16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
in yet another traverse, the road now high up
on the steep side of the valley, with the stream
a great way below.
He met a few small scattered groups, Indians
coming down from the high pasture; and
presently the road climbed to a saddle where
the wind, a cold wind now, took them with
great force. Before crossing it he steered
Joselito into a less exposed hollow, where
travellers before him had lighted fires, burning
whatever little scrub they could find. Here, at
what he judged to be some five thousand feet,
he gave the mule his other loaf – no great
sacrifice, since anxiety of a vague, diffused
nature had eaten his own appetite – and put
on the poncho, a simple garment with no
sleeves, easier to manage than a cloak. The
sky was still a fine light blue above them, unclouded
here by dust; before him, when he
turned, stretched the foothills and the plain,