16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
guise his state by saying as little as possible,
and that very carefully, and by directing his
breath down towards the deck. They dressed
his many places, Sarah with something less
than her habitual tenderness – she hated
drunkenness and her disapproval filled the little
cabin, making the bosun simper in a nervous,
placating manner – and when he was
bound up they parted, Sarah to go back to the
sick-berth and Stephen to call on Mr
Grainger, who had been brought down by a
musket-shot: the ball had followed one of
those strange indirect courses so unlike the
path of a rifle-bullet and after a prolonged
search Stephen had found it lodged, visibly
pulsating, just in contact with the subclavian
artery. The wound was healing prettily, and
Stephen congratulated Grainger on having
flesh as clean and sweet as a child's; yet although
the patient smiled and made a hand-