16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
great smile; he stamped upon the frozen deck,
and cried, 'He counted his chickens without his
host, by God! Ha, ha, ha!' for the big frigate
lay motionless, her sails brailed up; and she
was getting her boats over the side. 'On deck,
there,' hailed the lookout, one of the Surprise's
whale-men. 'Sir, she's gone down a lane in the
ice-field, a blind alley, like. A nothoroughfare,
ha, ha, ha. And she'll have to
tow back three miles into the wind's eye, oh
ha, ha, ha!' And in something of an undertone
to his mate at the foremast head, 'Oh, won't
he cop it, that poor bleeding sod of a lookout
of theirs, ha, ha!'
The distant ship fired a gun to leeward, sending
up a cloud of antarctic skuas from a dead
and drifting whale.
'The enemy has fired a leeward gun, sir, if
you please,' reported the signal midshipman.