16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
mast and abaft; and although no one was so
simple as to confuse these two quite separate
ideas, the hypothetical prizes far to the south
tended to glow with an additional and quite
charming lustre, in spite of the fact that almost
every man aboard was already richer than he
had ever been in his life from the earlier captures,
and that neither the frigate's captain nor
her surgeon really needed any more at all.
'There is something profoundly discreditable
about this delight in taking other men's property
away from them by force,' observed
Stephen, tuning his long neglected 'cello, 'taking
it away openly, legally, and being praised,
caressed and even decorated for doing so. I
quell, or attempt to quell, the feeling every
time it rises in my bosom; which it does quite
often.'
'Pray pass the rosin,' said Jack; and before
dashing away into the allegro vivace of their