With the Battle Fleet Part 20

(Blank s.p.a.ces for american expressions if your spanish runs short or thick.)

While it isn't as fast as Coney Island, Luna Park, Steeplechase, nor the Hippodrome, you'll move quite as "fast"

if you get down into the Ring.

Wishing you each and all a most pleasant sojourn in this "City of the Kings" and a bon voyage on your journey Northward.

Then began the exploration of Lima. Standing on one side of the beautiful Plaza de Armas is the great Cathedral, which was started in 1540 and which cost $9,000,000, despite the fact that its walls are of mud and, as one writer has said, could be run through with a fence rail in almost any place. It was the inside decoration that cost so much, for it has rare wood carvings, and once was fairly plastered with gold and silver stolen by Pizarro, "the pious old cutthroat," from the Incas. You see, Pizarro founded Lima in 1535, and although he was known as the "Indian butcher," he began right by establishing a Cathedral, and there his bones in a mummified condition rest. They are kept in a gla.s.s case and are in a crypt. An attendant takes you to the coffin, lights a candle for you to read the inscription on the case and to peer in and you get a first rate look at a mummy.

Pizarro undoubtedly knew his business well. He gathered in the millions upon millions that the Incas had saved up for a rainy day. It was explained that Pizarro had found out that it never rained where he intended to set up in Lima and therefore he told the Incas they really had no use for all that gold and he would take it, establish a city and give them real religion and be a missionary and all that for them.

"All of which," as a bluejacket who had been reading up the history of the place said, "he done good and proper."

Pizarro attracted the attention of thousands of the visitors. Not all were irreverent or flippant. Many of them paused a long time before the mortal remains of one the greatest men in history. You felt as if you were really at a shrine.

Then the explorers visited other churches which took one back to the Middle Ages. There was the Franciscan convent and church. There was the church where the remains of Santa Rosa, the only American woman saint, rest. Then there were numerous other edifices with old doors and heavy bolts and locks, and inside some of them were decorated with what seemed to be solid sheets of gold about their pillars; churches where there were beautiful old paintings of religious subjects, churches where the tiling was brought from Europe and is now almost priceless in value, churches where there were historic parchments.

The visitors then went to see the Senate Chamber, with its carved ceiling, one of the wonders of the world in that line; brought from Europe and paid for with Inca treasure in 1560. That room was used in the days of the Inquisition, which lasted longer in Peru than in Spain and was almost as terrible. In fact in this viceregal city, the second founded in the Americas by the Spanish, one could see religious emblems at every turn. Just outside the city on a hill overlooking the bullring is an enormous cross, probably fifty feet high. Every year the society that had it erected makes a pilgrimage up that hill after a parade in the city and holds services, wherein vows to uphold the faith and lead lives of purity and honor are retaken. On a dozen other hills crosses and shrines may be seen.

It is evident that Peru as a nation is still devout, but if one could have seen the crowd at the San Pedro Church on Sunday morning when the doors were opened and the beauty and high blood of Lima came out from their devotions he would have been convinced that Peru is really no exception to other Latin American countries, and indeed most other countries, in that the women are the mainstay of the church. That beauty parade is one of the sights of Lima, and the Americans, officers and men, were there, side by side with the men of the city to see the show.

As the visitors went about, one change, national in character, impressed itself upon them immediately. Every writer on Peru has commented on the fact that the headdress of the women, worn universally, is the black manta. It is said that it is a relic that has come down from the Incas when they put on mourning for their great chief Atahualpa. Rich and poor have worn that headdress on the street for centuries. It was an established inst.i.tution.

Well, it is going. About one-half of the women, some of them in good circ.u.mstances evidently, wore mantas on the streets, but as for the rest--well, a man has no business to write about women's hats. All that this man can say is that he never saw more dazzling specimens of flower gardens than those bobbing around over the graceful drapery with which the Peruvian women adorn themselves.

Thus does fashion war successfully upon established custom. The Peruvian woman loves a beautiful hat just as much as any other woman on earth.

