16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
lieve we must show her our royals.'
The Surprise's royals, which were set flying,
had already been bent to their yards, with the
halliards hitched to the slings and the starboard
arm stopped to them, the hands fidgeting
to be at it; but no man laid a finger on a
rope until Mr Grainger called, 'Now then, our
George, haul away,'and the long slim yards
fairly shot up through the rigging, up and up,
threading lengthways through a cat's-cradle of
cordage, up to the masthead, where the light
and nimble Abraham Dorkin cut the small stuff
stopping the yard to the halliards, swung it on
to the horizontal plane of the topgallant yard,
fixed it there with a becket, lashed the clews of
the sails, its lower corners, to the topgallant
yardarm, cast off the beckets, and cried, 'Wayoh!'
His cry almost exactly coincided with others
from the fore and mizen mastheads, and the