train himself against any such rash
impulse in the case of members of the knighthood. And Sancho Panza swore
that he would keep this precept as religiously as Sunday.

While our noble knight was thus instructing his squire, there appeared
on the road two friars of the order of St. Benedict. They were riding
mules; and behind them came a coach with an escort numbering nearly
half a dozen men on horseback and two men on foot. In the coach,
traveling in state, was a lady of Biscay, on her way to Seville.

What could this be except a plot of scheming magicians to steal away
some princess? The friars, innocently traveling by themselves, became
in Don Quixote's eyes a pair of evil magicians, and in his thirst for
adventure the nearer one assumed stupendous proportions.

"This will be worse than the windmills!" sighed Sancho, who tried in
vain to convince his master of the facts in the case.

But Don Quixote cut him short. "Thou knowest nothing of adventures,"
he said; and that settled it.

Boldly the knight went forward and took position in the middle of the
road.

"Devilish and unnatural beings!" he cried in a loud voice, "release
instantly the high-born princess whom you are carrying off by force in
this coach, else prepare to meet a speedy death as the just punishment
of your evil deeds!"

The mules came to a standstill, their ears erect with astonishment at
such a figure, and the friars gaped in wonder. At last they recovered
sufficiently to declare that they were traveling quite by themselves,
and had no knowledge of the identity of the travelers following behind
them.

To their meek reply Don Quixote paid no heed, but bellowed forth
furiously: "No soft words with me! I know you, you lying rabble!" And
with his spurs in Rocinante and his lance lifted he rode against the
two friars like a whirlwind, so that if one of them had not quickly
thrust himself off his mule, he would certainly have been torn to
shreds. The other one saved his skin by setting off across the country
at a speed rivaling our hero's charge.

At this stage Sancho Panza began to realize the full extent of his
position as squire to a successful knight. Over by the roadside he saw
the first friar lying breathless on the ground as a result of his
jumping off his mule in such amazing hurry. He proceeded to strip off
the friar's gown, using as a moral for doing this his own thoughts on
the subject. He reasoned that if he could not share in the hono