16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
wholesale slaughter of the islanders. He was a
wealthy man, the Doctor told me, and I think
he owned the Franklin, but that was not clear:
at all events he had no letter of marque
though he or his skipper had preyed on our
whalers and strictly I should have carried him
back to England, where they would have
hanged him for piracy. I did not like him at all,
neither his ideas nor his manners – a confident
scrub, very much the foreigner. But he
did have some qualities; he was courageous
and he was good to his people; and it seemed
to me – Sam, the bottle stands by you – that
piracy where he was concerned was too much
like a lawyer's quibble, so I meant to put him
ashore here and let him go on parole. He was
what is ordinarily called a gentleman: an educated
man with money, at all events.' He set
about the cold roast beef, and when he had
filled their plates he went on, 'An educated