The people of Majorca had evidently never seen an elephant before, and many were their speculations as to the nature and characteristics of the animal. One pretty young woman, with a rebosiño, lace mittens, and night-black tresses, who was sitting next to us, had but very confused notions as to which was the trunk and which the tail of the strange creature at which she looked with eyes flashing with wonder and curiosity. An excited youth cried out directly he saw it, "Caramba! why, the beast has got two tails!"
When the large circle within the walls was filled with the swaying crowd, and while the buzz of expectation hummed around, the blast of a trumpet was suddenly heard, and, with a loud bang, the wooden gates flew open, and in cantered, with lashing tail and glowing eye, the heavy form of the bull. For a moment he arrested his course, and looked round as if for an enemy, at the same time pawing the ground impatiently. Almost immediately he caught sight of the strange beast on the opposite side of the ring, dressed in the hated red cloth, quietly munching his loaves of bread. Greek had now met Greek, and fierce was expected to be the tug of war. As quick as lightning the levelled horns went down, and the bull rushed in full career upon the elephant. The struggle was short, for in three seconds the bull fell dead upon the sand, pierced completely through the chest to his heart, having, in the fury of his onset, impaled himself upon the long sharp tusks of his mighty foe.
The elephant, upon seeing the bull enter, simply kept his small eyes fixed upon him, and stood firm and fast on his four great pillars of legs, like some strong castle from which his tusks protruded like spears. The shock of his meeting with the bull came with a crash that made the very walls vibrate sensibly; and after the short but fearful efforts of the latter, which had no more effect upon his opponent than a wave upon a rock, the body of the assailant was hurled back, pierced by those formidable weapons of offence with which nature has endowed the elephant. After rebounding from the force with which he was hurled back, the bull rolled over and settled in a broad lake of blood.
Bravo, elefante! was the shout which rose enthusiastically from a thousand throats to congratulate the elephant on the victory which he had obtained. That peaceful but formidable animal, unmindful of their applause, resumed the operation in which he had been interrupted, applying himself again to the consumption of his loaves as unconcernedly as if he had merely knocked off some troublesome fly.
From this passage of arms the enormous strength and weight of the greatest beast of creation could in a moment be discerned. So firmly, so steadily did he maintain his position that he scarcely moved as the bull, vast in his own proportions, threw himself upon his opponent with all the impetus with which rage and fury could inspire him. The amount of exertion which the elephant expended in the affair appeared to the onlookers to be wonderfully small. In galloped the gaudy mules, and, as they wheeled gaily round, the iron hook at their heels was adjusted, and the gory carcase was in an instant swept away from the arena.
Another bull was then admitted. After a pause he perceived his opponent, and, with the blind rage of his nature, rushed furiously at him. A cloud of dust rose in the air at the place where the two beasts met, and a loud bellowing was heard to issue from it. A struggle, as of giants, continued for a few seconds. When, at last, the spectators succeeded in perceiving what had taken place, it was seen that the tusk of the elephant had entered into the eye of the bull, and had become fixed for a moment in the skull. The rage of the maddened beast was fearful to behold as he rolled and fell. Leaping from the ground he dashed his two fore-feet violently against the elephant's forehead, but the hard substance of his skull remained uninjured. The scene was, in fact, so horrid—though one's gaze was kept fixed upon it as by a spell—that it will not admit of minute description.
It was a relief when the fearful contest was brought to an end. One blow of the elephant's foot, which descended with a loud thud, beat in the chest of the martyred bull; and, as the agonised brute reeled sobbing to earth, his enormous enemy dropped upon him in a kneeling posture and simply crushed him to death. Another victory! Bravo, elefante! was again shouted with more enthusiasm than before. Fresh sand was thrown upon the bloody arena, and the surviving monster, unhurt save by a few light flesh wounds here and there, stood once again gloomily aside, swinging his proboscis slowly to and fro, or blowing up the sand into little eddies as he quietly smelt with it along the ground. Notwithstanding the horrors of the spectacle we have, as yet, only partially described, the accessories were really brilliant. Crowds of beautiful ladies applauded the successful combatant. Fans were waving in all directions, and the dazzling rays of the sun were reflected by flashing jewels and laughing eyes.
While the hubbub of excited voices mingled with the cries of water-sellers, another blast of the trumpet pealed out, and, in a moment, a gigantic bull rushed across the ring. As if descrying by instinct the destroyer of his companions, he dashed impetuously upon the elephant, with such blind ferocity that horns and tusks were instantaneously locked together. The two beasts swayed to and fro in the centre of the arena. The bull, making a violent effort to free himself, plunged suddenly upwards, and the point of his horn entered the lower jaw of his enemy. This was, apparently, the first time that the elephant had experienced any sensation of pain, his previous wounds having been but scratches, and disregarded in the heat of combat. But now the fury of the enormous animal seemed fully aroused, and, giving forth from his tossing snout a trumpeting sound, fierce, wild, and piercing, he shook off the bull and trotted ponderously round the ring.
The panting bull, although enfeebled by exertion and dropping gore from a great gash in his chest, stood still without flinching in the path of the elephant as he approached him, butting down his long horns to receive the attack. But it was seen that the small eyes of the elephant gleamed with a red and dangerous light from beneath the broad bald brow, and, in a moment, the long proboscis, like a writhing serpent, was enfolded round the neck and head of the bull, dragging him down with a crash upon the bloody sand. The gigantic brute then fell on his knees, full upon the upturned side of his prostrate foe, who was actually crushed to death. While the ribs were still heard cracking under the weight of the elephant, the roar of the human multitude mingled fearfully with the victorious trumpeting of the vengeful monster.