Moreover, what is said about her surpa.s.sing beauty is true. Given great beauty and the love of a hat on the part of a woman--what chance has a black manta got? The manta has got to go and is going. Truly this is a world of change and there are those who will say it is one of decay, but let no one breathe that in a fashionable millinery shop in Lima.

Then came more sightseeing. All the clubs of the city were thrown open.

All the postal card shops had extra supplies.

"English Spoken Here" was posted on the windows and doors of scores of shops. One sign that was amusing to the Americans read:

+-----------------------+ | AMERICAN SPOKEN HERE. | | BUY A SEWING MACHINE. | +-----------------------+

The first formal entertainment came on the night of Washington's Birthday, when the officers of the fleet were the guests of the republic and the President at dinner. The banquet was given at the exposition grounds, a park where sundry exhibits of great worth from the standpoint of history, natural history, commerce, education and the like, are preserved. The dinner was in the grand hall of the main building. The decorations were almost exclusively of the colors of Peru, red and white. On the stage an immense orchestra was ma.s.sed and the American colors were used there for decorations. That band played as only a trained South American band can play.

It was the opinion of naval officers who have dined the world over, with kings and emperors, with great welcoming committees and the like, with Government guests of our own in Washington and New York, that they had never attended a better managed affair than that dinner in Lima. Not only was the dinner perfect from an epicurean standpoint but the service matched it. Every appointment was in the best taste. Not the slightest detail was lacking. The American officers grew enthusiastic and when President Pardo finished his address of welcome there was tremendous enthusiasm. The President, after Admiral Thomas had made his reply, arose and walked into a beautiful illuminated garden and there the diners met him socially and found this young man, who represents what Peru has needed most for years, a commercial and not a military government, delightful and una.s.suming, with a grasp upon matters of statesmanship which showed that not only was he practical in his management of the country but a good deal of a scholar. Pardo believes in education rather than the sword, in the development of commerce rather than in personal aggrandizement and the display of military force.

Then there was a garden party at Minister Coomb's home, a beautiful place; the garden party of the munic.i.p.ality at the exposition grounds, p.r.o.nounced by all the naval officers as the finest thing of the kind they ever attended; the delightful ball at the National Club and the excursion to the famous Inca ruins of Pachacamac. The officers had the eminent archaeologist, Dr. Unhe, to explain the wonders of the Temple of the Sun, the other buildings and the hundreds of specimens of pottery, metal and other things recovered from the ruins at Pachacamac.

But with all these functions there were two others offered by the Government as the chief things in the way of entertainment, a bull fight and a trip up the wonderful Oroya railroad to the top of the Andes Mountains, the highest place in the world reached by a railroad.

Now, as to that bull fight. Let it be said at once that in the main it was like all other bull fights, described thousands upon thousands of times. All the trappings and fittings were there. Of course, the bulls had no show. They had to die, six of them. It was just as brutal as Americans are wont to call such exhibitions, with the exception that no horses were allowed to be disembowelled and killed. Peru up to two years ago had always fought bulls with the horse killing feature eliminated.

For that reason many persons regarded her bull fighting as the best in the world. Two years ago the people demanded a change and horses were gored in the style of Spain's best brutality. Out of respect for the Americans, and by order of the President, the horse-goring feature was omitted this time.

There was plenty of excitement. All three of the matadors were injured.

One was tossed by the first bull three minutes after the animal had entered the ring. That settled the famous Bonarillo. He went out of business. Another matador, Padilla, was gored in the throat by the fifth bull and for a time it was thought that he was injured mortally.

The third matador was sc.r.a.ped up the side by the last bull as the death thrust was delivered, and Largartijillo chico, the young Largartijillo, just as we say Young Corbett, came near going to dwell with his fathers eternally.

Oh, yes, there was lots of excitement and agility and skill and all that, but why describe a bullfight as a bullfight? No story is older.

What was peculiar about this fight was the presence of 3,000 American sailors. That's a different story. You want to know how Jack saw it and what he said and thought and did. You can see bullfights any time you want to pay for them; you can't see American bluejackets at such a spectacle as the chief guests of a Government, and that's what made this fight tremendously interesting.

