16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
Jack at the tiller, all hands leaning far out to
windward to balance the boat and the launch
tearing through the water at a pace somewhere
between nightmare and ecstasy. As they
passed under the lee of the island they heard
the sea-lions barking and young Ben laughed
aloud. 'You would laugh the other side of your
face, young fellow, if you could feel how this
God-damned tiller works with the strain,' said
Jack to himself, and he noticed that Plaice was
looking very grave indeed. Joe Plaice, he reflected,
must be close on sixty: much battered
in the wars.
And now at last the wind was working up an
ugly sea: the waves had no great fetch and
they were short and steep, growing rapidly
steeper, with their crests streaming off before
them. As soon as the boat was past the rock it
was clear that she could not go on under this
press of sail. The seamen looked aft: Jack