16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
ing back to the seaward end of the square. 'It
is shut. On the right hand,' he went on, holding
out his left, 'your worship has the Viceroy's
palace: it too is closed.'
They turned. In the middle of the square
three black and white vulturine scavengers
with a wingspan of about six feet were disputing
the dried remains of a cat. 'What do you
call those?' asked Stephen.
'Those?' replied his guide, looking at them
with narrowed eyes. 'Those are what we call
birds, your worship. And there, before
Joselito's warehouse, is the hospital itself.'
Stephen looked at it with some concern, a
low building with very small barred windows,
the flat mud roof barely a hand's reach from
the filthy ground. Prudent, no doubt in a country
so subject to earthquakes, but as a hospital
it left to be desired.