16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
been joined or rather sought out by a noisy
talkative enthusiast who has already thrown
much discredit on them – I believe they will
slip out of the country – and who has almost
directly asserted that you are a British agent. It
is true that the Holy Office has taken him up
for some shocking blasphemies in the style of
Condorcet uttered in public, but Castro has
already seized upon the event to ingratiate
himself with the Viceroy. 'Heretical foreign
gold' he cries: he has had one small mob
bawling outside the British consulate and another
has broken the windows of the house
where the Frenchmen were staying. Until the
Viceroy comes back he can do no more, and
General Hurtado will probably knock him on
the head tomorrow – I mean reduce him to silence.
But the General is not to be found in
Lima, nor is he at his brother's: he is much
given to gallantry. We shall not see him until