earn the extent of
the damage done in that region of his body, his heart was touched by
the terrible devastation there. He could not, of course, leave his
master to shift for himself on the highways in such a condition. So he
consented to remain, and they proceeded along the road, hoping that
they would soon come to a place where they could find shelter for the
night, as well as something with which to still their hunger.

CHAPTER XIX

OF THE SHREWD DISCOURSE WHICH SANCHO HELD WITH HIS MASTER,
AND OF THE ADVENTURE THAT BEFELL HIM WITH A DEAD BODY,
TOGETHER WITH OTHER NOTABLE OCCURRENCES

Night had fallen, yet they had discovered no place of refuge.
Suddenly, in the darkness, they saw a number of lights that came
closer and closer without their being able to make out what it was.
Sancho commenced to shake like a leaf, and even Don Quixote was
frightened and muttered a paternoster between his teeth while his hair
stood on end. They withdrew to the roadside, from where they soon
distinguished twenty bodies on horseback, all dressed in white shirts,
and carrying lighted torches in their hands. With chattering teeth
Sancho stared at this awe-inspiring procession, which was not yet at
an end, for behind the mounted bodies there came others, these in
black and on mule-back, and surrounding a bier, covered with a large
black cloth. All the while a quiet, solemn mumbling came from the
moving figures, and Sancho Panza was now so stricken with fear that he
was almost paralyzed.

Don Quixote's courage--which likewise had been rather shaky at this
passing of ghostlike beings, at such a time of the night--suddenly
revived and mounted to such heights that he decided he would ask where
they were carrying the wounded king on the bier. This he did without
delay. But such a question seemed silly and out of place to one of
the guardians of the corpse, and he commanded the knight to move on.
This angered Don Quixote beyond measure. He seized the man's mule by
the bridle; but this, in turn, annoyed the mule, which rose on its
hind legs and flung its rider to the ground. Another man came up to
Don Quixote and tried to talk reason to him, but to no avail, and in
the disturbance that followed the procession was soon scattered over
the fields and plains, with torches glimmering from all points like so
many eyes in the black night.

While our knight errant was lunging with his spear in all directions,
the meek followers of the dead