'Come, Don Faustino.
Here is the biggest bull of all.'
"Don Faustino stood looking out and I think as he looked, that there was no pity for him on either side of the line.
Still he looked both handsome and superb; but time was shortening and there was only one direction to go.
"'Don Faustino,' some one called.
'What are you waiting for, Don Faustino?'
"'He is preparing to vomit,' some one said and the lines laughed.
"'Don Faustino,' a peasant called.
'Vomit if it will give thee pleasure. To me it is all the same.'
"Then, as we watched, Don Faustino looked along the lines and across the square to the cliff and then when he saw the cliff and the emptiness beyond, he turned quickly and ducked back toward the entrance of the _Ayuntamiento_.
"All the lines roared and some one shouted in a high voice,
'Where do you go, Don Faustino?
Where do you go?'
"'He goes to throw up,' shouted another and they all laughed again.
"Then we saw Don Faustino coming out again with Pablo behind him with the shotgun.
All of his style was gone now.
The sight of the lines had taken away his type and his style and he came out now with Pablo behind him as though Pablo were cleaning a Street and Don Faustino was what he was pushing ahead of him.
Don Faustino came out now and he was crossing himself and praying and then he put his hands in front of his eyes and walked down the steps toward the lines.
"'Leave him alone,' some one shouted.
'Don't touch him.'
"The lines understood and no one made a move to touch Don Faustino and, with his hands shaking and held in front of his eyes, and with his mouth moving, he walked along between the lines.
"No one said anything and no one touched him and, when he was halfway through the lines, he could go no farther and fell to his knees.
"No one struck him.
I was walking along parallel to the line to see what happened to him and a peasant leaned down and lifted him to his feet and said,
'Get up, Don Faustino, and keep walking.
The bull has not yet come out.'
"Don Faustino could not walk alone and the peasant in a black smock helped him on one side and another peasant in a black smock and herdsman's boots helped him on the other, supporting him by the arms and Don Faustino walking along between the lines with his hands over his eyes, his lips never quiet, and his yellow hair slicked on his head and shining in the sun, and as he passed the peasants would say,
'Don Faustino, _buen provecho_.
Don Faustino, that you should have a good appetite,' and others said,
'Don Faustino, _a sus ordenes_.
Don Faustino at your orders,' and one, who had failed at bullfighting himself, said,
'Don Faustino. _Matador, a sus ordenes_,' and another said,
'Don Faustino, there are beautiful girls in heaven, Don Faustino.'
And they walked Don Faustino through the lines, holding him close on either side, holding him up as he walked, with him with his hands over his eyes.
But he must have looked through his fingers, because when they came to the edge of the cliff with him, he knelt again, throwing himself down and clutching the ground and holding to the grass, saying,
'No.
No.
No.
Please. NO.
Please.
Please.
No.
No.'
"Then the peasants who were with him and the others, the hard ones of the end of the line, squatted quickly behind him as he knelt, and gave him a rushing push and he was over the edge without ever having been beaten and you heard him crying loud and high as he fell.
"It was then I knew that the lines had become cruel and it was first the insults of Don Ricardo and second the cowardice of Don Faustino that had made them so.
"'Let us have another,' a peasant called out and another peasant slapped him on the back and said,
'Don Faustino!
What a thing!
Don Faustino!'
"'He's seen the big bull now,' another said.