Sentence No. 140 · 14 August 2026
They dismounted together by the side of the spring, and with what the curate had provided himself with at the inn they appeased, though not very well, the keen appetite they all of them brought with them.
Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote
Miguel de Cervantes — Don Quixote (1605) · Read it at Project Gutenberg
What holds this sentence together
Notice how the comma-bracketed phrase 'though not very well' interrupts the main clause between its verb ('appeased') and object ('the keen appetite'). Spotting a parenthetical aside set off by commas helps you slot it correctly inside — not before or after — the clause it modifies.
How it appears in Sentle
On Sentle this sentence arrives in 8 pieces, shuffled, with the lines that lead up to it for context. Travellers pause beside a spring to share a modest meal. Putting it back in the author’s order is the puzzle — and the order is rarely arbitrary, which is what the note above is about.
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