is reason, or that fate ordained it so, it happened
that as he was riding down a steep and narrow lane, he ran against
another water-carrier's ass, which was coming, laden, up-hill; and, as
his own was fresh and lively and in good condition, the poor,
half-starved, jaded brute that was toiling up hill, was knocked down,
the pitchers were broken, and the water spilled. The driver of the
fallen ass, enraged by this disaster, immediately flew upon the
offender, and pommelled him soundly before poor Lope well knew where he
was. At last, his senses were roused with a vengeance, and seizing his
antagonist with both hands by the throat, he dashed him to the ground.
That was not all, for, unluckily, the man's head struck violently
against a stone; the wound was frightful, and bled so profusely, that
Lope thought he had killed him. Several other water-carriers who were on
their way to and from the river, seeing their comrade so maltreated,
seized Lope and held him fast, shouting, "Justice! justice! this
water-carrier has murdered a man." And all the while they beat and
thumped him lustily. Others ran to the fallen man, and found that his
skull was cracked, and that he was almost at the last gasp. The outcry
spread all up the hill, and to the Plaza del Carmen, where it reached
the ears of an alguazil, who flew to the spot with two police-runners.
They did not arrive a moment too soon, for they found Lope surrounded by
more than a score of water-carriers, who were basting his ribs at such a
rate that there was almost as much reason to fear for his life as that
of the wounded man. The alguazil took him out of their hands, delivered
him and his ass into those of his followers, had the wounded man laid
like a sack upon his own ass, and marched them all off to prison
attended by such a crowd that they could hardly make way through the
streets. The noise drew Tomas Pedro and his master to the door, and, to
their great surprise, they saw Asturiano led by in the gripe of two
police-runners, with his face all bloody. The landlord immediately
looked about for his ass, and saw it in the hands of another catchpoll,
who had joined the alguazil's party. He inquired the cause of these
captures, was told what had happened, and was sorely distressed on
account of his ass, fearing that he should lose it, or have to pay more
for it than it was worth.

Tomas followed his comrade, but could not speak a single word to him,
such was the throng round th