1.There is a very amusing book，by a great Spanish writer，which tells the story of an old knightQuixote，and his trusty servant Sancho Panza.
2.At one time，as we are told in that book，Sancho was made ruler or judge of an island.Most people thought him stupid，and they were sure that he would make a great fool of himself now that he was made a judge.But Sancho was an honest man，with much common sense，as we shall soon see.
3.Two old men were one day brought before him.One of them carried a large staff in his hand.“My lord，”said the other，who had no staff，“some time ago I lent this man ten pieces of gold as a favour.I did not ask it back for a good while，lest it should trouble him.
4.”Now he refuses to pay me again，and says he does not owe me anything.He declaresthat he has returned the money I lent him.I pray your lordship，therefore，toquestion him；and if he will solemnly declare to you that he has paid me，I shall forgive him the debt .“5.”What say you to this，old gentleman with the staff ？“asked Sancho”.
6.Then the judge held down his rod.The man gave his cane to his accuserto hold，while he placed his right hand on the judge’s rod of justice，and declared that he had returned the man‘s gold into his own hands.
7.The judge then asked the other man what he had to say in reply.He made answer that he did not think his old friend would speak falsely to the judge，and that perhaps he himself had forgotten that the money had been repaid.
8.Then the other took his cane again，and turned to leave the court.Sancho，seeing the old man with the staff in such a hurry to get away，ordered him to be called back.
9.“Honest man，”said Sancho，“let me look at that cane a little；I have a use for it.”
“With all my heart，sir，”answered he.“Here it is！”With that he gave it to him.
10.Sancho took it and gave it to the other old man.“There，”said he，“go your way，for now you are paid.”
“How so，my lord？”cried the old man.“Do you judge this cane to be worth ten pieces of gold？”
11.“Certainly，”said the judge，“or else I am the greatest dunce in the world.”
Sancho then ordered the cane to be broken；and when this was done，out dropped the ten pieces of gold.
12.Then all the people round about were amazed ，and began to think that their judge was a very wise man after all.They could not see how he managed to find out about the gold that was hidden in the cane.Do you think it was by magic，or that it was just a lucky guess？
13.He had noticed that the debtor gave the staff to the other man while he declared that he had given him back the money into his own hands，but that after doing so he quickly took the cane back again.On thinking over the man’s words and acts，it came into his head that the money must be in the staff.