The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1885-10-10
A SHADOW OF DEATH.

'controbandista,' and smuggIed mules
into France over remote and secret
passes OF the Pyrenees. We were very
proud OF our sleek, handsome, smooth
mules. We made large sums OF money.
but we also ran great risk OF detection and
imprisonment. l hated the business. SO
once when we were crossing one OF the passes
ran away. For days wandered about
until I reached a large city full OF white,
clean buildings, which they told me was
San Sebastiano. Ill asked if there was a
'corrida de toros' (bull ring there, and on
being told there was l made my way to
the place, saw the manager and told him
my story, and my desire to be a bull.
fighter.
SAT one time there used to be a good
school there for training ull-6ghters. After
various preliminaries l was admitted, and
found some twenty or thirty young men
who were going through their training for
'chu!os.' The great favorite OF the school
was a young 'espada' Fernando Nunez. as
handsome and as graceful a creature as the
dear God ever made. He was always pleas
ant, always kindly, and had a cheerful
greeting and a smile for each OF US, and was
the idol of the whole school. He was very
young, perhaps the youngest 'espada' that
was ever seen in the arena.
1.-The bull ring OF San Sebastiano stands
. or rather used to stand-On a long, sandy
stretch Of plain on the other side OF the
railway line. 1t was a large, wooden am
phitheater, and the pens for the bulls were
quite apart, but connected with the arena
by a long, dark passage. through which the
bulls were driven into the ring. For three
or four hours every day we practiced jump
ing and vaulting in the arena, playing with
the .lasso and the bulls with tipped horns.
There was to be a great bull-fight on
the feast OF San Sebastiano, and Nunez
was to try his skill there, for the third
time, in his capacity of 'espada.' He was
star as a bull-ighter and almost equal to
Monies in point of courage, daring and
dexterity. He was always very kind to
me and picked me out from my comrades
to be his constant companion. wa
much fattered, OF course, by this dis
tinction. Perhaps l showed my elation
too much; for an old bull-fghter, (who had
served many years in the arena and had
retired from public life only to be master
in the school at San Sebastiano with a
pension from the GOVERNMENT said to me
one day:
Mi hijo, you will not misunderstood
me if l give you a word OF warning, will
your
az shall only be too grateful to you,' l
replied, wondering what I had been doing
to incura censure in my work.
"I do not go so much with Nunez. He
is fascinating and very charming and, SO |
far as l know, as good as he is handsome.
but his absence is better bar his company. |
You remember the old proverb, Nina y
who's son NAL a guarda," and he is as en-
ticing as wine
"'But he is so good and pleasant that he
cannot have sold himself to the devil |
said. 'Of what are you accusing him OF"
~ am not accusing him of anything re-
piled the old man, crossing himself de-
voutly, but --andh here he put his mouth
closely to my ear-'he is a doomed man.
"A doomed man. l cried; but why?
Who could wish the poor fellow any i'll?
He is SO good and kind and gay!.'
"'No one on earth wishes him i'll, l am
sure said the old man eagerly. But the
ghost of the arena follows him like a shadow
by day and bs night, and l am sure he is a
doomed man. l have been in this business
for years-long before you were born. l
hav had my triumphs as 'espada,' but l
have never known one to live who was fol-
lowed by the ghost. Monies was doomed
by it, SO was Crchares, SO was many Others
/ could name; and now this poo young fell
low The good old man brokedown with
tears in his eyes.
but what sort OF creature is this ghost?'
asked. Does it follow all the company
"'Oh, Santa Fe, no. cried my friend
Rodriguez. 1T only follows certain people
who are to die. You will see a double shadow !
OF the same shape and SIZE as he walking
beside him by day and by night, and-and
"a few days before the bull-tight comes off
the ghost stands before the arena door with
a drawn sword, and accompanies the
doomed man everywhere
al cannot believe it, I cried. My hair
IN NV head WAS STA n6inC m with FRIGHT /
and my body was wet with d clammy
cold.
"'Just wait and see,' said old Rodriguez
sadly, Il shall not 60 and see him fight, be-
cause l could not bear to see him killed, for
l love him. And saying this he left me.
II turned the matter over in my mind,
and came to the conclusion that Rod
riguez was getting silly, and that l had bet
ter mention nothing of what he had told
me to any one.
1.-THE days passed, and Nunez was still
the gayest OF us all; as happy and gentle, |
as unselfsh and thoughtful for others as
usual, and more beloved than ever, My
fears and terrors for him had almost
ceased, when one day l happened to go
with Nunez to the arena to watch him
practice with a bull. l sat on the barrier
and watched the performance, applauding
his agility, his grace and general ease OF
compo sure.
ITO my horror saw on the sand Of the
arena two shadows together. When one
moved the other moved. When Nunez
waved a 'Manta,' the double did the same;
when he turned gracefully to one side of
the bull, the double shadow turned with
the same grace and ease.
II nearly fell from my perch with faint
ness and fright, but l resolved to see the
thing to the end. | rubbed my eyes and
looked again. Yes! there was certainly
another figure practicing with Nunez, OF ex-
actly the same size. height and form, with
the same grace and ease OF manner and this
double kept pace with us when we left the
arena, until we reached a church next to the
school, when it disappeared.
81 was so disturbed by this apparition
that l decided to ask some OF my comrades
whether they had also seen the strange
double, fearing that having brooded SO
much over the story Of the old bull fighter,
brain might have become affected.
$50, yes cried my comrades, when l told
them what l had seen, the ghost follows
hin wherever he goes, but that is a super
~stition, and we do not think anything of it.
"'But old Rodriguez thinks a great deal
OF it, exclaimed, and believes fully that
Nunez is a doomed man.. l think som one
ought to speak to Nunez and warn him.
"'Then tell him yourself retorted my
COATducs, we uOu U DelleVe Il WOrO OF all
those superstitions that old Rodriguez is SO
fond OF telling. He is is an old imbecile.'
II tried hard to believe that the old bull
fighter was foolish and a slave to current
superstitions. But day after day passed,
and the double still accompanied my friend
Nunez. At last | resolved to screw up my
courage and tell Nunez the whole story.
1T was three days before the night was
to come off that | vent one evening to
Nunez to take a look at tie bulls he was to
kill. 1t was a lovely moonlight night, one
OF these exquisite evenings that impress
themselves upon ones memory. The
moon sailed along in Ill unclouded sky, as
round m full and clear as could be seen
on a summer night. In the distance ne
could just hear the sound OF the waves
breaking on the shore, and the nightingales
were singing sweet love songs to each other.
The long sandy tract near the arena
glistened like gold, and the brilding rose
strangely out OF place in that peaceful
quarter.
MY mind had been easier for a day or
two. The shadow had ceased to follow
my friend, and l was beginning to believe