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Page 74
Suddenly the mastiff sprang forward, the two others followed, and then
for several seconds nothing was seen but a confused mass rolling round
the chain, then blood and entrails mingled flowing over the stones, then
the bear rising on his haunches hugging the mastiff between his terrible
claws, swaying to and fro his heavy head, for a moment and gaping wide
with his crimson jaws, for the muzzle was gone; in the struggle it had
fallen off!
Then a low but rising cry of fear passed over the crowd in the galleries.
No applause now, only a well-grounded alarm! The mastiff was in the
agonies of death, with a rattling in his throat; the wolf-hounds lay torn
and dead on the bloodstained earth; in the stables all round the court
long agitated roaring and bellowing betrayed the terror of the cattle,
whose kicking and plunging made the walls shake; but the bear never
stirred: he seemed to be enjoying the universal alarm.
But lo! in this predicament was heard a slight but unmistakable cracking
like timber giving way, then more cracks; the old rotten galleries were
beginning to yield under the heavy pressure of the crowd; and there was
in this noise, just heard in the midst of the dead silence of suspense,
something so dreadful that I, in my place of safety, felt a cold shiver
pass over me. Taking a rapid survey of the galleries before me, I saw
every face changed in colour, pale with a bluish, ashy paleness; some
open-mouthed, others with bristling hair, listening intently, holding
their breath. The capuchin friar Johannes seated on the banister had
turned from crimson to a greenish hue, and the big red nose of Doctor
Melchior had turned from red to sallow the first time for twenty years;
the poor little women trembled without stirring from their places,
knowing that the least agitation would bring down the whole place.
I could have wished to fly too. I fancied I could see the thick oaken
pillars of the gallery bowing to the ground. I cannot tell whether this
was illusion or not, but in a moment the principal beam gave a loud crack
and became depressed by three inches at the least. Then, my friends, it
was horrible to behold--the deep silence of a minute before was succeeded
by tumult, cries, screams, and ravings. That mass of human beings heaped
up in the galleries, one above another, were some clutching the walls,
the pillars, the banisters; others were fighting with fury, and even
biting, to get away faster, and from the midst of this frightful
confusion arose the plaintive voices of the suffering women. I shudder at
the remembrance. Oh, may I never see such a sight as this again!
But, most terrible circumstance of all, the bear was chained close by the
staircase that leads up to the galleries!
If I were to live a thousand years never should I forget the horror of
Friar Johannes, who had cleared a way for himself with his long staff,
and was placing his foot on the last step when he discovered, just before
the bottom of the staircase, Beppo seated calmly on his tail, his chain
tightened, his eye expressive of joy, ready to snap him up first!
None can tell the muscular power which Ma�tre Johannes was obliged to put
forth to stem the force that was driving him in from behind. Convulsively
grasping the banister with both hands, his broad shoulders formed a
mighty buttress against the pressing flood. Like Atlas, I do believe he
would have borne the earth upon his back to save his precious skin.
In the midst of this confusion and tumult, and when there seemed no
way to avert the threatening catastrophe, suddenly the door of the
cattle-shed opened violently, and the redoubtable Horni, Ma�tre
S�baldus's magnificent bull, rushed into the arena, his massive dewlap
shaking loosely like an apron, his tail extended straight, his mouth and
nostrils white with fleecy foam.
It was an inspiration of the master's. He had resolved to risk his bull
to save human life. At the same moment the fat, round, rosy face of our
landlord appeared through the skylight of the stable, crying to the crowd
not to be alarmed, for that he would open the inner door which abuts into
the old synagogue, and let out the crowd by the Jews' street, which was
done in two or three minutes, to the immense relief and comfort of the
public.
But now listen to the end of my story.
Scarcely had the bear caught sight of the bull when he made an ugly rush
upon this new adversary with so terrible a shock that the chain burst.
The bull retired, facing his foe, to a corner of the court near the
pigeon-cote, and there, head well down between his short legs and horns
presented, he awaited the shock of war.
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