from this unexpected onslaught, they
shouted with all their might to Don Quixote to leave off spearing their
sheep, but, as he paid no heed to their warnings, they took out the
slings they carried with them, and whirling them round their heads let
fly large stones. Don Quixote, however, cared no more for the stones
than he had done for the cries, and galloped up and down wildly, calling
as he went:

'Proud Alifanfaron, where can I find you? I, a solitary knight,
challenge you to meet me in single combat, that I may avenge the wrongs
that you have done to the noble Pentapolin!' Doubtless the knight would
have said still more had not a stone hit him on his side at that very
moment, breaking two of his ribs. At first he thought he was dead, but,
recollecting the balsam which he kept in his wallet, he drank a draught
of it, although it was only intended to be laid on the outside of wounds
and bruises.

He was still in the act of swallowing it when another missile struck him
full on the face, and knocked out some of his teeth. He reeled in his
saddle from the blow, and then fell heavily to the ground.

The shepherds, frightened at what they had done, ran up to look at him,
and seeing him lying there senseless, drove quickly off the rest of
their flock, leaving the seven that Don Quixote had speared stretched
beside him.

Directly the shepherds had departed, Sancho Panza came down to look
after his master, and finding him bruised and bleeding, but not stunned,
he fell to reproaching him for his folly. But the knight only answered
that if the enemies around him seemed to bear the likeness of sheep, it
was only because they had been enchanted, and that their fellows now
marching along the road would soon regain their proper shape, and become
straight men and tall again.

Then, with Sancho's help, he mounted Rozinante, and the two rode slowly
along the road, hoping that they might shortly discover an inn, where
they could get food and rest.

_THE ADVENTURE OF THE BOBBING LIGHTS_

Both Rozinante and his master had fared so ill at the hands of the
shepherds that they journeyed but slowly, and darkness fell without
their having reached an inn, or even caught sight of one. This grieved
sorely both knight and squire, for not only did all Don Quixote's bones
ache from the stoning he had undergone, but somehow or other their
wallets had been also lost, and it was many hours since they had broken
their fast.

In this