Under the Volcano - Malcolm Lowry [125]
Everyone laughed as at a poor joke: it was laughter keyed to and somewhat increased by a further misfortune, the premature appearance of another bull, who, driven at a near gallop from the open pen by the cruel thrusts and pokes and blows intended to arrest him, on reaching the ring stumbled, and fell headlong into the dust.
The first bull's rider, glum and discredited, had dismounted in the pen: and it was difficult not to feel sorry for him too, as he stood by the fence scratching his head, explaining his failure to one of the boys standing, marvellously balanced, on the top railing--
--and perhaps even this month, if there had been a late Indian summer, she would stand on their porch looking down over Geoffrey's work, over his shoulder into the water and see an archipelago, islands of opalescent foam and branches of dead bracken--yet beautiful, beautiful--and the reflected alder trees, almost bare now, casting their sparse shadows over the brocaded stones like pincushions, over which the brocaded crabs scuttled among a few drowned leaves--
The second bull made two feeble attempts to get up, and lay down again; a lone horseman galloped across the ring swinging a rope and shouting at it in a husky tone: "Booa, shooa, booa"--other charros appeared with more ropes; the little dog came scampering up from nowhere, scuttling about in circles; but it did no good. Nothing definite happened and nothing seemed likely to budge the second bull who was roped casually where it lay.
Everybody became resigned to another long wait, another long silence, while below, and with a bad conscience, they halfheartedly set about rigging the second bull.
"See the old unhappy bull," the Consul was saying, "in the plaza beautiful. Do you mind if I have a very small drink, darling, a poquitin... No? Thank you. Waiting with a wild surmise for the ropes that tantalize--"
--and gold leaves too, on the surface, and scarlet, one green, waltzing downstream with her cigarette, while a fierce autumn sun glared up from beneath the stones--
"Or waiting with seven--why not?--wild surmises, for the rope which tantalizes. Stout Cortes ought to come into the next bit, gazing at the horrific, who was the least pacific of all men... Silent on a peak in Quauhnahuac. Christ, what a disgusting performance--"
"Isn't it?" Yvonne said, and turning away thought she saw standing opposite below the band, the man in dark glasses who'd been outside the Bella Vista this morning and then later--or had she imagined it?--standing up beside Cortez Palace. "Geoffrey, who's that man?"
"Strange about the bull," the Consul said. "He's so elusive.--There's your enemy, but he doesn't want to play ball today. He lies down... Or just falls down; see, he's quite forgotten he's your enemy now, so you think, and pat him... Actually... Next time you meet him you might not recognize him as an enemy at all."
"Es ist vielleicht an ox," Hugh muttered.
"An oxymoron... Wisely foolish."
The animal lay supine as before, but momentarily abandoned. People were huddled down below in argumentative groups. Horsemen also arguing continued to whoop about the ring. Yet there was no definite action, still less any indication that such was forthcoming. Who was going to ride the second bull? seemed the main question in the air. But then what of the first bull, who was raising Cain in the pen and was even with difficulty being restrained from taking the field again. Meanwhile the remarks around her echoed the contention in the arena. The first rider hadn't been given a fair chance, verdad? No hombre, he shouldn't even have been given that chance. No hombre, he should be given another. Imposseebly, another rider was scheduled. Vero, he wasn't present, or couldn't come, or was present but wasn't going to ride, or wasn't present but was trying hard to get here, verdad?--still, that didn't change the arrangement or give the first rider his opportunity to try again.
Drunks were as anxious as ever to deputize; one was mounted on the bull now, pretending to ride it already, though it hadn't moved a fraction. He was dissuaded by the first rider, who looked very sulky: just in time: at that moment the bull woke up and rolled over.