out he went, mightily satisfied that he had paid nothing, and had carried his point, though at the expense of his accustomed surety, his carcase. The landlord, indeed, was in possession of his wallets for payment of what was due to him; but Sancho never missed them, so confused was he at going off. The innkeeper would have fastened the door well after him, as soon as he saw him out; but the blanketeers would not consent, being persons of that sort, that though Don Quixote had really been one of the Knights of the Round Table, they would not have cared two farthings for him.
In which is rehearsed the discourse which Sancho Panza held with his master Don Quixote, with other adventures worth relating.
SANCHO came up to his master, pale, and dispirited to that degree, that he was not able to spur on his ass. Don Quixote, perceiving him in that condition, said:
'Now am I convinced, honest Sancho, that that castle, or inn, is doubtless enchanted, for they who so cruelly sported themselves with you, what could they be but hobgoblins, and people of the other world? And I am confirmed in this by having found, that when I stood at the pales of the yard, beholding the acts of your sad tragedy, I could not possibly get over them, nor so much as alight from Rosinante; so that they must certainly have held me enchanted: for I swear to you, by the faith of what I am, that if I could have got over, or alighted, I would have avenged you in such a manner, as would have made those poltroons and assassins remember the jest as long as they lived, though I knew I had transgressed the laws of chivalry thereby: for, as I have often told you, they do not allow a knight to lay hand on his sword against any one who is not so, unless it be in defence of his own life and person, and in case of urgent and extreme necessity.'
'And I too,' quoth Sancho, 'would have revenged myself if I could, dubbed or not dubbed; but I could not: though I am of opinion, that they who diverted themselves at my expense, were no hobgoblins, but men of flesh and bones, as we are; and each of them, as I heard while they were tossing me, had his proper name: one was called
-125-
