At these words Sancho turned his eyes asquint, and
in a still louder voice said, “Can it be your
worship has forgotten that I am not a knight, or do
you want me to end by vomiting up what bowels I have
left after last night? Keep your liquor in the
name of all the devils, and leave me to myself!”
and at one and the same instant he left off talking
and began drinking; but as at the first sup he perceived
it was water he did not care to go on with it, and
begged Maritornes to fetch him some wine, which she
did with right good will, and paid for it with her
own money; for indeed they say of her that, though
she was in that line of life, there was some faint
and distant resemblance to a Christian about her.
When Sancho had done drinking he dug his heels into
his ass, and the gate of the inn being thrown open
he passed out very well pleased at having paid nothing
and carried his point, though it had been at the expense
of his usual sureties, his shoulders. It is true
that the innkeeper detained his alforjas in payment
of what was owing to him, but Sancho took his departure
in such a flurry that he never missed them. The
innkeeper, as soon as he saw him off, wanted to bar
the gate close, but the blanketers would not agree
to it, for they were fellows who would not have cared
two farthings for Don Quixote, even had he been really
one of the knights-errant of the Round Table.
CHAPTER XVIII.
IN WHICH IS RELATED THE DISCOURSE SANCHO PANZA HELD WITH HIS MASTER, DON
QUIXOTE, AND OTHER ADVENTURES WORTH RELATING
Sancho reached his master so limp and faint that he
could not urge on his beast. When Don Quixote
saw the state he was in he said, “I have now
come to the conclusion, good Sancho, that this castle
or inn is beyond a doubt enchanted, because those
who have so atrociously diverted themselves with thee,
what can they be but phantoms or beings of another
world? and I hold this confirmed by having noticed
that when I was by the wall of the yard witnessing
the acts of thy sad tragedy, it was out of my power
to mount upon it, nor could I even dismount from Rocinante,
because they no doubt had me enchanted; for I swear
to thee by the faith of what I am that if I had been
able to climb up or dismount, I would have avenged
thee in such a way that those braggart thieves would
have remembered their freak for ever, even though
in so doing I knew that I contravened the laws of
chivalry, which, as I have often told thee, do not
permit a knight to lay hands on him who is not one,
save in case of urgent and great necessity in defence
of his own life and person.”
