16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
sails and courses. Which I saw them clear before
the fog closed in.'
Time passed. The intently listening silence on
deck was broken by two bells: no one heard
the steady heave of the south-western swell at
all. In these latitudes a sea-fog could resist
almost any amount of wind, being bred from
the surface itself; yet the wind could tear gaps
in it, and the wind did so just as the cold was
beginning to pinch Jack Aubrey's nose and
ears. Three miles to the north-east he saw the
two ships, their sails white against the black islands
of Diego Ramírez: three to four hundred
tons, bluff-bowed, broad in the beam. Stout
merchantmen, no doubt, capable of cramming
a great deal into their hold: but surely
very, very slow.
With his glass to his good eye he studied the
nearest: she seemed to be getting ready to
change course, bringing the wind on to her