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星期二 
052In the morning it was raining. A fog had come over the mountains from the sea. You could not see the tops of the mountains. The plateau was dull and gloomy, and the shapes of the trees and the houses were changed. I walked out beyond the town to look at the weather. The bad weather was coming over the mountains from the sea. The flags in the square hung wet from the white poles and the banners were wet and hung damp against the front of the houses, and in between the steady drizzle the rain came down and drove every one under the arcades and made pools of water in the square, and the streets wet and dark and deserted; yet the fiesta kept up without any pause. It was only driven under cover. The covered seats of the bull-ring had been crowded with people sitting out of the rain watching the concourse of Basque and Navarrais dancers and singers, and afterward the Val Carlos dancers in their costumes danced down the street in the rain, the drums sounding hollow and damp, and the chiefs of the bands riding ahead on their big, heavy-footed horses, their costumes wet, the horses coats wet in the rain. The crowd was in the caf?s and the dancers came in, too, and sat, their tight-wound white legs under the tables, shaking the water from their belled caps, and spreading their red and purple jackets over the chairs to dry. It was raining hard outside. I left the crowd in the caf? and went over to the hotel to get shaved for dinner. I was shaving in my room when there was a knock on the door. Come in, I called. Montoya walked in. How are you? he said. Fine, I said. No bulls to-day. No, I said, nothing but rain. Where are your friends? Over at the Iru?a. Montoya smiled his embarrassed smile. Look, he said. Do you know the American ambassador? Yes, I said. Everybody knows the American ambassador. Hes here in town, now. Yes, I said. Everybodys seen them. Ive seen them, too, Montoya said. He didnt say anything. I went on shaving. Sit down, I said. Let me send for a drink. No, I have to go. I finished shaving and put my face down into the bowl and washed it with cold water. Montoya was standing there looking more embarrassed. Look, he said. Ive just had a message from them at the Grand Hotel that they want Pedro Romero and Marcial Lalanda to come over for coffee to-night after dinner. Well, I said, it cant hurt Marcial any. Marcial has been in San Sebastian all day. He drove over in a car this morning with Marquez. I dont think theyll be back tonight. Montoya stood embarrassed. He wanted me to say something. Dont give Romero the message, I said. You think so? Absolutely. Montoya was very pleased. I wanted to ask you because you were an American, he said. Thats what Id do. Look, said Montoya. People take a boy like that. They dont know what hes worth. They dont know what he means. Any foreigner can flatter him. They start this Grand Hotel business, and in one year theyre through. Like Algabeno, I said. Yes, like Algabeno. Theyre a fine lot, I said. Theres one American woman down here now that collects bull-fighters. I know. They only want the young ones. Yes, I said. The old ones get fat. Or crazy like Gallo. Well, I said, its easy. All you have to do is not give him the message. Hes such a fine boy, said Montoya. He ought to stay with his own people. He shouldnt mix in that stuff. Wont you have a drink? I asked. No, said Montoya, I have to go. He went out. I went down-stairs and out the door and took a walk around through the arcades around the square. It was still raining. I looked in at the Irufla for the gang and they were not there, so I walked on around the square and back to the hotel. They were eating dinner in the down-stairs dining-room. They were well ahead of me and it was no use trying to catch them. Bill was buying shoe-shines for Mike. Bootblacks opened the street door and each one Bill called over and started to work on Mike. This is the eleventh time my boots have been polished, Mike said. I say, Bill is an ass. The bootblacks had evidently spread the report. Another came in. Limpia botas? he said to Bill. No, said Bill. For this Se?or. The bootblack knelt down beside the one at work and started on Mikes free shoe that shone already in the electric light. Bills a yell of laughter, Mike said. I was drinking red wine, and so far behind them that I felt a little uncomfortable about all this shoe-shining. I looked around the room. At the next table was Pedro Romero. He stood up when I nodded, and asked me to come over and meet a friend. His table was beside ours, almost touching. I met the friend, a Madrid bullfight critic, a little man with a drawn face. I told Romero how much I liked his work, and he was very pleased. We talked Spanish and the critic knew a little French. I reached to our table for my winebottle, but the critic took my arm. Romero laughed. Drink here, he said in English. He was very bashful about his English, but he was really very pleased with it, and as we went on talking he brought out words he was not sure of, and asked me about them. He was anxious to know the English for _Corrida de toros_, the exact translation. Bull-fight he was suspicious of. I explained that bull-fight in Spanish was the _lidia_ of a _toro_. The Spanish word _corrida_ means in English the running of bulls--the French translation is _Course de taureaux_. The critic put that in. There is no Spanish word for bull-fight. Pedro Romero said he had learned a little English in Gibraltar. He was born in Ronda. That is not far above Gibraltar. He started bull-fighting in Malaga in the bull-fighting school there. He had only been at it three years. The bull-fight critic joked him about the number of _Malagueno_ expressions he used. He was nineteen years old, he said. His older brother was with him as a banderillero, but he did not live in this hotel. He lived in a smaller hotel with the other people who worked for Romero. He asked me how many times I had seen him in the ring. I told him only three. It was really only two, but I did not want to explain after I had made the mistake. Where did you see me the other time? In Madrid? Yes, I lied. I had read the accounts of his two appearances in Madrid in the bull-fight papers, so I was all right. The first or the second time? The first. I was very bad, he said. The second time I was better. You remember? He turned to the critic. He was not at all embarrassed. He talked of his work as something altogether apart from himself. There was nothing conceited or braggartly about him. I like it very much that you like my work, he said. But you havent seen it yet. To-morrow, if I get a good bull, I will try and show it to you. When he said this he smiled, anxious that neither the bull-fight critic nor I would think he was boasting. I am anxious to see it, the critic said. I would like to be convinced. He doesnt like my work much. Romero turned to me. He was serious. The critic explained that he liked it very much, but that so far it had been incomplete. Wait till to-morrow, if a good one comes out. 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Yes. I saw them unloaded. Pedro Romero leaned forward. What did you think of them? Very nice, I said. About twenty-six arrobas. Very short horns. Havent you seen them? Oh, yes, said Romero. They wont weigh twenty-six arrobas, said the critic. No, said Romero. Theyve got bananas for horns, the critic said. You call them bananas? asked Romero. He turned to me and smiled. _You_ wouldnt call them bananas? No, I said. Theyre horns all right. Theyre very short, said Pedro Romero. Very, very short. Still, they arent bananas. I say, Jake, Brett called from the next table, you _have_ deserted us.
liceping 发表于：2010/5/4 10:45:02
