16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
though this was approaching the austral midsummer,
the wind, blowing off the high Cordillera,
grew perishing cold to those who were
always dripping wet. Wet, and now hungry.
The unhappy Ben contrived not only to scrape
his shins to the bone but also to lose their precious
keg of oatmeal overboard; and on
Thursday their rations were cut by half.
When Jack announced this in a shout as they
huddled together in the starboard cuddy he
added the ritual 'Two upon four of us Thank
God there are no more of us,' and he was
pleased to see an answering smile upon those
worn, cruelly tired faces.
But there was no smile on Sunday, when at
dawn they heard the sea-lions quite close at
hand and realized that they had been driven
back for the seventh time by a wind that was
stronger still and even growing, a wind that
must have blown the Franklin and her prize