he told his
master he had never seen so many feet in his life. A troop of horsemen
in extravagant liveries rode past them, where they were standing, and
suddenly Don Quixote was startled by hearing some one call out in a
loud voice: "Welcome to our city, mirror, beacon, star and cynosure of
all knight-errantry in its widest extent! Welcome, I say, valiant Don
Quixote of La Mancha! Not the false, the fictitious, the apocryphal
one, but the true, the legitimate, the real one that Cid Hamet
Benengeli, flower of historians, has described to us!"

Don Quixote felt flattered by the attention he suddenly attracted, for
all eyes had turned to gaze upon his lean and queer person; although
it may be said here, in confidence, that the man who had recognized
the hero was no other than the one to whom the rogue Roque had
written. The cavalier divulged his identity to Don Quixote, and begged
him politely to accept his services while in Barcelona; and Don
Quixote replied with as much courtesy that he would follow him
wherever he pleased and be entirely at his disposal. Then the
horsemen closed in around him and they set out for the center of the
city, to the music of a gay tune played by the clarions and drums.

The Devil, however, was not asleep. He put temptation into the hearts
of some street urchins, who stole their way into the close proximity
of Rocinante's and Dapple's hindquarters, and there deposited a bunch
of furze under their tails, with the fatal result that their riders
were flung headlong into the crowd. Our proud hero, covered with dust
and shame, pulled himself together and went to pick the flowers from
the tail of his hack, while Sancho extracted the cause of Dapple's
capers from his own mount. Then they mounted again, the music
continued to play, and soon they found themselves at a large and
impressive house, which they learned was occupied by the cavalier, who
was a friend of Roque's.

CHAPTER LXII

WHICH DEALS WITH THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENCHANTED HEAD,
TOGETHER WITH OTHER TRIVIAL MATTERS WHICH CANNOT BE LEFT UNTOLD

The cavalier turned out to be one Don Antonio Moreno, a gentleman with
a great sense of humor, well read and rich. As soon as Don Quixote had
entered the house, Don Antonio persuaded him to discard the suit of
armor; then he took him out on the balcony, where he at once attracted
all the boys in the street and crowds of people, who gazed at him as
if he had been a monkey. The cavaliers pa