John Buchan

Sir Quixote of the Moors John Buchan

I dropped wearily from my horse and stumbled forward to the door. 'Twas close shut, butrays of light came through the chinks at the foot, and the great light in the further windowlit up the ground for some yards. I knocked loudly with my sword-hilt. Stillness seemed toreign within, save that from some distant room a faint sound of men's voices was brought. A most savory smell stole out to the raw air and revived my hunger with hopes of supper. Again I knocked, this time rudely, and the door rattled on its hinges. This brought somesigns of life from within. I could hear a foot on the stone floor of a passage, a bustling as ofmany folk running hither and thither, and a great barking of a sheep-dog. Of a sudden thedoor was flung open, a warm blaze of light rushed forth, and I stood blinking before themaster of the house. He was a tall, grizzled man of maybe fifty years, thin, with a stoop in his back that all hill-folk have, and a face brown with sun and wind. I judged him fifty, but he may have beenyounger by ten years, for in that desert men age the speedier. His dress was dirty andragged in many places, and in one hand he carried a pistol, which he held before him as iffor protection. He stared at me for a second."Wha are ye that comes dirlin' here on sic a nicht?" said he, and I give his speech as Iremember it. As he uttered the words, he looked me keenly in the face, and I felt his thin, cold glance piercing to the roots of my thoughts. I liked the man ill, for, what with his leanfigure and sour countenance, he was far different from the jovial, well-groomed fellowswho will give you greeting at any wayside inn from Calais to Bordeaux."You ask a strange question, and one little needing answer. If a man has wandered forhours in bog-holes, he will be in no mind to stand chaffering at inn doors. I seek a night'slodging for my horse and myself.""It's little we can give you, for it's a bare, sinfu' land," said he, "but such as I ha'e ye'rewelcome to. Bide a minute, and I'll bring a licht to tak' ye to the stable.