16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
them to their own satisfaction, and exchanging
a nod they dashed away into a duet which
they knew very well indeed, having played it
together these ten years and more, but in
which they always found something fresh,
some half-forgotten turn of phrase or of particular
felicity. They also added new pieces of
their own, small improvisations or repetitions,
each player in turn. They might have pleased
Corelli's ghost, as showing what power his
music still possessed for a later generation:
they certainly did not please Preserved Killick,
the Captain's steward. 'Yowl, yowl, yowl,' he
said to his mate on hearing the familiar
sounds. 'They are at it again. I have a mind to
put ratsbane in their toasted cheese.'
'It cannot go on much longer,' said Grimble.
'The cross-sea is getting up something cruel.'
It was true. The ship was cutting such extraordinary
capers that even Jack, a merman if