enough," quoth Peregil; "and in
sooth I cannot perceive why I should be facetious on the occasion, for
after all I am the greater loser of the two. Look for a moment at this
vile beast! May the lightning of heaven and the curses of all the saints
fall on him and his former master too;" and so saying he again
belaboured the sides of the unfortunate jackass, regretting that its
former master was not near enough to benefit by the energetic blows he
so liberally dealt out.

"A truce, fellow, with thy profane foolery," said Don Rodrigo; "it is
not seemly when the life of thy master is at stake. Prepare to give me a
full and circumstantial account of this iniquitous business, or by my
sword thou shalt severely rue the day thy master first bestrode a mule."

"Alack a-day," submissively rejoined the valet.--"You must know, Don
Rodrigo, that the mule is the cause of all this. When I returned from
church I was startled to see the inn thrown into the greatest
confusion. The reverend fat friar was running round the place bellowing
like a bull, calling for his noble mule, and vowing vengeance on the
profane thief, which unseemly appellation he was pleased to bestow upon
your honor."

"The friar must have been drunk," said Don Rodrigo, sneeringly; "why!
did he not perceive that I had left my steed in the stable, which I
think was sufficient security, till you could pay him the value of his
beggarly mule!"

"Sure enough he did perceive it, but when I proposed to pay him for his
loss, he demanded such an exorbitant price that it was out of my power
to comply therewith. In his opinion, the steed was no adequate
compensation for his mule; so to make matters even, and adjust the
affair amicably, he proposed that I should give up my horse into the
bargain, and then take this abominable ass as a present."

Peregil accompanied the epithet with another donation of his wonted
favors.

"Thou miserable sinner," said Don Rodrigo, "how couldst thou consent to
this nefarious arrangement?"

"Because I could not help it. Think you, Senor mio, I would have agreed
to such an extortion had it been in my power to avoid it? But your
precipitate flight gave me to understand that you had killed your
adversary. Any delay in the town might have been attended with danger,
backed as his reverence was by all the rabble of the inn."

Don Rodrigo was sensible of the force of this argument, and after
bestowing sundry anathemas on the cheating friar and th