16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
ardo, pointing to a tunnel and a spoil-heap.
'Or an attempt at a mine.' Stephen nodded.
They had passed no mountain, however bare,
remote, waterless and inaccessible, without
the mark of men having been there, searching
for gold, silver, copper, cinnabar or even tin.
He said nothing. His heart was already beating
so as to fill his bosom, leaving no room
for breath. He reached the top, but only just,
and stood there controlling or trying to control
his violent gasps while Eduardo named the
great shining snowy peaks that soared on either
hand and in front, all rising like islands
from an orange belt of cloud, one behind the
other, brilliant in the cold transparent air.
'Now,' he said, turning to Stephen, 'I believe I
shall take your breath away.'
Stephen gave a weak, mechanical smile and
followed him carefully over the tufts of coarse
yellow grass. Trees had been left behind long,