said that in order to go to the kingdom of Micomicon, they had to
take the road to Cartagena, where they would embark on a ship. That, he
said, would take them through his own village, and from there it was a
journey of nine years to Micomicon. Here the Princess corrected him,
saying that it had taken her only two years to make the journey here,
in quest of the noble and famous knight who had now sworn to restore
her kingdom to her.

Don Quixote at this moment happened to observe the light attire of the
curate, and was curious to know the reason for it. Whereupon the
curate (having learned of the incident through Sancho) related how he
and Master Nicholas, on their way to Seville, had been held up by a
gang of liberated galley-slaves. These criminals, it was said, had
been set free by a man on horseback, as brave as he was bold, for he
had fought off all the guards, single-handed. The curate criticized
this man heartlessly, called him a knave and a criminal for having set
himself against law and order and his king, and expressed a belief
that he could not have been in his right mind. The Holy Brotherhood,
he said further, was searching for him now, and he himself was afraid
that the man's soul would be lost. He finished his story by calling
upon the Lord to pardon this unregenerate being who had taken away the
galley-slaves from the punishment that had been meted out to them by
justice.

Don Quixote seemed to take the curate's sermon to heart, and bent his
head humbly, not daring to admit that he was the culprit, and not
knowing that the curate knew it.

CHAPTER XXX

WHICH TREATS OF THE ADDRESS DISPLAYED BY THE FAIR DOROTHEA,
WITH OTHER MATTERS, PLEASANT AND AMUSING

When Sancho heard the harsh sermon of the curate, he, being a good
Christian, became afraid that his own soul might be lost too; for was
he not an accomplice? So he confessed then and there his own and his
master's guilt, much to the shame and anger of Don Quixote. The
Princess was quick to sense the danger, and she calmed our hero before
his anger had risen to any great height, by reminding him of his
promise, and how he had sworn to engage in no conflict of any kind
until her kingdom had been saved. He answered her with infinite
courtesy and expressed his regrets for having let his anger get the
better of him; he would stand by his word. Then he asked her to tell
him all that she could about herself and her kingdom. She would
willingly do