Sir Quixote of the Moors: being some account of an episode in the life of the Sieur de Rohaine is a short 1895 novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. It is Buchan's first novel, written when he was nineteen and an undergraduate at Glasgow University. Buchan's original title was Sir Quixote, and he was annoyed by the addition of "of the Moors" by his publisher.PlotJean de Rohaine, a French soldier and gentleman in his late 30s, has become impoverished through gaming. Recalling an invitation from an old Scottish friend, Quentin Kennedy, Rohaine travels to Galloway to stay with him. Rohaine enjoys Kennedy's boorish hospitality for a month but longs for some military action. He is pleased when Kennedy asks him to ride out with his dragoons to 'redd the marches' [sort out some local issues] on behalf of the King, but is horrified to find that this involves persecuting and butchering the local Covenanting cottagers. He leaves indignantly on horseback, and rides off in bad weather across the moors, becoming lost.Stumbling across a local inn, he stays the night and just manages to escape as he is about to be robbed and murdered by the innkeeper and a band of ruffians. As he continues across the moor his condition worsens and he eventually collapses, ill and exhausted, at the threshold of the manse of Lindean. He is taken in and cared for by Anne, daughter of the elderly minister Ephraim Lambert. She is betrothed to Henry Semple, a young laird also staying there who has been driven from his own nearby estate by the King's soldiers.A visitor arrives to warn Lambert and Semple that a warrant has been issued for their arrest after they were spotted at an illegal religious meeting. As arrest will mean almost certain death they need to flee immediately, and their only option is to hide out on the moors. Unable to take Anne with them, and unwilling to leave her unprotected, Semple extracts from a rather unwilling Rohaine his word of honour to remain in the house as her protector until the fugitives can return.As the weeks go by, Anne's bearing changes from reserved and sombre to become more open and light-hearted. Rohaine realises that she has fallen in love with him, and he with her, though they never speak of their feelings and he does nothing to betray his position of trust.Rohaine is informed that the authorities know of Lambert and Semple's hiding place, and he goes to warn them. Semple comes to the manse, concealing himself from Anne, and tells Rohaine that Lambert is near to death. Semple is wild-eyed, fanatical, and appears to have lost his reason.Rohaine spends a tormented night agonising over the conflict between his desire for Anne and his pledge to protect her for Semple. He ultimately decides that his oath prevents him from declaring his love, and that he must leave. In the morning, as he prepares to depart, she at last openly declares herself, but he is resolute. The novel ends with him riding away: "A fierce north wind met me in the teeth, and piercing through my tatters, sent a shiver to my very heart ..".John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, GCMG, GCVO, CH, PC (26 August 1875 - 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.