own yourselves, or dash yourselves to pieces
among these wheels?"

"Did I not tell thee, Sancho," said Don Quixote at this, "that we had
reached the place where I am to show what the might of my arm can do?
See what ruffians and villains come out against me; see what monsters
oppose me; see what hideous countenances come to frighten us! You shall
soon see, scoundrels!" And then standing up in the boat he began in a
loud voice to hurl threats at the millers, exclaiming, "Ill-conditioned
and worse-counselled rabble, restore to liberty and freedom 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 Quixote of La Mancha,
otherwise called the Knight of the Lions, for whom, by the disposition
of Heaven above, it is reserved to give a happy issue to this
adventure;" and so saying he drew his sword and began making passes in
the air at the millers, who, hearing but not understanding all this
nonsense, strove to stop the boat, which was now getting into the
rushing channel of the wheels.

[Illustration: SANCHO FELL ON HIS KNEES]

Sancho, in very real despair, fell upon his knees devoutly appealing to
Heaven to deliver him from such imminent peril; which it did by the
activity and quickness of the millers, who, pushing against the boat
with their poles, stopped it, not, however, without upsetting it and
throwing Don Quixote and Sancho into the water; and lucky it was for Don
Quixote that he could swim like a goose, though the weight of his armor
carried him twice to the bottom; and had it not been for the millers,
who plunged in and hoisted them both out, it would have been Troy town
with the pair of them. As soon as, more drenched than thirsty, they were
landed, Sancho went down on his knees and with clasped hands and eyes
raised to heaven, prayed a long and fervent prayer to God to deliver him
evermore from the rash projects and attempts of his master.

The surprised fishermen, the owners of the boat, which the mill-wheels
had knocked to pieces, now came up, and seeing it smashed they proceeded
to strip Sancho and to demand payment for it from Don Quixote; but he
with great calmness, just as if nothing had happened to him, told the
millers and fishermen that he would pay for the bark most cheerfully, on
condition that they delivered up to him, free and unhurt, the person or
persons that were in durance in that castle of theirs.

"What persons or what