es on account
of the three thousand three hundred. But Sancho was on his feet in an
instant, and began to grapple with his master, and he crushed his
emaciated body almost to flatness in his firm grip. Then he suddenly
let him loose and despatched him with a kick to no mean distance, and,
still pursuing his victim, he there sat upon him. Don Quixote managed
at last to gather all the breath that had not been squeezed out of him
by the combat, and supported by that he ejaculated in a hoarse
whisper:

"How now, traitor! Dost thou revolt against thy master and natural
lord? Dost thou rise against him who gives thee his bread?"

"I neither put down king, nor set up king," replied Sancho, himself
somewhat out of breath. And then he proceeded to dictate the peace
terms, and he extracted a promise from his natural lord never to try
to whip him again, neither awake nor asleep.

Then the victor disappeared in the grove and went to lie down against
a tree: but just as he had placed himself comfortably, he was
frightened almost to death by seeing two feet, with shoes and
stockings, dangling in the air above his head. He ran to another tree,
thinking he had been dreaming, and there he found a like apparition
haunting him. He began to scream aloud, calling upon his master for
help, and ran to search for him. Don Quixote asked him what had
frightened him, and the squire replied that all the trees were full of
feet and legs. Don Quixote calmly looked at the dead bodies in the
trees and told his squire that no doubt they were outlaws that had
been hanged by the authorities; and he took them to be a sign that
they were now close to Barcelona. They then lay down to rest for the
night.

When they awoke at dawn, they found themselves surrounded by a band of
men who turned out to be highwaymen. The band stripped them of all
they possessed, and were just about to search Sancho further for
money, when a swarthy-looking man in his thirties appeared, mounted on
a splendid horse and armed with many pistols. It was their captain,
and none other than the notorious Roque Guinart, a man who had taken
to the life of banditry and hold-ups because of having been wronged by
the authorities.

When the bandit captain observed what his men were about to do to Sancho,
he commanded them to stop, and to return everything they had taken away
from the knight and his squire. He asked Don Quixote why he looked so
dejected, and the knight responded that he w