Page:The Burton Holmes lectures; (IA burtonholmeslect04holm).pdf/329

 injuries have been partially disguised by sewing up the wounds, make their appearance in a succeeding fight,—on the same day, of course, to perish on the horns of other bulls.

THE BANDERILLERO WAITS

But to our relief the clarion sounds again, announcing that the work of picadores and horses is now ended and calling the banderilleros into action. Their play is the most agreeable because the least cruel feature of the fight. The weapons called in Spanish banderillas are slender wooden wands, decked with gaily colored paper-lace and furnished with a metal point so formed that when once plunged into the flesh it cannot be detached. A banderillero on the extreme right waits with a pair of these gay torture-darts, while a capeador provokes the bull to fiercer anger with his cloak.

The animal, rushing on, tosses aside the cloak, and then stands face to face with his new foe, who brandishes in