"Alexander Green - The ships in Liss" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Alexander)

some blockhead. Save the Marianne."
"You mean the privateer, do you?" asked Bitt-Boy. "I saw him. A short
tale, lads, is better than long interrogations. Here's the story; yesterday I
took a yawl in Zurbagan and sailed to Liss; it was a dark night. I'd heard
about the privateers; therefore I stole along the shore behind the rocks,
where the cliffs are overgrown with moss. I was protected by their colour.
Twice the search light of an unfriendly cruiser passed by me; the third
time something made me lower the sail. In an instant... the yawl and I
were illuminated like a fly on a plate. Because of the rocks, the shadows,
the moss, and the clefts, I couldn't be distinguished from the emptiness,
but had I not lowered the sail.... And so Bitt-Boy got here safe and sound.
Renior, do you remember the firm Heaven and Co.? It sells tight shoes
with nails driven right through; I bought a pair yesterday, and now my
heels are all bloody."
"Aye-aye, Bitt-Boy," said Renior, "but you're a courageous person.
Bitt-Boy, pilot my President, if you were married...."
 "No, the Hermit," declared Chinchar. "I know you, Bitt-Boy. I'm rich
now."
"Why not the Aramea?" asked the stern Estamp. "I'm prepared to
defend my right to leave with a knife. With Bitt-Boy it's a sure thing."
The young pilot was about to say something else when he suddenly
became grimly serious. With his chin propped on his small hand he looked
at the captains, quietly smiled with his eyes, and, out of consideration for
the mood of others, got control over himself. He took a drink, tossed up
the empty glass, caught it, lit a cigarette, and said:
"I thank you; I thank you for your kind words, for your confidence in my
luck.... I do not seek it. I can't give you my answer now; that is, a definite
one. There is a certain circumstance.
"Although I've already spent all the money I earned in the spring,
nonetheless.... Besides, how can I choose among you? Duke?... Oh, dear old
fellow! One would have to be near-sighted not to see your secret tears for
wide-open space and your desire to tell everyone: 'Watch me do it!' The
sea agrees with you, old fellow, as it does with me; I like you, Duke. And
you, Estamp? Who hid me from the foolish Sepoys in Bombay when I
saved the rajah's pearls? I also like Estamp; he has a warm spot in his
heart. Renior lived at my place for two months, and when I broke a leg his
wife fed me for half a year. And you, 'I know you', Chinchar, you inveterate
sinner, how you cried in church over a meeting with an old woman.... You
had been separated by twenty years and unintentional bloodshed. I've had
a drink and I'm jabbering, captains; I like all of you. The privateer, to be
sure, is no joking matter, but how can I make a choice? I can't even
imagine."
"Lots," said Estamp.
"Lots! Lots!" the table began to shout. Bitt-Boy looked around. People
had long since moved in from the corners and were following the
conversation; many elbows rested on the table, and behind those who were
close others stood and listened. Then Bitt-Boy's glance passed to the
window, beyond which the harbour was shining serenely. The evening,
giving off vapours, descended on the water. With a glance Bitt-Boy asked
the mysterious Felicity about something comprehensible only to himself