16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
my patients and have their clothes washed at
last?'
'Well, I suppose you may have a little for
sponging them – a very small bowl would be
enough, I am sure – but as for washing
clothes – washing clothes, good Lord! That
would be a most shocking expenditure, you
know. Salt does herrings no harm, nor lobsters;
and my shirt has not been washed in
fresh water since Heaven knows how long. It is
like coarse emery-paper. No. Let us wait for
the rain: have you looked at the glass?'
'I have not.'
'It began dropping in the first dog. It has already
reached twenty-nine inches and it is still
falling: look at the meniscus. And the wind is
hauling aft. If the rain don't come down in
great black squalls tonight or tomorrow, you
shall have one of these hogsheads – well, half