16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
rate or not, so long as he was allowed to lie
down in peace for a while.
Jack considered for some moments and then
said, 'Well, sir, I must say you are an anomalous
kind of prisoner, rather like the creature
that was neither flesh nor fowl nor good red
herring but partook of each: the Sphinx. You
are a sort of owner, a sort of commander,
though absent from the muster-roll, and a sort
of what I can only call a pirate. I am not at all
sure what I ought to do with you. As you have
no commission I cannot treat you as an officer:
you cannot berth aft.' Another pause, during
which Dutourd closed his eyes. 'But fortunately
the Surprise is a roomy ship with a small
company, and right forward on the lower deck
we have made cabins for the gunner, the bosun
and the carpenter. There are still two to
spare and you shall have one of them. Since
you have no surviving officers you will have to