Well, this one was held in the famous ring almost as old as Lima. Six bulls from the famous stock of Rinconada de Mala, the property of Dr.

Don Jesus de Asin, had been provided. They were the fightiest bulls in all Peru; and to make sure that they would do their best they had been teased privately beforehand. The fight, as the handbills announced, was a "grand gala," one given "in honor of the North American squadron to celebrate its happy arrival at the port of Callao."

Well, the hospitality of the Government went further, for it named the bulls in honor of the fleet. The first bull was "the gallant Alfred, in honor of Admiral Evans"; the second, "the heroic Ranger, in honor of Admiral Thomas"; the third, "the Brave Teddy, in honor of Admiral Emory"; the fourth, "the Shufly, in honor of Admiral Sperry"; the fifth, "Banjo, in honor of the officers of the navy"; the sixth, "Yankee Doodle, in honor of the sailors." Could hospitality go further than that?

About 175 men from each ship and all the officers of the fleet were invited. The sailors filled two-thirds of the arena and the officers and the high society of Lima filled the boxes. All had a.s.sembled on time, and then came the President to sit in the box directly opposite that of the officers of the munic.i.p.ality, with chairs of red plush for the box and a dais for the President, who was in evening dress. The American Admirals and Captains were in that grand box. The Peruvian band played "The Star Spangled Banner" and the bluejackets stood at attention and then all hands cheered. When the President came and the Peruvian national hymn was played, the bluejackets gave three rousing cheers for Pardo and Peru. Then all was ready for business. The key was tossed into the ring for the parade of the fighters, capeadores, banderilleros, matadors, the rig to pull the dead bulls out, and all that.

The Americans were all intense. The fighters took their stations, the Mayor gave the word, a bugle blew, a door was opened and a great brown and black bull with horns, as one of the local newspapers described them, "like the spires of a steeple," bounded into the ring, took one look around and dashed madly after an aged horseman riding a beautiful iron gray pony and flaunting a red cape over his mount's flanks. There were two of these hors.e.m.e.n and the exhibition they gave of fine riding would have put the best cowboy or rough rider to shame. The man the bull put after was more than eighty years old and the way he twisted his pony here and there and just escaped the lunges of that bull, turning sharp angles, pulling up short, making his horse fairly leap out of the way, dodging this way and that until the bull was astonished elicited roars of applause from the bluejackets. They liked that part. Then a younger man took up the same work. He was even more skilful.

Bullfighting was fine so far.

But let Bill Watkins, bos'n's mate, be heard from. Bill, you see, had been to these things before in his gyrations round the world, now having five stripes on his sleeve. Bill gathered a group of youngsters about him and invited the Sun man to come along to have a bullfight "explained proper."

"You see," said Bill, "these Spiggoties (a sailor term applied to Latin Americans because they say 'Me no spiggoty English') think they know all about bullfights. They doesn't, to use good grammar. You want to look at 'em from the standp'int o' seamanship an' gunn'ry. There's where you get the real benefit. Why, many a middy c'n learn more 'bout seamanship an'

gunn'ry here than he kin from two years on a bridge. I tell ye these bullfights oughter be in the kricklum, or whatever they call it, at Annapolis."

Just then a bugle blew telling the mounted cape men to give way to those on foot. Bonarillo, the matador, advanced with a purple lined cape "to feel the bull out." He waved the garment gracefully from side to side.

The bull dashed at him. Bonarillo's foot caught in the corner of the cape, the bull gathered him on his horns and agilely tossed him over one shoulder and then dashed away after another capeador. Bonarillo tried to get up, but couldn't. Soon he was carried out of the ring. Glory was not to be his that day. Bill took it all in and explained:

"There ye go! Ye see, that matador ought ter remembered that he was in shoal water. He thought he c'd navigate 'thout takin' soundin's or gettin' bearin's. That bull had his range all right, but his deflection was poor. When the bull got 'im under the leg with his horn that shot sure counted. The bull hoisted 'im all right, but the man who was tendin' the fall let 'im go by the run when it came to lowerin' away.

