16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
too big for a vicuña, and the wrong colour –
he is a guanaco, and a perfectly fair quarry for
you.'
Stephen's piece had one barrel loaded with
shot, the other with ball: he knelt, which enraged
the guanaco, took careful aim, and
fired. The animal, struck in the heart, gave a
great bound and disappeared, apparently collapsing
in the long grass.
'The first day we eat steaks, minced very fine,'
said Eduardo as they hurried up the slope.
'The next day, in the sun, his shoulders grow
quite tender.' Eduardo could be as cheerful as
any European, but it was clearly part of his
ancestral code to show no adverse emotion: a
Stoic calm. Yet now his look of eager expectation
changed to one of plain blank undisguised
dismay. The guanaco had in fact been
capering on the edge of a chasm and its convulsive
leap had carried it over.