16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
mate, and in former commissions as a
letter – or petition-writer (now there is
little occasion for either and our few illiterates
usually go to Mr Adams). But
he is not cordially liked. He has been
poor, miserably and visibly poor; now
he is by lower-deck standards rich; and
some suspect him of being overelevated.
But more than this it is known
– in a ship everything is known after the
first few thousand miles – that the Captain
is not very fond of him; and at sea
a captain's opinion is as important to his
crew as that of an absolute monarch to
his court. It is not that Jack has ever
treated him with the least disrespect, but
Martin's presence is a constraint upon
him; they have little to say to one another;
and in short Martin has not accomplished
the feat of making a friend