16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
somewhat veiled, with the Rimac running
through it to the immense Pacific, the coastline
as clear as a map, and the island of San
Lorenzo, beyond Callao, rising sharply from it,
with the sun directly beyond, two hours from
the somewhat blurred horizon. No ships in the
offing that he could see, but below him on the
road, no great way off, there was a party of
horsemen, quite a large party, bound no
doubt for the monastery of San Pedro or that
of San Pablo, both of them in the mountains
far ahead and both of them frequented for retreats,
particularly by soldiers.
The poncho was a comfort; so was the way
the road went down after they had crossed the
saddle to a new valley with higher, farther
mountains rising beyond, range after range.
But this did not last long. Soon it began to rise
once more and they climbed steadily mile after
mile, sometimes so steeply that Stephen