16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
A criss-cross of lightning down over there:
then a low rumble, accompanied by a sharp
crack or two. Every man looked at his mate,
as Wilkins looked at his Captain. 'Perhaps,'
said Jack. 'The arms chests into the half-deck,
at all events.'
Minutes, indecisive minutes passed: the
cleaning of the deck resumed: a work of superogation,
if ever there was one. Wilkins sent
two more hands to the wheel, for the squall
astern was coming up fast in their wake. 'This
may well be the last,' said Jack, seeing a patch
of blue right overhead. He walked aft, leant
over the heaving taffrail and watched the
squall approach, as dark as well could be and
lit from within by innumerable flashes, like all
those that had passed over them that night.
The blue was utterly banished, the day darkened.
'Come up the sheets,' he called.
For the last quarter of a mile the squall was a