16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
'Pretty well, I thank you. The American is ten
miles astern, and I do not think he can possibly
come within range before nightfall. Allow
me to give you a piece of this fish, a cousin to
the cod, it seems.'
'They tell me we have lost a mast. Will this
impede our progress to any fatal degree – will
it reduce our pace by say a third?'
'I hope not. When we are sailing large the
mizen makes surprisingly little difference; and
less than you might think close-hauled. With a
side-wind the balance would be upset and she
would fall off sadly: I should not like to be
chased by a herring-buss in the open ocean
with a strong side wind. But I hope that the
westerlies or south-westerlies will go on blowing
until some lingering notion of responsibility
makes the captain of that frigate turn back to
his convoy.'