16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
huge enormous iron chains' – 'And four and
twenty twelve-pounders' – 'The merchants
paved two of the streets with silver ingots once'
– 'They weighed ten pounds apiece' – 'About a
foot long, four inches broad, and two or three
inches deep.'
He had nearly finished his meal when he felt
the mule's breath on the back of his neck: then
the long, smooth, large-eyed face came down
and delicately took the last piece of bread
from his knee, a crust. 'You are a sort of tame
mule, I find,' he said. And indeed the creature's
gentleness, the kind way in which he
stood to be saddled and his fine willing stride
gave Stephen a higher opinion of his owner,
the Vicar-General, an austere man in his ordinary
dealings. The mule's name was Joselito.
Stephen mounted: out of the grove there was
more wind now, more wind by far, right in
their faces, and the road climbed, winding