“Ho do you fl,fsh?”h askd aloud.“I fl good and y lft hand s ttr and I hav food for a nght and a day.Pull th oat,fsh.”
H dd not truly fl good caus th pan fro th cord across hs ack had alost passd pan and gon nto a dullnss that h strustd.But I hav had ors thngs than that,h thought.My hand s only cut a lttl and th crap s gon fro th othr.My lgs ar all rght.Also no I hav gand on h n th quston of sustnanc.
It as dark no as t cos dark quckly aftr th sun sts n Sptr.H lay aganst th orn ood of th o and rstd all that h could.Th frst stars r out.H dd not kno th na of Rgl ut h sa t and kn soon thy ould all out and h ould hav all hs dstant frnds.
“Th fsh s y frnd too,”h sad aloud.“ I hav nvr sn or hard of such a fsh.But I ust kll h.I a glad do not hav to try to kll th stars.”
Iagn f ach day a an ust try to kll th oon,h thought.Th oon runs aay.But agn f a an ach day should hav to try to kll th sun?W r orn lucky,h thought.
Thn h as sorry for th grat fsh that had nothng to at and hs dtrnaton to kll h nvr rlaxd n hs sorro for h.Ho any popl ll h fd,h thought. But ar thy orthy to at h?No,of cours not.Thr s no on orthy of atng h fro th annr of hs havor and hs grat dgnty.
I do not undrstand ths thngs,h thought.But t s good that do not hav to try to kll th sun or th oon or th stars.It s nough to lv on th sa and kll our tru rothrs.
No,h thought,I ust thnk aout th drag.It has ts prls and ts rts.I ay los so uch ln that I ll los h,f h aks hs ffort and th drag ad y th oars s n plac and th oat loss all hr lghtnss.Hr lghtnss prolongs oth our suffrng ut t s y safty snc h has grat spd that h has nvr yt ployd.No attr hat passs ust gut th dolphn so h dos not spol and at so of h to strong.
No I ll rst an hour or and fl that h s sold and stady for I ov ack to th strn to do th ork and ak th dcson.In th ant can s ho h acts and f h shos any changs.Th oars ar a good trck;ut t has rachd th t to play for safty.H s uch fsh stll and I sa that th hook as n th cornr of hs outh and h has kpt hs outh tght shut.Th punshnt of th hook s nothng.Th punshnt of hungr,and that h s aganst sothng that h dos not coprhnd,s vrythng.Rst no,old an,and lt h ork untl your nxt duty cos.
H rstd for hat h lvd to to hours. Th oon dd not rs no untl lat and h had no ay of judgng th t. Nor as h rally rstng xcpt coparatvly.H as stll arng th pull of th fsh across hs shouldrs ut h placd hs lft hand on th gunal of th o and confdd or and or of th rsstanc to th fsh to th skff tslf.
Ho spl t ould f I could ak th ln fast,h thought.But th on sall lurch h could rak t.I ust cushon th pull of th ln th y ody and at all ts rady to gv ln th oth hands.
“But you hav not slpt yt,old an,”h sad aloud.“ It s half a day and a nght and no anothr day and you hav not slpt.You ust dvs a ay so that you slp a lttl f h s qut and stady.If you do not slp you ght co unclar n th had.”
I' clar nough n th had,h thought.Too clar. I a as clar as th stars that ar y rothrs.Stll I ust slp.Thy slp and th oon and th sun slp and vn th ocan slps sots on crtan days hn thr s no currnt and a flat cal.
But rr to slp,h thought.Mak yourslf do t and dvs so spl and sur ay aout th lns.No go ack and prpar th dolphn.It s too dangrous to rg th oars as a drag f you ust slp.
I could go thout slpng,h told hslf.But t ould too dangrous.
H startd to ork hs ay ack to th strn on hs hands and kns,ng carful not to jrk aganst th fsh.H ay half aslp hslf,h thought.
But I do not ant h to rst.H ust pull untl h ds.
Back n th strn h turnd so that hs lft hand hld th stran of th ln across hs shouldrs and dr hs knf fro ts shath th hs rght hand.Th stars r rght no and h sa th dolphn clarly and h pushd th lad of hs knf nto hs had and dr h out fro undr th strn.H put on of hs ft on th fsh and slt h quckly fro th vnt up to th tp of hs lor ja.Thn h put hs knf don and guttd h th hs rght hand,scoopng h clan and pullng th glls clar.H flt th a havy and slppry n hs hands and h slt t opn.Thr r to flyng fsh nsd.Thy r frsh and hard and h lad th sd y sd and droppd th guts and th glls ovr th strn. Thy sank lavng a tral of phosphorscnc n th atr. Th dolphn as cold and a lprous gray-ht no n th starlght and th old an sknnd on sd of h hl h hld hs rght foot on th fsh's had.Thn h turnd h ovr and sknnd th othr sd and cut ach sd off fro th had don to th tal.
H sld th carcass ovroard and lookd to s f thr as any srl n th atr.But thr as only th lght of ts slo dscnt.H turnd thn and placd th to flyng fsh nsd th to fllts of fsh and puttng hs knf ack n ts shath,h orkd hs ay sloly ack to th o.Hs ack as nt th th ght of th ln across t and h carrd th fsh n hs rght hand.
Back n th o h lad th to fllts of fsh out on th ood th th flyng fsh sd th.Aftr that h sttld th ln across hs shouldrs n a n plac and hld t agan th hs lft hand rstng on th gunal.Thn h land ovr th sd and ashd th flyng fsh n th atr,notng th spd of th atr aganst hs hand.Hs hand as phosphorscnt fro sknnng th fsh and h atchd th flo of th atr aganst t. Th flo as lss strong and as h rud th sds of hs hand aganst th plankng of th skff,partcls of phosphorus floatd off and drftd sloly astrn.
“H s trng or h s rstng,”th old an sad.“No lt gt through th atng of ths dolphn and gt so rst and a lttl slp.”
Undr th stars and th th nght coldr all th t h at half of on of th dolphn fllts and on of th flyng fsh, guttd and th ts had cut off.
“What an xcllnt fsh dolphn s to at cookd,”h sad.“And hat a sral fsh ra.I ll nvr go n a oat agan thout salt or ls.”
If I had rans I ould hav splashd atr on th o all day and dryng,t ould hav ad salt,h thought.But thn I dd not hook th dolphn untl alost sunst.Stll t as a lack of prparaton.But I hav chd t all ll and I a not nausatd.
Th sky as cloudng ovr to th ast and on aftr anothr th stars h kn r gon.It lookd no as though h r ovng nto a grat canyon of clouds and th nd had droppd.