16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
right, both admittedly majestic, indeed sublime,
but perhaps beyond all human measure,
at least to those who were sad, hungry and intolerably
dry; and it was not until their stark
plateau fell abruptly away, showing the green
valley of the Rimac far below, with Lima apparently
quite close at hand, sharply defined
by its walls, and in the other direction Callao,
the busy port, the dockyard and the exactly
squared town, that they came to sudden
cheerful life, calling out to one another 'There
is Lima, there is Callao, there is the ship, poor
thing' – for to their astonishment she was already
in the yard, stripped to the gant-line and
partially heaved down – 'And there,' cried
Sarah, pointing to the shipping along the
mole, 'there is the Franklin's handmaiden.'
'You mean tender,' said Emily.
'Jemmy Ducks says handmaiden,' replied
Sarah.