Robert Louis Stevenson

“ We got across the ford without difficulty—there was no doubt about the matter, she was docility itself—and once on the other bank, where the road begins to mount through pine-woods, I took in my right hand the unhallowed staff, and with a quaking spirit applied it to the donkey. Modestine brisked up her pace for perhaps three steps, and then relapsed into her former minuet. Another application had the same effect, and so with the third. I am worthy the name of an Englishman, [1] and it goes against my conscience to lay my hand rudely on a female. ”

“ It had the air of being a road which should lead everywhere at the same time; and I was falling into something not unlike despair when I saw two figures stalking towards me over the stones. They walked one behind the other like tramps, but their pace was remarkable. The son led the way, a tall, ill-made, sombre, Scottish-looking man; the mother followed, all in her Sunday’s best, with an elegantly embroidered ribbon to her cap, and a new felt hat atop, and proffering, [12] as she strode along with kilted petticoats, a string of obscene and blasphemous oaths. ”

“ In this pleasant humour I came down the hill to where Goudetmap stands in a green end of a valley, with Château Beaufort opposite upon a rocky steep, and the stream, as clear as crystal, lying in a deep pool between them. Above and below, you may hear it wimpling over the stones, an amiable stripling of a river, which it seems absurd to call the Loire. On all sides, Goudet is shut in by mountains; rocky footpaths, practicable at best for donkeys, join it to the outer world of France ”

“ I must plainly content myself with the pack for Modestine, and take the following items for my own share of the portage: a cane, a quart-flask, a pilot-jacket heavily weighted in the pockets, two pounds of black bread, and an open basket full of meats and bottles. I believe I may say I am not devoid of greatness of soul ”

“ My shoulder was cut, so that it hurt sharply; my arm ached like toothache from perpetual beating; I gave up the lake and my design to camp, and asked for the auberge.
Notes ↑ Englishman .. Stevenson is Scottish, the allusion here may be sarcastic wit.↑ green tail-coat of the country .. [definition unknown - you can help] ↑ Et vous marchez comme ça! .. "And you walk like that!"↑ masonic word .. cryptic, secret.↑ Proot! .. According to Christopher MacLachlan "'Proot' is surely an Anglicized spelling of 'Proute', the singular imperative of the French verb prouter, 'to fart'. ”