st now."

Master Peter tapped his shoulder: the ape at once sprang on to it, and
putting its head at his ear, began to chatter--as apes do--for a
minute. Then it skipped down again, and immediately Master Peter ran
to Don Quixote and fell on his knees before him.

"O glorious restorer of knight-errantry!" he cried, "who can say
enough in praise of the great Don Quixote de la Mancha, the righter of
wrongs, the comfort of the afflicted and unhappy?"

Don Quixote was amazed at these words, for he was certain that he was
unknown to any one at the inn. He did not guess that Master Peter was
a clever rogue, who, before giving a performance, always made it his
business to find out about those who were likely to be looking on.

As for Sancho, he quaked with fear.

"And thou, honest Sancho," went on Master Peter, "the best squire to
the best knight in the world, be not unhappy about your wife. She is
well, and at this moment is dressing flax. By the same token, she has
at her left hand, to cheer her, a broken-mouthed jug of wine."

"That's like enough," said Sancho.

"Well," cried Don Quixote, "if I had not seen it with my own eyes,
nothing should have made me believe that apes have the gift of second
sight. I am in very truth the Don Quixote de la Mancha that this
wonderful animal has told you about."

But he was not quite pleased at the idea of the ape having such
powers, and taking Sancho aside he spoke to him seriously on the
subject.

While they spoke, the showman came to tell them that the puppet-show
was now ready to begin, and Don Quixote and Sancho went into the room
where it stood, with candles burning all round it. Master Peter got
inside in order to move the puppets, and a boy standing in front
explained what was going on.

The story that was acted by the puppets was that of a certain Don
Gayferos, who rescued his wife Melisendra from captivity by the Moors
in the city of Saragossa. Melisendra was imprisoned in the castle, and
the story goes that Don Gayferos, when riding past, in his search,
spied her on the balcony. Melisendra, with the help of a rope, lets
herself down to her husband, mounts behind him, and the two gallop
away from the city. But Melisendra's flight has been noticed, and the
city bells ring an alarm. The Moors rush out like angry wasps, start
in pursuit, and the capture and death of Don Gayferos and Melisendra
seem certain.

Don Quixote listened and looked with growing excitement and