o time for
parleying.'

This reply only confirmed Don Quixote's worst suspicions.

'Stop, or you are a dead man,' cried he in tones of thunder. 'Tell me
who you are and whither you are going, or else I will fight you all';
and with that he seized the mule by the bridle. The mule, not being used
to such rough treatment, reared herself up on her hind legs, so that her
rider slipped off her back. At this sight one of the other men ran to
his aid, calling the knight all the ill names he could think of, which
so inflamed the anger of Don Quixote that he laid about him with his
spear on every side. Even Rozinante seemed to have gotten a new spirit
as well as a new body, for he turned him about so nimbly that soon the
plain was covered with flying white men, still holding the bobbing
torches. The mourners who rode behind did not escape so easily, for
their long skirts and cloaks hindered them from moving, and Don Quixote
struck and beat them just as he would, till they took him to be a giant
or enchanter rather than a man.

Sancho, as was his custom, bore no part in the fray, but stood by and
said to himself: 'Had ever any man such a master!'

When Don Quixote's rage was somewhat abated, he paused and gazed about
him. Then, seeing a burning torch lying on the ground, and a figure near
it, he went up, and perceived by the light that it was the man whom he
had first attacked.

'Yield, or I will slay you!' he shouted, and the man answered grimly:

'I seem to have "yielded" as much as can be required of me, as my leg is
broken. If you are indeed a Christian knight, I pray you of your
nobility to spare my life, as I am a member of the Holy Church.'

'Who brought you here, then?' asked Don Quixote.

'Who? My ill fortune,' replied he. 'I and the eleven priests who have
fled with the torches set forth as escort to the body of the gentleman
that lies in the litter, bearing it to its tomb in the city of Segovia,
where he was born.'

'And who killed him?' said Don Quixote, who never imagined that any man
could die naturally.

'He died by reason of a most pestilent fever,' answered the wounded man.

'Then,' replied Don Quixote, 'I am delivered from the duty of avenging
his death, which would otherwise have fallen to me. For in case you are
ignorant, I would have you know that I am the knight Don Quixote de la
Mancha, and it is my place to wander through the world, helping those
that suffer wrongs and punishing those who infli