_Of what befell Don Quixote at his entrance into Barcelona; with other
events more true than ingenious._
Three days and three nights Don Quixote sojourned with the great
Roque; and, had he remained with him three hundred years, in such a
mode of life he might still have found new matter for observation and
wonder. Here they sleep, there they eat; sometimes flying from they
know not what, at others lying in wait for they know not whom; often
forced to steal their nap standing, and every moment liable to be
roused. Roque passed the nights apart from his followers, making no
man privy to his lodgings: for the numerous proclamations which the
viceroy of Barcelona had published against him, setting a price upon
his head, kept him in continual apprehension of surprise, and even of
the treachery of his own followers; making his life irksome and
wretched beyond measure.
Roque, Don Quixote, and Sancho, attended by six squires, set out for
Barcelona; and taking the most secret and unfrequented ways, at night
reached the strand on the eve of St. John. Roque now embraced the
knight and the squire, giving to Sancho the promised ten crowns; and
thus they parted, with many friendly expressions and a thousand offers
of service on both sides.
Roque returned back, and Don Quixote remained there on horseback,
waiting for daybreak; and it was not long before the beautiful Aurora
appeared in the golden balconies of the east, cheering the flowery
fields, while, at the same time, the ears were regaled with the sound
of numerous kettle-drums and jingling morrice-bells, mixed with the
noise of horsemen coming out of the city. Aurora now retired, and the
glorious sun gradually rising, at length appeared broad as an ample
shield on the verge of the horizon. Don Quixote and Sancho now beheld
the sea, which, to them, was a wondrous novelty, and seemed so
boundless and so vast that the lakes of Ruydera, which they had seen
in La Mancha, could not be compared to it. They saw the galleys too,
lying at anchor near the shore, which, on removing their awnings,
appeared covered with flags and pennants all flickering in the wind,
and kissing the surface of the water. Within them was heard the sound
of trumpets, hautboys, and other martial instruments, that filled the
air with sweet and cheering harmony. Presently the vessels were put in
motion, and on the calm sea began a counterfeit engagement; at the
same time a numerous body of cavaliers in gorgeous liveries and nobly
mounted, issued from the city and performed corresponding movements on
shore. Cannon were discharged on board the galleys, which were
answered by those on the ramparts; and thus the air was rent by mimic
thunder. The cheerful sea, the serene sky, only now and then obscured
by the smoke of the artillery, seemed to exhilarate and gladden every
heart.
Sancho wondered that the bulky monsters which he saw moving on the
water should have so many legs; and while his master stood in silent
astonishment at the marvellous scene before him, the body of gay
cavaliers came galloping up towards him, shouting in the Moorish
manner; and one of them, the person to whom Roque had written, came
forward and said, "Welcome to our city, the mirror, the beacon, and
polar star of knight-errantry! Welcome, I say, O valorous Don Quixote
de la Mancha, not the spurious, the fictitious, the apocryphal one,
lately sent amongst us in lying histories, but the true, the
legitimate, the genuine Quixote of Cid Hamet Benengeli, the flower of
historians!" Don Quixote answered not a word; nor did the cavaliers
wait for any answer, but, wheeling round with all their followers,
they began to curvet in a circle about Don Quixote, who, turning to
Sancho, said, "These people seem to know us well, Sancho: I dare
engage they have read our history, and even that of the Arragonese
lately printed." The gentleman who spoke to Don Quixote again
addressed him, saying, "Be pleased, Signor Don Quixote, to accompany
us; for we are all the intimate and devoted friends of Roque Guinart."
To which Don Quixote replied, "If courtesy beget courtesy, yours, good
sir, springs from that of the great Roque; conduct me whither you
please, for I am wholly at your disposal." The gentleman answered in
expressions no less polite; and enclosing him in the midst of them,
they all proceeded to the sound of martial music towards the city,
until they reached their conductor's house, which was large and
handsome, declaring the owner to be a man of wealth and
consideration.