At these two-year-old trials, or _Tentaderos_, it is customary for the owner and his friends to assemble at the sequestered _rancho_--the event indeed becomes a rural fête, a bright and picturesque scene, typical of untrodden Spain and of the buoyant exuberance and dare-devil spirit of her people.
Nowhere can the exciting scenes of the _Tentadero_ be witnessed to greater advantage than on those wide level pasturages that extend from Seville to the Bay of Cádiz. Here, far out on spreading _vega_ ablaze with wild flowers, where the canicular sun flashes yet more light and fire into the fiery veins of the Andaluz--here is enacted the first scene in the drama of the _Toréo_. For ages these flower-strewn plains have formed the scene of countless _tentaderos_, where the young bloods of Andalucia, generation after generation, rival each other in feats of derring-do, of skill, and horsemanship.
The remote _estancia_ presents a scene of unwonted revelry. All night long its rude walls resound with boisterous hilarity--good-humour, gaiety, and a spice of practical joking pass away the dark hours and by daylight all are in the saddle. The young bulls have previously been herded upon that part of the estate which affords the best level ground for smart manoeuvre and fast riding, and the task of holding the impetuous beasts together is allotted to skilled herdsmen armed with long _garrochas_--four-yard lances, with blunt steel tip. All being ready, a single bull is allowed to escape across the plain. Two horsemen awaiting the moment, spear in hand, give chase, one on either flank. The rider on the bull's left assists his companion by holding the animal to a straight course. Presently the right-hand man, rising erect in his stirrups, plants his lance on the bull's _off-flank_, near the tail, and by one tremendous thrust, delivered at full speed, overthrows him--a feat that bespeaks a good eye, a firm seat, and a strong arm. Some young bulls will take two or more falls; others, on rising, will elect to charge. The infuriated youngster finds himself faced by a second foe--a horseman armed with a more pointed lance and who has been riding close behind. This man is termed _el Tentador_. Straightway the bull charges, receiving on his withers the _garrocha_ point; thrown back thus and smarting under this first check to his hitherto unthwarted will, he returns to the charge with redoubled fury, but only to find the horse protected as before. The pluckier spirits will essay a third or a fourth attack, but those that freely charge _twice_ are passed as fit for the ring.