"That may be," said Ricote; "but I know they did not touch my hoard,for I did not tell them where it was, for fear of accidents; and so,if thou wilt come with me, Sancho, and help me to take it away andconceal it, I will give thee two hundred crowns wherewith thoumayest relieve thy necessities, and, as thou knowest, I know theyare many."

"I would do it," said Sancho; "but I am not at all covetous, for Igave up an office this morning in which, if I was, I might have madethe walls of my house of gold and dined off silver plates before sixmonths were over; and so for this reason, and because I feel I wouldbe guilty of treason to my king if I helped his enemies, I would notgo with thee if instead of promising me two hundred crowns thou wertto give me four hundred here in hand."

"And what office is this thou hast given up, Sancho?" asked Ricote.

"I have given up being governor of an island," said Sancho, "andsuch a one, faith, as you won't find the like of easily."

"And where is this island?" said Ricote.

"Where?" said Sancho; "two leagues from here, and it is called theisland of Barataria."

"Nonsense! Sancho," said Ricote; "islands are away out in the sea;there are no islands on the mainland."

"What? No islands!" said Sancho; "I tell thee, friend Ricote, I leftit this morning, and yesterday I was governing there as I pleased likea sagittarius; but for all that I gave it up, for it seemed to me adangerous office, a governor's."

"And what hast thou gained by the government?" asked Ricote.

"I have gained," said Sancho, "the knowledge that I am no good forgoverning, unless it is a drove of cattle, and that the riches thatare to be got by these governments are got at the cost of one's restand sleep, ay and even one's food; for in islands the governors musteat little, especially if they have doctors to look after theirhealth."

"I don't understand thee, Sancho," said Ricote; "but it seems tome all nonsense thou art talking. Who would give thee islands togovern? Is there any scarcity in the world of cleverer men than thouart for governors? Hold thy peace, Sancho, and come back to thysenses, and consider whether thou wilt come with me as I said tohelp me to take away treasure I left buried (for indeed it may becalled a treasure, it is so large), and I will give thee wherewithalto keep thee, as I told thee."

"And I have told thee already, Ricote, that I will not," saidSancho; "let it content thee that by me thou shalt not be betrayed,and go thy way in God's name and let me go mine; for I know thatwell-gotten gain may be lost, but ill-gotten gain is lost, itselfand its owner likewise."

"I will not press thee, Sancho," said Ricote; "but tell me, wertthou in our village when my wife and daughter and brother-in-lawleft it?"

"I was so," said Sancho; "and I can tell thee thy daughter left itlooking so lovely that all the village turned out to see her, andeverybody said she was the fairest creature in the world. She weptas she went, and embraced all her friends and acquaintances andthose who came out to see her, and she begged them all to commendher to God and Our Lady his mother, and this in such a touching waythat it made me weep myself, though I'm not much given to tearscommonly; and, faith, many a one would have liked to hide her, or goout and carry her off on the road; but the fear of going against theking's command kept them back. The one who showed himself most movedwas Don Pedro Gregorio, the rich young heir thou knowest of, andthey say he was deep in love with her; and since she left he has notbeen seen in our village again, and we all suspect he has gone afterher to steal her away, but so far nothing has been heard of it."

"I always had a suspicion that gentleman had a passion for mydaughter," said Ricote; "but as I felt sure of my Ricota's virtue itgave me no uneasiness to know that he loved her; for thou must haveheard it said, Sancho, that the Morisco women seldom or never engagein amours with the old Christians; and my daughter, who I fancythought more of being a Christian than of lovemaking, would nottrouble herself about the attentions of this heir."

"God grant it," said Sancho, "for it would be a bad business forboth of them; but now let me be off, friend Ricote, for I want toreach where my master Don Quixote is to-night."

"God be with thee, brother Sancho," said Ricote; "my comrades arebeginning to stir, and it is time, too, for us to continue ourjourney;" and then they both embraced, and Sancho mounted Dapple,and Ricote leant upon his staff, and so they parted.

