sappeared at once to the hilt; the bull, checked in the middle of his
onslaught, stopped one instant motionless and trembling, then fell upon
his knees, uttered one dull roar, and lying down on the very spot where
his course had been checked, breathed his last without moving a single
step forward.

Applause resounded an all sides, so rapid and clever had been the blow.
Caesar had remained on horseback, seeking to discover the fair spectator
who had given so lively a proof of her interest in him, without
troubling himself about what was going on: his search had not been
unrewarded, far he had recognized one of the maids of honour to
Elizabeth, Duchess of Urbino, who was betrothed to Gian Battista
Carraciualo, captain-general of the republic of Venice.

It was now Alfonso's turn to run from the bull, Caesar's to fight him:
the young men changed parts, and when four mules had reluctantly dragged
the dead bull from the arena, and the valets and other servants of
His Holiness had scattered sand over the places that were stained with
blood, Alfonso mounted a magnificent Andalusian steed of Arab origin,
light as the wind of Sahara that had wedded with his mother, while
Caesar, dismounting, retired in his turn, to reappear at the moment when
Alfonso should be meeting the same danger from which he had just now
rescued him.

Then a second bull was introduced upon the scene, excited in the same
manner with steeled darts and flaming arrows. Like his predecessor, when
he perceived a man on horseback he rushed upon him, and then began a
marvellous race, in which it was impossible to see, so quickly did they
fly over the ground, whether the horse was pursuing the bull or the bull
the horse. But after five or six rounds, the bull began to gain upon the
son of Araby, for all his speed, and it was plain to see who fled and
who pursued; in another moment there was only the length of two lances
between them, and then suddenly Caesar appeared, armed with one of those
long two handed swords which the French are accustomed to use, and just
when the bull, almost close upon Don Alfonso, came in front of Caesar
he brandished the sword, which flashed like lightning, and cut off his
head, while his body, impelled by the speed of the run, fell to the
ground ten paces farther on. This blow was so unexpected, and had
been performed with such dexterity, that it was received not with mere
clapping but with wild enthusiasm and frantic outcry. Caesar,