CONTENTS
| Chapter | Page | |
| [I] | The Hero and the Public | [9] |
| [II] | The Matador and the Lady | [33] |
| [III] | Born for the Bull-ring | [64] |
| [IV] | At Carmen's Window-grille | [80] |
| [V] | The Lure of Golden Hair | [106] |
| [VI] | The Voice of the Siren | [126] |
| [VII] | The Spanish Wild Beast | [153] |
| [VIII] | Diamonds in the Ring | [178] |
| [IX] | Breakfast with the Bandit | [195] |
| [X] | A Look into the Face of Death | [228] |
| [XI] | Doctor Ruiz on Tauromachy | [256] |
| [XII] | Airing the Saints | [269] |
| [XIII] | The Mastery of Self-preservation | [288] |
| [XIV] | The Spanish Lilith | [307] |
| [XV] | Behind the Scenes | [328] |
| [XVI] | "The Greatest Man in the World" | [348] |
| [XVII] | The Atonement of Blood | [362] |
ILLUSTRATIONS
| Page | |
| When the swordsman clasped her hand she lookedinto his eyes. "Don't go—come; come!" | [Frontispiece] |
| Gallardo's wedding was a national event. Far intothe night guitars strummed with melancholy plaint....Girls, their arms held high, beat the marblefloor with their little feet | [96] |
| "For me?" asked the bandit in tones of surpriseand wonder. "For me, Señora Marquesa?" | [224] |
| The animal moved in confusion between the redcloths, drawing him far away from the swordsman | [294] |
THE BLOOD OF THE ARENA
CHAPTER I
THE HERO AND THE PUBLIC
JUAN GALLARDO breakfasted early, as he did whenever there was to be a bull-fight. A slice of roast meat was his only dish. Wine he did not even touch; the bottle remained unopened before him. He must keep himself calm. He drank two cups of thick, black coffee, and lighted an enormous cigar, sitting with his elbows on the table and his chin in his hands, looking with dreamy eyes at the guests who one by one filled the dining-room.
It was a number of years ago, not long after he had been given "the alternative" in the bull-ring of Madrid, that he came to lodge at a certain hotel on Alcalá Street where his hosts treated him as if he were one of the family, and the dining-room servants, porters, scullions, and old waiters adored him as the glory of the establishment. There, too, he had spent many days wrapped in bandages, in a dense atmosphere heavy with the smell of iodoform, in consequence of two gorings, but the unhappy recollection did not weigh upon him.