CHAPTER LXIV
TREATING OF THE ADVENTURE WHICH GAVE DON QUIXOTE MORE UNHAPPINESSTHAN ALL THAT HAD HITHERTO BEFALLEN HIM
THE wife of Don Antonio Moreno, so the history says, was extremelyhappy to see Ana Felix in her house. She welcomed her with greatkindness, charmed as well by her beauty as by her intelligence; for inboth respects the fair Morisco was richly endowed, and all thepeople of the city flocked to see her as though they had been summonedby the ringing of the bells.
Don Quixote told Don Antonio that the plan adopted for releasing DonGregorio was not a good one, for its risks were greater than itsadvantages, and that it would be better to land himself with hisarms and horse in Barbary; for he would carry him off in spite ofthe whole Moorish host, as Don Gaiferos carried off his wifeMelisendra.
"Remember, your worship," observed Sancho on hearing him say so,"Senor Don Gaiferos carried off his wife from the mainland, and tookher to France by land; but in this case, if by chance we carry off DonGregorio, we have no way of bringing him to Spain, for there's the seabetween."
"There's a remedy for everything except death," said Don Quixote;"if they bring the vessel close to the shore we shall be able to geton board though all the world strive to prevent us."
"Your worship hits it off mighty well and mighty easy," said Sancho;"but 'it's a long step from saying to doing;' and I hold to therenegade, for he seems to me an honest good-hearted fellow."
Don Antonio then said that if the renegade did not prove successful,the expedient of the great Don Quixote's expedition to Barbaryshould be adopted. Two days afterwards the renegade put to sea in alight vessel of six oars a-side manned by a stout crew, and two dayslater the galleys made sail eastward, the general having begged theviceroy to let him know all about the release of Don Gregorio andabout Ana Felix, and the viceroy promised to do as he requested.
One morning as Don Quixote went out for a stroll along the beach,arrayed in full armour （for, as he often said, that was "his onlygear, his only rest the fray," and he never was without it for amoment）， he saw coming towards him a knight, also in full armour, witha shining moon painted on his shield, who, on approaching sufficientlynear to be heard, said in a loud voice, addressing himself to DonQuixote, "Illustrious knight, and never sufficiently extolled DonQuixote of La Mancha, I am the Knight of the White Moon, whoseunheard-of achievements will perhaps have recalled him to thymemory. I come to do battle with thee and prove the might of thyarm, to the end that I make thee acknowledge and confess that my lady,let her be who she may, is incomparably fairer than thy Dulcinea delToboso. If thou dost acknowledge this fairly and openly, thou shaltescape death and save me the trouble of inflicting it upon thee; ifthou fightest and I vanquish thee, I demand no other satisfaction thanthat, laying aside arms and abstaining from going in quest ofadventures, thou withdraw and betake thyself to thine own villagefor the space of a year, and live there without putting hand to sword,in peace and quiet and beneficial repose, the same being needful forthe increase of thy substance and the salvation of thy soul; and ifthou dost vanquish me, my head shall be at thy disposal, my arms andhorse thy spoils, and the renown of my deeds transferred and addedto thine. Consider which will be thy best course, and give me thyanswer speedily, for this day is all the time I have for thedespatch of this business."
Don Quixote was amazed and astonished, as well at the Knight ofthe White Moon's arrogance, as at his reason for delivering thedefiance, and with calm dignity he answered him, "Knight of theWhite Moon, of whose achievements I have never heard until now, I willventure to swear you have never seen the illustrious Dulcinea; for hadyou seen her I know you would have taken care not to ventureyourself upon this issue, because the sight would have removed alldoubt from your mind that there ever has been or can be a beauty to becompared with hers; and so, not saying you lie, but merely that youare not correct in what you state, I accept your challenge, with theconditions you have proposed, and at once, that the day you have fixedmay not expire; and from your conditions I except only that of therenown of your achievements being transferred to me, for I know not ofwhat sort they are nor what they may amount to; I am satisfied with myown, such as they be. Take, therefore, the side of the field youchoose, and I will do the same; and to whom God shall give it maySaint Peter add his blessing."
The Knight of the White Moon had been seen from the city, and it wastold the viceroy how he was in conversation with Don Quixote. Theviceroy, fancying it must be some fresh adventure got up by DonAntonio Moreno or some other gentleman of the city, hurried out atonce to the beach accompanied by Don Antonio and several othergentlemen, just as Don Quixote was wheeling Rocinante round in orderto take up the necessary distance. The viceroy upon this, seeingthat the pair of them were evidently preparing to come to thecharge, put himself between them, asking them what it was that ledthem to engage in combat all of a sudden in this way. The Knight ofthe White Moon replied that it was a question of precedence of beauty;and briefly told him what he had said to Don Quixote, and how theconditions of the defiance agreed upon on both sides had beenaccepted. The viceroy went over to Don Antonio, and asked in a lowvoice did he know who the Knight of the White Moon was, or was it somejoke they were playing on Don Quixote. Don Antonio replied that heneither knew who he was nor whether the defiance was in joke or inearnest. This answer left the viceroy in a state of perplexity, notknowing whether he ought to let the combat go on or not; but unable topersuade himself that it was anything but a joke he fell back, saying,"If there be no other way out of it, gallant knights, except toconfess or die, and Don Quixote is inflexible, and your worship of theWhite Moon still more so, in God's hand be it, and fall on."
