the same intention as the first and was about to
lay hands on the armor when Don Quixote, without uttering a word or
asking favor of any one, once more lifted his lance and dealt the fellow
two smart strokes, which made two cross gashes on his crown.

Meanwhile the alarm had been raised in the house, and the whole troop of
muleteers now came running to avenge their comrades. Seeing himself
threatened by a general assault, Don Quixote drew his sword, and
thrusting his arm into his shield cried: "Queen of Beauty, who givest
power and might to this feeble heart, now let thine eyes be turned upon
thy slave, who stands on the threshold of so great a peril."

His words were answered by the muleteers with a shower of stones, which
he kept off as well as he could with his shield. At the noise of the
fray the innkeeper came puffing up, and called upon the muleteers to
desist. "The man is mad," said he, "as I told you before, and the law
cannot touch him, though he should kill you all."

"Ha! art thou there, base and recreant knight?" shouted Don Quixote in a
voice of thunder. "Is this thy hospitality to knights-errant? 'Tis well
for thee that I have not yet received the order of knighthood, or I
would have paid thee home for this outrage. As to you, base and sordid
pack, I care not for you a straw. Come one, come all, and take the wages
of your folly and presumption."

His tones were so threatening, and his aspect was so formidable, that he
struck terror into the hearts of his assailants, who drew back and left
off throwing stones; and, after some further parley, he allowed them to
carry off the wounded, and returned with unruffled dignity to the vigil
of arms.

The landlord was now thoroughly tired of his guest's wild antics, and,
resolving to make an end of the business, lest worse should come of it,
he went up to Don Quixote and asked pardon for the violence of that
low-born rabble, who had acted, he said, without his knowledge, and had
been properly chastised for their temerity. He added that the ceremony
of conferring knighthood might be performed in any place, and that two
hours sufficed for the vigil of arms, so that Don Quixote had fulfilled
this part of his duty twice over, as he had now been watching for double
that time.

All this was firmly believed by Don Quixote, and he requested that he
might be made a knight without further delay; for if, he said, he were
attacked again, after receiving the order of chivalr