16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
night between,' he said, walking into the
cabin. 'We might almost be on dry land. But
tell me, Jack, will it never rain at all – hush. I
interrupt your calculations, I find.'
'What is twelve sixes?' asked Jack.
'Ninety-two,' said Stephen. 'My shirt is like a
cilice with the salt. I should wear it dirty and
reasonably soft, but that Killick takes it away –
he finds it out with a devilish ingenuity and
flings it into the sea-water tub and I am convinced
that he adds more salt from the brinetubs.'
'What is a cilice?'
'It is a penitential garment made of the
harshest cloth known to man and worn next
the skin by saints, hermits, and the more anxious
sinners.'
Jack returned to his figures and Stephen to
his disagreeable reflexions. 'What goeth be-