CHAPTER LVOF WHAT BEFELL SANCHO ON THE ROAD, AND OTHER THINGS THAT CANNOT BE SURPASSED

The length of time he delayed with Ricote prevented Sancho fromreaching the duke's castle that day, though he was within half aleague of it when night, somewhat dark and cloudy, overtook him. This,however, as it was summer time, did not give him much uneasiness,and he turned aside out of the road intending to wait for morning; buthis ill luck and hard fate so willed it that as he was searching aboutfor a place to make himself as comfortable as possible, he andDapple fell into a deep dark hole that lay among some very oldbuildings. As he fell he commended himself with all his heart toGod, fancying he was not going to stop until he reached the depthsof the bottomless pit; but it did not turn out so, for at littlemore than thrice a man's height Dapple touched bottom, and he foundhimself sitting on him without having received any hurt or damagewhatever. He felt himself all over and held his breath to trywhether he was quite sound or had a hole made in him anywhere, andfinding himself all right and whole and in perfect health he wasprofuse in his thanks to God our Lord for the mercy that had beenshown him, for he made sure he had been broken into a thousand pieces.He also felt along the sides of the pit with his hands to see if itwere possible to get out of it without help, but he found they werequite smooth and afforded no hold anywhere, at which he was greatlydistressed, especially when he heard how pathetically and dolefullyDapple was bemoaning himself, and no wonder he complained, nor wasit from ill-temper, for in truth he was not in a very good case."Alas," said Sancho, "what unexpected accidents happen at every stepto those who live in this miserable world! Who would have said thatone who saw himself yesterday sitting on a throne, governor of anisland, giving orders to his servants and his vassals, would seehimself to-day buried in a pit without a soul to help him, orservant or vassal to come to his relief? Here must we perish withhunger, my ass and myself, if indeed we don't die first, he of hisbruises and injuries, and I of grief and sorrow. At any rate I'llnot be as lucky as my master Don Quixote of La Mancha, when he wentdown into the cave of that enchanted Montesinos, where he found peopleto make more of him than if he had been in his own house; for it seemshe came in for a table laid out and a bed ready made. There he sawfair and pleasant visions, but here I'll see, I imagine, toads andadders. Unlucky wretch that I am, what an end my follies and fancieshave come to! They'll take up my bones out of this, when it isheaven's will that I'm found, picked clean, white and polished, and mygood Dapple's with them, and by that, perhaps, it will be found outwho we are, at least by such as have heard that Sancho Panza neverseparated from his ass, nor his ass from Sancho Panza. Unluckywretches, I say again, that our hard fate should not let us die in ourown country and among our own people, where if there was no help forour misfortune, at any rate there would be some one to grieve for itand to close our eyes as we passed away! O comrade and friend, how illhave I repaid thy faithful services! Forgive me, and entreatFortune, as well as thou canst, to deliver us out of this miserablestrait we are both in; and I promise to put a crown of laurel on thyhead, and make thee look like a poet laureate, and give thee doublefeeds."

In this strain did Sancho bewail himself, and his ass listened tohim, but answered him never a word, such was the distress andanguish the poor beast found himself in. At length, after a nightspent in bitter moanings and lamentations, day came, and by itslight Sancho perceived that it was wholly impossible to escape outof that pit without help, and he fell to bemoaning his fate anduttering loud shouts to find out if there was anyone within hearing;but all his shouting was only crying in the wilderness, for therewas not a soul anywhere in the neighbourhood to hear him, and thenat last he gave himself up for dead. Dapple was lying on his back, andSancho helped him to his feet, which he was scarcely able to keep; andthen taking a piece of bread out of his alforjas which had sharedtheir fortunes in the fall, he gave it to the ass, to whom it wasnot unwelcome, saying to him as if he understood him, "With breadall sorrows are less."

