The Thirty-Nine Steps

by John Buchan

It struck me that Albania was the sort of place that might keep a man from yawning.

I gave half-a-crown to a beggar because I saw him yawn; he was a fellow-sufferer.

I think he was the bravest man in the world, for he was always shivering with fright, and yet nothing would choke him off. I had a letter from him on the 31st of May.'

There seemed only one thing to do—go forward as if I had no doubts, and if I was going to make a fool of myself to do it handsomely.