forbore.
Just at this moment,
the bells set up their harsh, discordant clang; and the procession
moved into the court.
I was anxious to follow, and see the ceremony,
but the horse of one of my companions had become frightened, and
was tearing off toward the town; and having thrown his rider, and
got one of his feet caught in the saddle, which had slipped, was fast
dragging and ripping it to pieces. Knowing that my shipmate
could not speak a word of Spanish, and fearing that he would get
into difficulty, I was obliged to leave the ceremony and ride after
him. I soon overtook him, trudging along, swearing at the horse,
and carrying the remains of the saddle, which he had picked up
on the road. Going to the owner of the horse, we made a settlement
with him, and found him surprisingly liberal. All parts of
the saddle were brought back, and, being capable of repair, he was
satisfied with six reáls. We thought it would have been a few
dollars. We pointed to the horse, which was now half way up one
of the mountains; but he shook his head, saying, "No importe!"
and giving us to understand that he had plenty more.
Having returned to the town, we saw a great crowd collected in
the square before the principal pulperia, and riding up, found that
all these people - men, women, and children - had been drawn together
by a couple of bantam cocks. The cocks were in full tilt,
springing into one another, and the people were as eager, laughing
and shouting, as though the combatants had been men. There had
been a disappointment about the bull; he had broken his bail, and
taken himself off, and it was too late to get another; so the people
were obliged to put up with a cock-fight. One of the bantams having
been knocked in the head, and had an eye put out, he gave in, and
two monstrous prize-cocks were brought on. These were the object
of the whole affair; the two bantams having been merely served up
as a first course, to collect the people together. Two fellows came
into the ring holding the cocks in their arms, and stroking them,
and running about on all fours, encouraging and setting them on.
Bets ran high, and, like most other contests, it remained for some
time undecided. They both showed great pluck, and fought probably
better and longer than their masters would have done. Whether,
in the end, it was the white or the red that beat, I do not recollect;
but, whichever it was, he strutted off with the true veni-vidi-vici look,
leaving the other lying panting on his beam-ends.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 104 of 324
Words from 53732 to 54235
of 170236
