16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
recalled his motions with that singular clarity
which comes with certain degrees of tiredness
and in some dreams. He could feel the vibration
of his trephine cutting through the injured
skull, an operation he had carried out many,
many times without failure, the raising of the
disk of bone, the flow of extravasated blood.
They were both far away in their reflexions
and Stephen had almost forgotten that he was
not alone when Martin, his eyes fixed on the
prize, said, 'You understand these things better
than I do, for sure: pray which do you think
the better purchase for a man in my position
and with my responsibilities, the Navy Fives or
South Sea stock?'
Stephen was called out only twice that night;
and his third sleep was of the most delicious
kind, changing, evolving, from something not
unlike coma to a consciousness of total re-