There, the wreckin' tugs have got 'im! Now they're carryin' 'm 'behind the breakwater. It's the drydock for c.o.c.ky Bonarillo, all right. Mighty poor seamanship and just ordinary gunn'ry fer the bull! You see, 'twas only a pot shot."

Then the cape men began to wave their emblems at the bull. Now and then the bull would catch one of the capes in his horns and toss it to the ground and trample on it. The men had to run for the shelters often. The bull was fresh. Bill explained:

"Ye mustn't take too many chances in a fresh breeze. There, ye see, that fellow's let his lower stu'nsail get carried away. He didn't shorten sail soon enough. The man at the wheel let 'er luff too soon, and come to against the helm. Don't never belay no sheet!"

Then came the signal for the banderilleros to sink their darts in the shoulders of the bull. One of them would catch the bull's attention and they would rush toward each other. The banderillero would change his course after the bull got under way and by just grazing his horns would plant the darts in his shoulders. The first man got rousing cheers. From his darts two flags unfurled. One was that of Peru and the other that of the United States. It was supposed to be a pretty compliment to the Americans. Bill explained how the banderillero did it:

"Say, did y' see that feller? He stands close hauled right up to the weather mark, then he bears up and pa.s.ses to leeward, with his lee rail awash. He's been whaling all right--we was eighteen months in the Mozambique once, when I was whaling out of New Bedford, and our iron man always took his fish like him. Ye see, ye stands yer course right up to the animal, then give a rank sheer, heave, and let him go by!"

The bull was now very tired. Padillo, the second matador, came out, bowed to the authorities and asked the President's permission to kill the bull. He got it and it was up to him to do it. He waved his bright red cape, sheltering his sword, repeatedly in front of the bull, stepping aside just in time to escape the horns. The bull was dazed.

Then Padillo stood about ten feet away, poised his sword to take aim and rushed on the bull. The sword did not hit the fatal spot. The thrust was a failure. Bill said:

"Ah--he's a b.u.m pointer! A guy what's been in training as long as he has and ain't got no better sense than to fire before he's steady on don't deserve to hold the rate. Mighty poor gunn'ry that!"

Again the matador failed. The sword went in deep. Muscular contraction, which had forced the first sword out, failed to move this one and a capeador threw his cloak over the weapon deftly and drew it out. Again there was a failure to kill, but the bull was almost exhausted. He sank to his knees, got up and made one more lunge at Padillo, who then sank the sword to the hilt in the proper place and all was over. There were cheers, but Padillo hadn't done well. Bill said:

"Say's he's a b.u.m reefer and a yardarm furler. I'll bet that guy's a trimmer. Ye can tell by the cut of his jib that he's in everybody's mess and n.o.body's watch. He's jack outside the lift when the liberty party's called away, but sick bay for him when the coal comes alongside."

The second bull, Ranger, gave the hors.e.m.e.n plenty to do. He soon had the aged horseman in difficulty. Time and again the horseman, looking over his shoulder, flaunted his cape this way and that; but it was evident that the bull could not be escaped easily. All the fighters became nervous. At last the bull made a thrust that caught the beautiful iron gray pony in the flank with a deep wound. The cape men interfered at once and the horseman rode away to safety. Bill had this to say:

"There, that rider went wrong! The bull was after him under full sail and was yawin' 'round three or four p'ints each side o' the course and rollin' and pitchin' somethin' awful. That man on the horse, the picalilly, or whatever ye call 'im, tried to give the bull the right o'

way, although, bein' close hauled, he should a-held his weather helm on 'im. However, not obeyin' the rules o' the road, he starts to give way, but at the critical moment the bull makes a yaw to port, rams the horse in the starboard quarter. The picalilly man tops his boom, stands to the eastward and tries to put his collision mat over. He should a-put his helm over the other way. Poor work, poor work!"

So the fight went on. Padillo killed another bull, but he had three failures at thrusts before the beast sank down and died. There were hisses for him, and some of the bluejackets shouted:

"Take him out and put him in a minor league!"