16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
Stephen. 'If Castro has access to his papers,
my position is very nearly untenable.'
'I do not think you should feel anxious,' said
Gayongos. 'We did handsomely by Muñoz;
and quite apart from the presents he was
wholly on our side. I do not pretend that
handsome presents, or places in my concerns
for his nephew and natural sons, did not have
their effect on him, but he was not a weak unprincipled
man like this Castro, and he was
capable of taking decisive action in support of
his friends. The reports about our possible intervention
here – never taken very seriously in
Madrid, by the way – passed through his
hands in the first place and he virtually smothered
them: it was easy enough, since the then
Viceroy was about to leave, very ill, sick of the
country and everything to do with it. And when
the Surprise appeared – I mean when she
came in first without you – he went privately