16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
up to the very edge of shivering, falling off just
that much and sending her fast through the
coming sea. The launch was as responsive as
a well-mannered, spirited horse; it was beamy
and stiff enough for this kind of weather; and
well before nightfall they had sunk the Franklin's
topsails in the west.
When Jack Aubrey was strongly moved he
seemed to grow taller and broadershouldered,
while without the slightest affectation
or morosity his ordinarily good-humoured
expression became remote. Killick was not
easily put down: ordinary fits of anger over
dropped bottles, inept orders from Whitehall
or the flag left him totally unmoved, so did reproach
and even abuse, but this rare, particular
gravity intimidated him and when he
dressed leg, eye and scalp that evening he did
so with no more words than were necessary,
and those uttered meekly.