He of the White Moon thanked the viceroy in courteous andwell-chosen words for the permission he gave them, and so did DonQuixote, who then, commending himself with all his heart to heaven andto his Dulcinea, as was his custom on the eve of any combat thatawaited him, proceeded to take a little more distance, as he saw hisantagonist was doing the same; then, without blast of trumpet or otherwarlike instrument to give them the signal to charge, both at the sameinstant wheeled their horses; and he of the White Moon, being theswifter, met Don Quixote after having traversed two-thirds of thecourse, and there encountered him with such violence that, withouttouching him with his lance （for he held it high, to all appearancepurposely）， he hurled Don Quixote and Rocinante to the earth, aperilous fall. He sprang upon him at once, and placing the lanceover his visor said to him, "You are vanquished, sir knight, naydead unless you admit the conditions of our defiance."
Don Quixote, bruised and stupefied, without raising his visor saidin a weak feeble voice as if he were speaking out of a tomb, "Dulcineadel Toboso is the fairest woman in the world, and I the mostunfortunate knight on earth; it is not fitting that this truthshould suffer by my feebleness; drive your lance home, sir knight, andtake my life, since you have taken away my honour."
"That will I not, in sooth," said he of the White Moon; "live thefame of the lady Dulcinea's beauty undimmed as ever; all I requireis that the great Don Quixote retire to his own home for a year, orfor so long a time as shall by me be enjoined upon him, as we agreedbefore engaging in this combat."
The viceroy, Don Antonio, and several others who were presentheard all this, and heard too how Don Quixote replied that so longas nothing in prejudice of Dulcinea was demanded of him, he wouldobserve all the rest like a true and loyal knight. The engagementgiven, he of the White Moon wheeled about, and making obeisance to theviceroy with a movement of the head, rode away into the city at a halfgallop. The viceroy bade Don Antonio hasten after him, and by somemeans or other find out who he was. They raised Don Quixote up anduncovered his face, and found him pale and bathed with sweat.Rocinante from the mere hard measure he had received lay unable tostir for the present. Sancho, wholly dejected and woebegone, knewnot what to say or do. He fancied that all was a dream, that the wholebusiness was a piece of enchantment. Here was his master defeated, andbound not to take up arms for a year. He saw the light of the glory ofhis achievements obscured; the hopes of the promises lately made himswept away like smoke before the wind; Rocinante, he feared, wascrippled for life, and his master's bones out of joint; for if he wereonly shaken out of his madness it would be no small luck. In the endthey carried him into the city in a hand-chair which the viceroysent for, and thither the viceroy himself returned, cager to ascertainwho this Knight of the White Moon was who had left Don Quixote in sucha sad plight.
CHAPTER LXV
WHEREIN IS MADE KNOWN WHO THE KNIGHT OF THE WHITE MOON WAS; LIKEWISEDON GREGORIO'S RELEASE, AND OTHER EVENTS
DON ANTONIO MORENO followed the Knight of the White Moon, and anumber of boys followed him too, nay pursued him, until they had himfairly housed in a hostel in the heart of the city. Don Antonio, eagerto make his acquaintance, entered also; a squire came out to meethim and remove his armour, and he shut himself into a lower room,still attended by Don Antonio, whose bread would not bake until he hadfound out who he was. He of the White Moon, seeing then that thegentleman would not leave him, said, "I know very well, senor, whatyou have come for; it is to find out who I am; and as there is noreason why I should conceal it from you, while my servant here istaking off my armour I will tell you the true state of the case,without leaving out anything. You must know, senor, that I am calledthe bachelor Samson Carrasco. I am of the same village as DonQuixote of La Mancha, whose craze and folly make all of us who knowhim feel pity for him, and I am one of those who have felt it most;and persuaded that his chance of recovery lay in quiet and keepingat home and in his own house, I hit upon a device for keeping himthere. Three months ago, therefore, I went out to meet him as aknight-errant, under the assumed name of the Knight of the Mirrors,intending to engage him in combat and overcome him without hurtinghim, making it the condition of our combat that the vanquishedshould be at the disposal of the victor. What I meant to demand of him（for I regarded him as vanquished already） was that he should returnto his own village, and not leave it for a whole year, by which timehe might he cured. But fate ordered it otherwise, for he vanquished meand unhorsed me, and so my plan failed. He went his way, and I cameback conquered, covered with shame, and sorely bruised by my fall,which was a particularly dangerous one. But this did not quench mydesire to meet him again and overcome him, as you have seen to-day.And as he is so scrupulous in his observance of the laws ofknight-errantry, he will, no doubt, in order to keep his word, obeythe injunction I have laid upon him. This, senor, is how the matterstands, and I have nothing more to tell you. I implore of you not tobetray me, or tell Don Quixote who I am; so that my honestendeavours may be successful, and that a man of excellent wits- werehe only rid of the fooleries of chivalry- may get them back again."