16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
he said, 'but then he seemed not to care. The
drawings were not very good, I guess. Monsieur
Audubon took little notice of them – said
they were not lively enough – and Monsieur
Cuvier never answered when my master sent
two or three he had touched up.'
'I should like to see some when we are at leisure;
but at present I still have a few patients
in the sick-berth. My engagements may take
me away from the ship, and until I have made
proper arrangements for them on shore I
should like to leave a man aboard to whom I
can send instructions. There are no longer any
urgent cases: it is a matter of changing dressings
and administering physic at stated intervals.
I have an excellent loblolly-boy, but although
he understands English quite well he
speaks little, and all the less in that he has a
severe stammer; and he can neither read nor
write. On the other hand he has a great gift