Leals

Using the trained plaza oxen, who were practised in manoeuvring wild bulls into required positions, the Leals alternately goaded and lured the first bull into the borrowed chute, where they promptly lassoed him about the head and legs, drawing the ropes so tight that the huge head became at last immovable.

Mexico Michener, James 1992

This emboldened me to ask, 'Why do you always refer to the Leals, never to Victoriano?' and he replied: 'Without the others I'd not be here today.'

Mexico Michener, James 1992

Sometimes when we got to the ring we had to lift him out of the carriage, his legs were so stiff from bandaging. 'it was obvious that we had exhausted this subject for the present, so in silence we approached the little Altomec village of Crucifixi6n, where the Leals hoped to intercept the bulls of Palafox.

Mexico Michener, James 1992

Now there was a flurry of cloths and knives and extended hands, and Ricardo Martin was arguing in excited Spanish with one of the Leals, and old Veneno's booming voice echoed back and forth, as he bellowed, 'The natural can be given either way - left is better but right is also allowed.'

Mexico Michener, James 1992

The Leals spent the rest of the trip devising ways to circumvent old Cindido's honour.

Mexico Michener, James 1992

As Mexico's first family of bullfighting, the Leals were expected to look good, and by four o'clock they did.

Mexico Michener, James 1992

Casual visitors, like myself, drifted in and out; most of them had first stopped by to see the Leals, with whom their sympathies lay, and few had anything substantial to tell G6mez.

Mexico Michener, James 1992

But while the Leals were attempting to corral the sixth bull I heard a commotion in the street and Veneno rasped, 'It's Cindidul'

Mexico Michener, James 1992

The Leals had the delicacy of not referring to my outcry at the moment of crisis, and as I studied them I realized that as bullfighters, who faced catastrophe every working day, they had not been much concerned by the near-accident.

Mexico Michener, James 1992

Grabbing sword and muleta, he ignored the warnings of the three other Leals, marched directly to the The Spaniard 55

Mexico Michener, James 1992