ROZINANTE 1 75 



windmills in the fields before them. To his crazed 

 fancy each one of these mills seemed to be a giant 

 stretching his long white arms toward the sky. 



" Ah ! how lucky ! " he cried. " Now we shall 

 have a combat worthy of our steel, and we'll 

 put an end to the whole cursed race of giants." 



" I see no giants," said the squire. 



" Then you must be blind ! " cried his master. 

 " Look at their white arms reaching out toward 

 us and daring us to the combat ! " 



" Pardon me, sir," said the squire; " but those 

 are windmills." 



But Don Quixote had already struck his heels 

 against Rozinante's sides and was speeding down 

 the hill with couched lance to do battle with his 

 long-armed enemies. 



" Stand, cowards ! " he cried, as he came within 

 speaking distance of the first windmill. " Stand 

 your ground, and fly not basely from a single 

 knight, who comes to meet you all in deadly 

 combat ! " 



At that moment the wind arose, and the mill 

 sails began to go around quite rapidly, as if dar- 

 ing the mad knight to attack them. Don Quixote 

 became all the braver at this sign of defiance. 

 He covered himself with his shield, and with his 



