Don Quixote laughed at the interpretation Sancho put upon"computed," and the name of the cosmographer Ptolemy, and said he,"Thou must know, Sancho, that with the Spaniards and those whoembark at Cadiz for the East Indies, one of the signs they have toshow them when they have passed the equinoctial line I told thee of,is, that the lice die upon everybody on board the ship, and not asingle one is left, or to be found in the whole vessel if they gaveits weight in gold for it; so, Sancho, thou mayest as well pass thyhand down thy thigh, and if thou comest upon anything alive we shallbe no longer in doubt; if not, then we have crossed."
"I don't believe a bit of it," said Sancho; "still, I'll do asyour worship bids me; though I don't know what need there is fortrying these experiments, for I can see with my own eyes that wehave not moved five yards away from the bank, or shifted two yardsfrom where the animals stand, for there are Rocinante and Dapple inthe very same place where we left them; and watching a point, as Ido now, I swear by all that's good, we are not stirring or moving atthe pace of an ant."
"Try the test I told thee of, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "anddon't mind any other, for thou knowest nothing about colures, lines,parallels, zodiacs, ecliptics, poles, solstices, equinoxes, planets,signs, bearings, the measures of which the celestial and terrestrialspheres are composed; if thou wert acquainted with all these things,or any portion of them, thou wouldst see clearly how many parallels wehave cut, what signs we have seen, and what constellations we haveleft behind and are now leaving behind. But again I tell thee, feeland hunt, for I am certain thou art cleaner than a sheet of smoothwhite paper."
Sancho felt, and passing his hand gently and carefully down to thehollow of his left knee, he looked up at his master and said,"Either the test is a false one, or we have not come to where yourworship says, nor within many leagues of it."
"Why, how so?" asked Don Quixote; "hast thou come upon aught?"
"Ay, and aughts," replied Sancho; and shaking his fingers hewashed his whole hand in the river along which the boat was quietlygliding in midstream, not moved by any occult intelligence orinvisible enchanter, but simply by the current, just there smoothand gentle.
They now came in sight of some large water mills that stood in themiddle of the river, and the instant Don Quixote saw them he criedout, "Seest thou there, my friend? there stands the castle orfortress, where there is, no doubt, some knight in durance, orill-used queen, or infanta, or princess, in whose aid I am broughthither."
"What the devil city, fortress, or castle is your worship talkingabout, senor?" said Sancho; "don't you see that those are mills thatstand in the river to grind corn?"
"Hold thy peace, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "though they look likemills they are not so; I have already told thee that enchantmentstransform things and change their proper shapes; I do not mean tosay they really change them from one form into another, but that itseems as though they did, as experience proved in the transformationof Dulcinea, sole refuge of my hopes."
By this time, the boat, having reached the middle of the stream,began to move less slowly than hitherto. The millers belonging tothe mills, when they saw the boat coming down the river, and on thepoint of being sucked in by the draught of the wheels, ran out inhaste, several of them, with long poles to stop it, and being allmealy, with faces and garments covered with flour, they presented asinister appearance. They raised loud shouts, crying, "Devils ofmen, where are you going to? Are you mad? Do you want to drownyourselves, or dash yourselves to pieces among these wheels?"
