“In the service of God and the king I have been there for four years before now, and I know by this time what the biscuit and courbash are like,” replied Ginés; “and it is no great grievance to me to go back to them, for there I shall have time to finish my book; I have still many things left to say, and in the galleys of Spain there is more than enough leisure; though I do not want much for what I have to write, for I have it by heart.”

“You seem a clever fellow,” said Don Quixote.

“And an unfortunate one,” replied Ginés, “for misfortune always persecutes good wit.”

“It persecutes rogues,” said the commissary.