'I have also found the same portmanteau,' said the Goatherd, 'but I would never take it up nor approach it for fear some ill-luck should come upon me, or lest some one should accuse me of theft.'
'Tell me, my good fellow,' said Don Quixote, 'do you know who is the owner of these things?'
'All I can tell you is this,' said the Goatherd, 'that some six months ago, more or less, there arrived at one of our sheepfolds, some three leagues off, a young gentleman of comely presence mounted on that mule which lies dead there, and with the same saddle cushion and portmanteau that you have seen. He asked us which was the most hidden part of the mountain, and we told him that this was, which is certainly true, for if you go a league further on perhaps you might not find your way out, and indeed I marvel how you found your way in so readily. As soon as the young man had heard our answer he turned his bridle and went towards the place we showed him, and made towards these mountains. After that we did not see him for a good many days, until one day, when one of our shepherds came by with provisions, he attacked him and beat him, and carried off all the bread and cheese that he carried, and then fled away back again to the mountains. When we heard of this, some of us goatherds went to look for him, and spent almost two days in the most solitary places in the mountains, and in the end found him lurking in the hollow part of a large cork-tree. He came out to us very meekly, his clothes torn and his face burned by the sun, so that we hardly knew him again. He saluted us courteously, and in a few civil words told us not to wonder at his condition, for he was working out a penance placed upon him for the sins he had committed. We begged him to tell us who he was, but he would not do so. We begged him also that when he had need of food he would tell us where we might find him, and we would willingly bring it to him, and told him there was no need to take it by force. He thanked us very much for our offer, and asked pardon for his violence, and promised in future to ask food of our shepherds without giving annoyance to any one. But even while he was speaking to us, he bit his lips and bent his brows, and it was clear some fit of madness was upon him, for he cried out: "O treacherous Fernando, here thou shalt pay me the injury thou didst me; these hands shall rend thy heart!" and many other wild and whirring words which he addressed to some Fernando. But at the same time he fell upon one of our goatherds, and we had no little trouble to get him away. Then without another word he fled to the briars and the brambles, where we could not follow him. By this we think that he has a madness which comes upon him at times, for sometimes he will take his food from our shepherds with courtesy and humanity, at others he seizes it by force, though they are ever willing to give it. We have thought to take him by force to the town of Almodavar, to see if he can be cured, or to find out if he has any relatives to whom we can restore him. This, Sirs, is all that I can tell you of what you have asked me, and for certain he it is who is the owner of the things you have found.'
Don Quixote was greatly amazed by what he had heard, and determined to search for him through the mountains, without leaving a corner or cave unsought until he had found him.
THE STORY OF CARDENIO
CHAPTER XV
The Story of Cardenio
Fortune favoured Don Quixote in his search for the strange owner of the portmanteau, for, even as he was speaking to the Goatherd, he appeared at that very instant through a gorge of the mountain, murmuring to himself words which one could not have understood near at hand, much less afar off. His clothes were such as have been described, only differing in this, that when he drew near, Don Quixote noticed that he wore a leather jerkin, which, though tattered and torn, was perfumed with amber. From this he guessed that the man who wore such garments was a person of quality. On coming towards them, the youth addressed them in a hoarse tone but with great courtesy, and Don Quixote returned his greetings with equal kindness, and, alighting from Rozinante, went to meet him, and clasping him in his arms, embraced him as though he had known him for a very long time.