16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
sheets were hauled aft, the ship, jetting rainwater
from her scuppers, sailed on, accompanied
for some time by low cloud that thinned
and thinned and then quite suddenly revealed
high blue sunlit sky: a few minutes later the
sun himself heaved out of the lead-coloured
bank to larboard. This had indeed been the
last of the series: the Surprise sailed on after it,
directly in its track as it raced to the southeast,
covering a vast breadth of sea with its
darkness.
On and on, and now with the sun they could
clearly distinguish the squall's grim front from
its grey, thinner tail, followed by a stretch of
brilliant clarity: and at a given moment the
foremast lookout's screaming hail 'Sail ho!
Two sail of ships on the starboard bow. On
deck, there, two sails of ships on the starboard
bow' brought no news, for they were already
hull up as the darkness passed over and be-