16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
and to objective spectators like Maturin and
his assistant it was a pleasure to see the intense,
accurately-directed and almost silent
energy with which they worked, a highly skilled
crew of seamen who knew exactly what to do
and who were doing it with whole-hearted
zeal. The medicoes, having crawled from under
the foretopmast staysail, had gone below
to find Reade perfectly well, being fed with
sick-berth biscuit by the little girls; and now
they were watching the strenuous activity from
the quarterdeck, where the ordinary life of the
ship was going on in a sparse sort of way:
West, the officer of the watch, was at his station,
telescope under his arm; helmsmen and
quartermaster by the wheel.
'Turn the glass and strike the bell,' cried the
quartermaster in a loud official voice.
There was no one there of course to obey the
order so he turned the glass himself and