The Helmet of Mambrino 



I was grasping her hand and. she, 

 saying " Adios ! ", was asking the Vir- 

 gin to give me "a thousand years," 

 when Salazar said : 



"No, no! it is not yet 'Adios!' 

 This basin and bargain must be cer- 

 tified to by the ayuntamiento in a 

 document stamped with the seal of 

 the pueblo, and setting forth that 

 here in La Mancha itself was bought 

 this barber's basin." 



"Segurof" replied the woman, 

 who flung over her head a tattered 

 black shawl, tossing the end over 

 her left shoulder. We all walked, 

 Salazar and I leading our beasts, to 

 the door of the alcalderia. 



The group of loungers who sat 

 around the whitewashed wall of the 

 chamber of the ayuntamiento showed 

 no interest in our arrival. To our 

 story the secretary himself listened 

 with official indifference, sipped his 

 morning coffee, only occasionally 



3C 



