16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
'Then at least let me cut a patch out of the
flap of your hat, sir, so you can wear the two
together, like Lord Nelson, tied over your head
with a scarf, if it blows.'
It blew. The patch was barely on before the
making of it would have been impossible: the
voice of the wind in the rigging rose half an
octave in half an hour and the boat was flung
about with shocking violence. Most of that
night they were obliged to lie to under a storm
trysail and a scrap of the jib – a night of brilliant
moon, beaming over a sea white from
horizon to horizon.
Tomorrow it must blow out, they said; but it
did not. The days followed one another and
the nights, everything on the point of carrying
away, a perpetual series of crises; sometimes
they advanced until they were in sight of the
island guarding Callao and the cliffs: sometimes
they were beaten back; and presently,