16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
– a useless investigation, heart split, spinal
cord severed – Stephen was met with the news
that Martin had been taken ill. He dabbled his
hands in a bucket of sea-water and hurried
below. In spite of the activity on deck the gunroom
was an example of the inevitably promiscuous
nature of life at sea, with two anxious-looking
officers sitting at the table with
biscuit and mugs of soup in front of them, the
cook standing at the door with the bill of fare
in his hand and the grizzle-bearded lady of the
gunroom at his side, all of them listening with
concern to Martin's groans and stifled exclamations
in the quarter-gallery, or rather the
nasty little enclosure just aft by the bread-bins
that served the gunroom for a quarter-gallery
or house of ease, the deck being too low for
anything more luxurious than a bucket.
Eventually he came out, fumbling at his
clothes, looking inhuman; he staggered to his