16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
wet clothes and bringing dry, even while a pot
of coffee was being brewed, Stephen examined
Jack Aubrey's wounds: the leg he passed
– an ugly scar, no more – and the eye he
gazed at without much comment, only saying
that he would need a better light. Then, as
they sat down to their fragrant cup, he went
on, 'Before I ask you how the ship sails along,
how you have done, and how all our people
are, will I tell you why I came out to meet you
in this precipitate and I might almost say temerarious
manner?'
'If you please.'
'I had reasons for not wishing to call any official
attention to the Surprise, but the chief
cause for my haste was that I have some information
that you might wish to act upon
without the loss of a minute.'
'Oh, indeed?' cried Jack, his good eye light-