16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
green skiff. Leaning down he called, 'Norton.'
'Ho,' replied his friend. 'Be a decent cove for
once and send me up my glass.'
Norton, an invariably decent cove, did more
than that: he swarmed aloft like an ablebodied
baboon, begged Reade to shift over
and make room on his tiny foothold, unslung
the telescope and handed it over, all this with
no more gasping than if he had walked up
one pair of stairs. Reade using a telescope
from the masthead was a sight to turn a
landsman pale: he had to pull the tubes right
out, twist his one arm through the shrouds, set
the small end to his eye and bring all into focus
by a steady pressure. Norton was used to
it however and he only said, 'Let's have a go,
mate, when you've done: don't be all bloody
night.'
Reade's reply was a hail as loud as his breaking
voice could make it. 'On deck, there. On