16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
obstinate gleets and poxes. In long, fairly quiet
passages these and scurvy were the medical
man's daily fare; but whereas Stephen could
oblige the seamen to avoid scurvy by drinking
lemon-juice in their grog, no power on earth
could prevent them from hurrying to bawdyhouses
as soon as they were ashore. These
cases he treated with calomel and guaiacum,
and it was usual for the draughts to be prepared
by Martin: Stephen was not satisfied
with the progress of two of his patients and he
had resolved upon dosing them in the far
more radical Viennese manner when he saw a
beetle on the deck just this side of the halfopen
door, clear in the light of the dispensary
lantern, a yellow beetle. A longicorn of
course, but what longicorn? An active longicorn,
in any event. He dropped on to his
hands and knees and crept silently towards it:
with the beetle in his handkerchief, he looked