The Master Mariner by Nicholas Monsarrat

Author:Nicholas Monsarrat
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Master Mariner
ISBN: 9780755131655
Publisher: House of Stratus
Published: 2012-05-18T04:00:00+00:00

On a certain joyful morning which was – unknown to these outcast souls – the Feast of Saint George of England, Matthew and the boy awoke to the same sound. It was a fretful sound, a puzzle, and then a summons as loud as if some great clapper-bell had burst into clamour above their heads.

Yet it was the most gentle tune in nature. What had wakened them was the primal song of the earth: the first shy notes of the music of spring: the melody of melting snow dripping down from the eaves of their hut and falling at last on yielding ground.

They had lived to hear it! It could not yet fill their bellies, but it charged their hearts to wildness. If they had conquered winter, they had conquered all.

Three more days established a new world of warmth and hope. As the sun climbed like a waking giant, the last of the ice vanished from the harbour, and the drifting fog which took its place was burned off by mid-morning. Men, for so long strangers, began to move about, or to sit in the sun and cheer their brittle bones.

A trickling stream became a small torrent, while above it a little ruffled bird – singularly mad, worldly wise – perched on a bare branch and sang a song of praise.

In a small household, Matthew took his knife and cut into the last quarter of the whale-meat, the gift of Saint Anskar and his servant Sitting Mouse, while Bac stood ready with the cooking pot. The cuts were thin and careful, since it was too early to be prodigal, yet one need not go to prison for dreaming of freedom.

All they awaited now was the return of the fishing fleet, with its promise of beautiful briny pork, of savoury weevilly biscuits, of cheese and wine and little oranges … But before this manna fell from heaven they had a duty, a sad observance, a ritual of farewell.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.