And now he perceived on one side of the pit a hole large enough toadmit a person if he stooped and squeezed himself into a smallcompass. Sancho made for it, and entered it by creeping, and foundit wide and spacious on the inside, which he was able to see as aray of sunlight that penetrated what might be called the roof showedit all plainly. He observed too that it opened and widened out intoanother spacious cavity; seeing which he made his way back to wherethe ass was, and with a stone began to pick away the clay from thehole until in a short time he had made room for the beast to passeasily, and this accomplished, taking him by the halter, heproceeded to traverse the cavern to see if there was any outlet at theother end. He advanced, sometimes in the dark, sometimes withoutlight, but never without fear; "God Almighty help me!" said he tohimself; "this that is a misadventure to me would make a goodadventure for my master Don Quixote. He would have been sure to takethese depths and dungeons for flowery gardens or the palaces ofGaliana, and would have counted upon issuing out of this darknessand imprisonment into some blooming meadow; but I, unlucky that Iam, hopeless and spiritless, expect at every step another pit deeperthan the first to open under my feet and swallow me up for good;'welcome evil, if thou comest alone.'"

In this way and with these reflections he seemed to himself tohave travelled rather more than half a league, when at last heperceived a dim light that looked like daylight and found its way inon one side, showing that this road, which appeared to him the road tothe other world, led to some opening.

Here Cide Hamete leaves him, and returns to Don Quixote, who in highspirits and satisfaction was looking forward to the day fixed forthe battle he was to fight with him who had robbed Dona Rodriguez'sdaughter of her honour, for whom he hoped to obtain satisfaction forthe wrong and injury shamefully done to her. It came to pass, then,that having sallied forth one morning to practise and exercise himselfin what he would have to do in the encounter he expected to findhimself engaged in the next day, as he was putting Rocinante throughhis paces or pressing him to the charge, he brought his feet soclose to a pit that but for reining him in tightly it would havebeen impossible for him to avoid falling into it. He pulled him up,however, without a fall, and coming a little closer examined thehole without dismounting; but as he was looking at it he heard loudcries proceeding from it, and by listening attentively was able tomake out that he who uttered them was saying, "Ho, above there! isthere any Christian that hears me, or any charitable gentleman thatwill take pity on a sinner buried alive, on an unfortunate disgovernedgovernor?"

It struck Don Quixote that it was the voice of Sancho Panza heheard, whereat he was taken aback and amazed, and raising his ownvoice as much as he could, he cried out, "Who is below there? Who isthat complaining?"

"Who should be here, or who should complain," was the answer, "butthe forlorn Sancho Panza, for his sins and for his ill-luck governorof the island of Barataria, squire that was to the famous knight DonQuixote of La Mancha?"

When Don Quixote heard this his amazement was redoubled and hisperturbation grew greater than ever, for it suggested itself to hismind that Sancho must be dead, and that his soul was in torment downthere; and carried away by this idea he exclaimed, "I conjure theeby everything that as a Catholic Christian I can conjure thee by, tellme who thou art; and if thou art a soul in torment, tell me whatthou wouldst have me do for thee; for as my profession is to giveaid and succour to those that need it in this world, it will alsoextend to aiding and succouring the distressed of the other, whocannot help themselves."

"In that case," answered the voice, "your worship who speaks to memust be my master Don Quixote of La Mancha; nay, from the tone ofthe voice it is plain it can be nobody else."

"Don Quixote I am," replied Don Quixote, "he whose profession itis to aid and succour the living and the dead in their necessities;wherefore tell me who thou art, for thou art keeping me in suspense;because, if thou art my squire Sancho Panza, and art dead, since thedevils have not carried thee off, and thou art by God's mercy inpurgatory, our holy mother the Roman Catholic Church hasintercessory means sufficient to release thee from the pains thouart in; and I for my part will plead with her to that end, so far asmy substance will go; without further delay, therefore, declarethyself, and tell me who thou art."

"By all that's good," was the answer, "and by the birth ofwhomsoever your worship chooses, I swear, Senor Don Quixote of LaMancha, that I am your squire Sancho Panza, and that I have never diedall my life; but that, having given up my government for reasonsthat would require more time to explain, I fell last night into thispit where I am now, and Dapple is witness and won't let me lie, formore by token he is here with me."

Title: Don Quixote
Author: Miqeul de Cervantes
Viewed 406861 times

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