macho, he addressed them on the subject of love and war, and
held forth to them that all means to an end in these two games were
justifiable, as long as no disgrace was brought on the object of one's
love. Then he threatened to thrash any one who attempted to separate
whom God now had joined; and they were all awed by his resolute
language, not knowing who he was. Camacho showed that he was of good
mettle, however, for he invited all to remain and have a merry time,
and let the feast go on as if nothing had happened.

But Basilio was proud, and so were his friends, and they preferred to
withdraw to Basilio's village. They were accompanied by Don Quixote,
whom they had invited as a special guest of honor because of his stout
defense of Basilio; and Sancho, of course, had to trail along, much to
his disgust, for he had looked forward to stilling his hunger for days
to come on the remnants of the rich man's wedding-feast. As he was
rocking to and fro in his seat on his faithful Dapple, he was
contemplating with a surly and melancholy countenance a glorious, but
now past day.

CHAPTER XXII

WHEREIN IS RELATED THE GRAND ADVENTURE OF THE CAVE OF
MONTESINOS IN THE HEART OF LA MANCHA, WHICH THE VALIANT DON
QUIXOTE BROUGHT TO A HAPPY TERMINATION

Don Quixote and Sancho remained at the home of the newly married
couple for three days. Before the knight took leave of Basilio and
Quiteria, he discoursed at length on love and matrimony: a discourse
that Sancho seemed to take more to heart than they did, for when his
master had finished he was heard muttering that he wished he had had
such advice before marrying his wife.

"Is thy Teresa so bad then, Sancho?" asked Don Quixote.

"She is not very bad," replied the downtrodden squire, "but she is not
very good; at least she is not as good as I could wish."

"Thou dost wrong, Sancho, to speak ill of thy wife," admonished his
master; "for after all she is the mother of thy children."

And to this the squire answered: "We are quits, for she speaks ill of
me whenever she takes it into her head, especially when she is
jealous; and Satan himself could not put up with her then."

Having exchanged these thoughts with his squire, Don Quixote decided
it was time to take to the open again, and he begged one of the
students who had invited him to the wedding to find him a guide to
take him to the cave of Montesinos. The student provided him with a
cousin of his own, a young schol