were scratched until they could hardly
be recognized. They fought in the midst of the setting for the meal, and
plates and glasses were smashed and upset. Both were urged on like dogs
by the rest of the company, and soon blood began to flow. Finally Don
Quixote stumbled, and the goatherd managed to get him on his back, while
Sancho was held off by one of the canon's servants, moaning all the while
because he could not go to his master's rescue.

Just then a trumpet blew a solemn note, and all listened in surprise.
Don Quixote was all eagerness: there was no doubt in his mind but that
he was being summoned by one in distress, so he asked for and received
an hour's truce from the goatherd. As soon as he was on his feet, he
ran to Rocinante, whom he bridled in great haste, and set off, armed
with lance, buckler, sword and helmet, in the direction of the sound.

What Don Quixote saw when he had ridden a short distance at his
charger's usual comfortable canter was a procession of penitents, clad
in white, some of whom were carrying an image, draped in black. The
procession had been called for by the priests who desired to bring
relief to the country, which had been suffering that year from a
terrific heat and a lack of rain. They were now marching to a nearby
hermitage, where they wanted to do penance, praying in silence to God
that he might have pity on them.

But what could such a procession have suggested to an imaginative mind
like Don Quixote's but one of the many incidents that he had read of
in his books of chivalry, where some great and worthy lady was being
carried away by evil forces? To the knight the covered image easily
became the worthy lady. Violently kicking Rocinante in the sides, for
he had not had time to put on his spurs, he tried to increase his
steed's canter to a gallop that he might attack in real knight errant
fashion.

The faithful squire, the curate, the canon and the barber all did
their best to stop the knight by their yells. Sancho was frantic, and
cried after him: "Where are you going, Senor Don Quixote? What devils
have possessed you to set you against our Catholic faith? Plague take
me! It is a procession of penitents!" And then he asked him, filled
with horror and almost choking with tears, whether he knew what he was
doing. Why, he was charging the blessed image of the immaculate and
holy Virgin Mary! Sancho, seeing his master's lifted lance, could not
know that his master wanted to re