16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
sack of dried peas, set him on his feet and
told him 'that he should always keep one hand
for himself and the other for the ship'. But the
Doctor had flown down sideways, an ineffectual
snatch at the rail having turned him about
his vertical axis, so that Grainger caught him
with one iron hand on his spine and the other
on his upper belly, winding him to such an extent
that he could scarcely gasp out a word of
thanks. Then, when he had at last recovered
his breath and the power of speech, it was
found that his chair had to be made fast to
two ring-bolts to allow him to hold his 'cello
with anything like ease or even safety.
He had a Geronimo Amati at home, just as
Aubrey had a treasured Guarnieri, but they
travelled with rough old things that could put
up with extremes of temperature and humidity.
The rough old things always started the evening
horribly flat, but in time the players tuned