"Did I not tell thee, Sancho," said Don Quixote at this, "that wehad reached the place where I am to show what the might of my armcan do? See what ruffians and villains come out against me; see whatmonsters oppose me; see what hideous countenances come to frighten us!You shall soon see, scoundrels!" And then standing up in the boat hebegan in a loud voice to hurl threats at the millers, exclaiming,"Ill-conditioned and worse-counselled rabble, restore to liberty andfreedom the person ye hold in durance in this your fortress or prison,high or low or of whatever rank or quality he be, for I am Don Quixoteof La Mancha, otherwise called the Knight of the Lions, for whom, bythe disposition of heaven above, it is reserved to give a happyissue to this adventure;" and so saying he drew his sword and beganmaking passes in the air at the millers, who, hearing but notunderstanding all this nonsense, strove to stop the boat, which wasnow getting into the rushing channel of the wheels. Sancho fell uponhis knees devoutly appealing to heaven to deliver him from suchimminent peril; which it did by the activity and quickness of themillers, who, pushing against the boat with their poles, stopped it,not, however, without upsetting and throwing Don Quixote and Sanchointo the water; and lucky it was for Don Quixote that he could swimlike a goose, though the weight of his armour carried him twice to thebottom; and had it not been for the millers, who plunged in andhoisted them both out, it would have been Troy town with the pair ofthem. As soon as, more drenched than thirsty, they were landed, Sanchowent down on his knees and with clasped hands and eyes raised toheaven, prayed a long and fervent prayer to God to deliver himevermore from the rash projects and attempts of his master. Thefishermen, the owners of the boat, which the mill-wheels had knockedto pieces, now came up, and seeing it smashed they proceeded tostrip Sancho and to demand payment for it from Don Quixote; but hewith great calmness, just as if nothing had happened him, told themillers and fishermen that he would pay for the bark mostcheerfully, on condition that they delivered up to him, free andunhurt, the person or persons that were in durance in that castle oftheirs.
"What persons or what castle art thou talking of, madman? Art thoufor carrying off the people who come to grind corn in these mills?"
"That's enough," said Don Quixote to himself, "it would be preachingin the desert to attempt by entreaties to induce this rabble to do anyvirtuous action. In this adventure two mighty enchanters must haveencountered one another, and one frustrates what the other attempts;one provided the bark for me, and the other upset me; God help us,this world is all machinations and schemes at cross purposes onewith the other. I can do no more." And then turning towards themills he said aloud, "Friends, whoe'er ye be that are immured inthat prison, forgive me that, to my misfortune and yours, I cannotdeliver you from your misery; this adventure is doubtless reserved anddestined for some other knight."
So saying he settled with the fishermen, and paid fifty reals forthe boat, which Sancho handed to them very much against the grain,saying, "With a couple more bark businesses like this we shall havesunk our whole capital."
The fishermen and the millers stood staring in amazement at thetwo figures, so very different to all appearance from ordinary men,and were wholly unable to make out the drift of the observations andquestions Don Quixote addressed to them; and coming to theconclusion that they were madmen, they left them and betookthemselves, the millers to their mills, and the fishermen to theirhuts. Don Quixote and Sancho returned to their beasts, and to theirlife of beasts, and so ended the adventure of the enchanted bark.
CHAPTER XXX
OF DON QUIXOTE'S ADVENTURE WITH A FAIR HUNTRESS
THEY reached their beasts in low spirits and bad humour enough,knight and squire, Sancho particularly, for with him what touchedthe stock of money touched his heart, and when any was taken fromhim he felt as if he was robbed of the apples of his eyes. In fine,without exchanging a word, they mounted and quitted the famousriver, Don Quixote absorbed in thoughts of his love, Sancho inthinking of his advancement, which just then, it seemed to him, he wasvery far from securing; for, fool as he was, he saw clearly enoughthat his master's acts were all or most of them utterly senseless; andhe began to cast about for an opportunity of retiring from his serviceand going home some day, without entering into any explanations ortaking any farewell of him. Fortune, however, ordered matters aftera fashion very much the opposite of what he contemplated.
It so happened that the next day towards sunset, on coming out ofa wood, Don Quixote cast his eyes over a green meadow, and at thefar end of it observed some people, and as he drew nearer saw thatit was a hawking party. Coming closer, he distinguished among them alady of graceful mien, on a pure white palfrey or hackneycaparisoned with green trappings and a silver-mounted side-saddle. Thelady was also in green, and so richly and splendidly dressed thatsplendour itself seemed personified in her. On her left hand shebore a hawk, a proof to Don Quixote's mind that she must be some greatlady and the mistress of the whole hunting party, which was thefact; so he said to Sancho, "Run Sancho, my son, and say to thatlady on the palfrey with the hawk that I, the Knight of the Lions,kiss the hands of her exalted beauty, and if her excellence will grantme leave I will go and kiss them in person and place myself at herservice for aught that may be in my power and her highness maycommand; and mind, Sancho, how thou speakest, and take care not tothrust in any of thy proverbs into thy message."
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