y all saw that he
was determined to meet with the lions in combat, they began to pick up
their belongings and run away into safety. Sancho and the gentleman
made still another attempt to bring him to his senses, but all their
pleas were in vain. Sancho left his master with the tears falling down
his cheeks, and Don Quixote ordered the gentleman to speed away on his
flea-bitten mare as fast as he could, if he was afraid to be bitten by
the lions.

Then Don Quixote decided it might be better to fight on foot, as he
was afraid that his Rocinante might be frightened on seeing the
beasts; so, sword in hand, he bravely advanced towards the cage. The
keeper timidly opened the doors of the first cage, and a male lion of
tremendous size, stretching himself leisurely, put his claws through
the opening; then he yawned sleepily, and after some deliberation
began to lick his eyes and face with his long, fierce tongue. Having
thus washed his dirty face, he put his head out of the cage and stood
gazing into space with a ferocious look in his eyes, which resembled
glowing coals. Not even seeming surprised at the sight of the valiant
knight, he then had the audacity to turn his back on our hero, and
calmly and proudly lay down, with his hindquarters under Don Quixote's
very nose.

Such unheard-of scorn angered the knight, who commanded the keeper to
take a stick and poke the beast out of the cage; but here he met with
unyielding obstinacy, for this the man refused to do under any
circumstances, saying that the first one to be chewed to pieces, if he
did that, would be himself. Then he began to praise and flatter Don
Quixote's courage which, he said, by this feat had been unequaled in
the world. His adversary the lion, he said, had proven by his very
action that he considered Don Quixote a superior foe; and when the
keeper promised to give Don Quixote a certificate to the effect that
the lion had been challenged in true knight errant fashion and refused
to give battle, Don Quixote was soothed, and bade the keeper shut the
doors to the cage and recall the fugitives that they might hear from
the keeper's lips the true account of his remarkable achievement.

The first thing Don Quixote did when Sancho had joined him was to
order him to give two gold crowns to the driver and the keeper for
lost time; but before Sancho carried out his master's command he was
anxious to know whether the lions were dead or alive. Whereupon the
keeper relate