Adventures
John Buchan has long been one of my favourite authors. (Thanks, Mom, for introducing me to him!) I’ve recently been reading his Salute to Adventurers and I’ve enjoyed it greatly. The novel starts in Scotland, just before William of Orange took the throne of Great Britain, but our hero, Andrew Garvald, soon ends up in Virginia, getting deeper and deeper into adventure. Here’s a quotation, as Andrew heads off to meet a dangerous friend:
Once at Edinburgh College I had read the Latin tale of Apuleius, and the beginning stuck in my memory: “Thraciam ex negotio petebam” — “I was starting off for Thrace on business.” That was my case now. I was about to plunge into a wild world for no more startling causes than that I was a trader who wanted to save my pocket. It is to those who seek only peace and a quiet life that adventures fall; the homely merchant, jogging with his pack train, finds the enchanted forest and the sleeping princess; and Saul, busily searching for his father’s asses, stumbles upon a kingdom (p. 106).