The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson for Boys and Girls

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"I have finished my story. The handwriting is not good because of the
ship's misconduct; thirty-one pages in ten days at sea is not bad. I am
not very well; bad food, bad air and hard work have brought me down.
But the spirits keep good. The voyage has been most interesting and will
make, if not a series of Pall Mall articles, at least the first part of
a new book. The last weight on me has been trying to keep notes for this
purpose. Indeed I have worked like a horse and am tired as a donkey. If
I should have to push on far by rail, I shall bring nothing but my fine
bones to port.

"Goodbye to you all. I suppose it is now late afternoon with you all
across the seas. What shall I find over here? I dare not wonder.--Ever
yours R.L.S."


As California was the goal he aimed for, in spite of his fatigue after
ten days of poor living and the sea, he determined to push on