Don Quixote - Part I - Page 359/400

"Hold all, let all sheathe their swords, let all be calm and attend to me

as they value their lives!"

All paused at his mighty voice, and he went on to say, "Did I not tell

you, sirs, that this castle was enchanted, and that a legion or so of

devils dwelt in it? In proof whereof I call upon you to behold with your

own eyes how the discord of Agramante's camp has come hither, and been

transferred into the midst of us. See how they fight, there for the

sword, here for the horse, on that side for the eagle, on this for the

helmet; we are all fighting, and all at cross purposes. Come then, you,

Senor Judge, and you, senor curate; let the one represent King Agramante

and the other King Sobrino, and make peace among us; for by God Almighty

it is a sorry business that so many persons of quality as we are should

slay one another for such trifling cause." The officers, who did not

understand Don Quixote's mode of speaking, and found themselves roughly

handled by Don Fernando, Cardenio, and their companions, were not to be

appeased; the barber was, however, for both his beard and his pack-saddle

were the worse for the struggle; Sancho like a good servant obeyed the

slightest word of his master; while the four servants of Don Luis kept

quiet when they saw how little they gained by not being so. The landlord

alone insisted upon it that they must punish the insolence of this

madman, who at every turn raised a disturbance in the inn; but at length

the uproar was stilled for the present; the pack-saddle remained a

caparison till the day of judgment, and the basin a helmet and the inn a

castle in Don Quixote's imagination.

All having been now pacified and made friends by the persuasion of the

Judge and the curate, the servants of Don Luis began again to urge him to

return with them at once; and while he was discussing the matter with

them, the Judge took counsel with Don Fernando, Cardenio, and the curate

as to what he ought to do in the case, telling them how it stood, and

what Don Luis had said to him. It was agreed at length that Don Fernando

should tell the servants of Don Luis who he was, and that it was his

desire that Don Luis should accompany him to Andalusia, where he would

receive from the marquis his brother the welcome his quality entitled him

to; for, otherwise, it was easy to see from the determination of Don Luis

that he would not return to his father at present, though they tore him

to pieces. On learning the rank of Don Fernando and the resolution of Don

Luis the four then settled it between themselves that three of them

should return to tell his father how matters stood, and that the other

should remain to wait upon Don Luis, and not leave him until they came

back for him, or his father's orders were known. Thus by the authority of

Agramante and the wisdom of King Sobrino all this complication of

disputes was arranged; but the enemy of concord and hater of peace,

feeling himself slighted and made a fool of, and seeing how little he had

gained after having involved them all in such an elaborate entanglement,

resolved to try his hand once more by stirring up fresh quarrels and

disturbances.