16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
where with the help of a northern chief and his
own powers of persuasion, he hoped to found
his colony. But the northern chief had misused
some British ships and seaman, and the Surprise,
sent to deal with the situation, destroyed
him in a short horrible battle immediately before
the Franklin sailed in from a cruise, a private
ship of war wearing American colours.
The chase had begun in what seemed another
world; now it was ending. As the crowded
boat rose and fell, traversing the last quarter
of a mile, Stephen derived some comfort from
the fact that during his earlier years in Paris he
had used the second half of his name,
Maturin y Domanova (Mathurin, spelt with an
h but pronounced without it, having ludicrous
associations with idiocy in the jargon of that
time) and from the reflexion that it was much
easier to feign stupidity than wisdom – although
it might be a mistake to know no