16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
The decked part of the launch was divided
fore and aft into two long cuddies, each with
headroom enough to sit up; it was here that
Jack stretched out on a mattress over the grating
a little after the setting of the watch. Although
the forward part of the cuddy was
filled with canvas and cordage there was
plenty of room for him and according to his
life-long habit he fell asleep within minutes, in
spite of pain and anxiety. His neighbours in
the larboard cuddy, Johnson and young Ben
Vidal, did much the same. Johnson, a black
man from the Seven Dials, began telling Ben
about his triumph over the whoreson pinchfart
master-at-arms in Bellerophon when first he
went to sea, but his voice dwindled when he
found he had no hearer.
It had been laid down that they should be at
watch-and-watch, and a few minutes before
midnight Jack woke straight out of what had