Hs choc had n to stay n th dp dark atr far out yond all snars and traps and trachrs.My choc as to go thr to fnd h yond all popl.Byond all popl n th orld.No ar jond togthr and hav n snc noon.And no on to hlp thr on of us.
Prhaps I should not hav n a fshran,h thought. But that as th thng that I as orn for. I ust surly rr to at th tuna aftr t gts lght.
So t for daylght sothng took on of th ats that r hnd h.H hard th stck rak and th ln gn to rush out ovr th gunal of th skff.In th darknss h loosnd hs shath knf and takng all th stran of th fsh on hs lft shouldr h land ack and cut th ln aganst th ood of th gunal.Thn h cut th othr ln closst to h and n th dark ad th loos nds of th rsrv cols fast.H orkd skllfully th th on hand and put hs foot on th cols to hold th as h dr hs knots tght.No h had sx rsrv cols of ln.Thr r to fro ach at h had svrd and th to fro th at th fsh had takn and thy r all connctd.
Aftr t s lght,h thought,I ll ork ack to th forty-fatho at and cut t aay too and lnk up th rsrv cols. I ll hav lost to hundrd fathos of good Catalan cordl and th hooks and ladrs.That can rplacd .But ho rplacs ths fsh f I hook so fsh and t cuts h off?I don't kno hat that fsh as that took th at just no.It could hav n a arln or a roadll or a shark.I nvr flt h.I had to gt rd of h too fast.
Aloud h sad“, I sh I had th oy.”
But you havn't got th oy,h thought.You hav only yourslf and you had ttr ork ack to th last ln no,n th dark or not n th dark,and cut t aay and hook up th to rsrv cols.
So h dd t.It as dffcult n th dark and onc th fsh ad a surg that pulld h don on hs fac and ad a cut lo hs y.Th lood ran don hs chk a lttl ay. But t coagulatd and drd for t rachd hs chn and h orkd hs ay ack to th o and rstd aganst th ood.H adjustd th sack and carfully orkd th ln so that t ca across a n part of hs shouldrs and,holdng t anchord th hs shouldrs,h carfully flt th pull of th fsh and thn flt th hs hand th progrss of th skff through th atr.
I ondr hat h ad that lurch for,h thought.Th r ust hav slppd on th hll of hs ack.Crtanly hs ack cannot fl as adly as n dos.But h cannot pull ths skff forvr,no attr ho grat h s.No vrythng s clard aay that ght ak troul and I hav a g rsrv of ln;all that a an can ask.
“Fsh,”h sad softly,aloud,“I'll stay th you untl I a dad.”
H'll stay th too,I suppos,th old an thought and h atd for t to lght.It as cold no n th t for daylght and h pushd aganst th ood to ar. I can do t as long as h can,h thought.And n th frst lght th ln xtndd out and don nto th atr.Th oat ovd stadly and hn th frst dg of th sun ros t as on th old an's rght shouldr.
“H's hadd north,”th old an sad.Th currnt ll hav st us far to th astard,h thought.I sh h ould turn th th currnt.That ould sho that h as trng.
Whn th sun had rsn furthr th old an ralzd that th fsh as not trng.Thr as only on favoral sgn.Th slant of th ln shod h as sng at a lssr dpth. That dd not ncssarly an that h ould jup.But h ght.“God lt h jup,”th old an sad.“I hav nough ln to handl h.”
May f I can ncras th tnson just a lttl t ll hurt h and h ll jup,h thought.No that t s daylght lt h jup so that h'll fll th sacks along hs ackon th ar and thn h cannot go dp to d.
H trd to ncras th tnson,ut th ln had n taut up to th vry dg of th rakng pont snc h had hookd th fsh and h flt th harshnss as h land ack to pull and kn h could put no or stran on t.I ust not jrk t vr,h thought.Each jrk dns th cut th hook aks and thn hn h dos jup h ght thro t. Anyay I fl ttr th th sun and for onc I do not hav to look nto t.
Thr as yllo d on th ln ut th old an kn that only ad an addd drag and h as plasd. It as th yllo Gulf d that had ad so uch phosphorscnc n th nght.
“Fsh,”h sad,“I lov you and rspct you vry uch. But I ll kll you dad for ths day nds.”
Lt us hop so,h thought.
A sall rd ca toard th skff fro th north.H as a arlr and flyng vry lo ovr th atr.Th old an could s that h as vry trd.
Th rd ad th strn of th oat and rstd thr. Thn h fl around th old an's had and rstd on th ln hr h as or cofortal.
“Ho old ar you?”th old an askd th rd.“ Is ths your frst trp?”
Th rd lookd at h hn h spok.H as too trd vn to xan th ln and h ttrd on t as hs dlcat ft grppd t fast.
“It's stady,”th old an told h.“ It's too stady.You shouldn't that trd aftr a ndlss nght.What ar rds cong to?”
Th haks ,h thought,that co out to sa to t th.But h sad nothng of ths to th rd ho could not undrstand h anyay and ho ould larn aout th haks soon nough.
“Tak a good rst,sall rd,”h sad.“ Thn go n and tak your chanc lk any an or rd or fsh.”
It ncouragd h to talk caus hs ack had stffnd n th nght and t hurt truly no.
“Stay at y hous f you lk,rd,”h sad.“ I a sorry I cannot host th sal and tak you n th th sall rz that s rsng.But I a th a frnd.”
Just thn th fsh gav a suddn lurch that pulld th old an don onto th o and ould hav pulld h ovroard f h had not racd hslf and gvn so ln.
Th rd had flon up hn th ln jrkd and th old an had not vn sn h go.H flt th ln carfully th hs rght hand and notcd hs hand as ldng .
“Sothng hurt h thn,”h sad aloud and pulld ack on th ln to s f h could turn th fsh.But hn h as touchng th rakng pont h hld stady and sttld ack aganst th stran of th ln.
“You'r flng t no,fsh,”h sad.“And so,God knos,a I.”
H lookd around for th rd no caus h ould hav lkd h for copany.Th rd as gon.
You dd not stay long,th an thought.But t s roughr hr you ar gong untl you ak th shor.Ho dd I lt th fsh cut th that on quck pull h ad?I ust gttng vry stupd.Or prhaps I as lookng at th sall rd and thnkng of h.No I ll pay attnton to y ork and thn I ust at th tuna so that I ll not hav a falur of strngth.
“I sh th oy r hr and that I had so salt,”h sad aloud.
Shftng th ght of th ln to hs lft shouldr and knlng carfully h ashd hs hand n th ocan and hld t thr, surgd , for or than a nut atchng th lood tral aay and th stady ovnt of th atr aganst hs hand as th oat ovd.
“H has slod uch,”h sad.
Th old an ould hav lkd to kp hs hand n th salt atr longr ut h as afrad of anothr suddn lurch y th fsh and h stood up and racd hslf and hld hs hand up aganst th sun.It as only a ln urn that had cut hs flsh.But t as n th orkng part of hs hand.H kn h ould nd hs hands for ths as ovr and h dd not lk to cut for t startd.
“No,”h sad,hn hs hand had drd,“I ust at th sall tuna.I can rach h th th gaff and at h hr n cofort.”
H knlt don and found th tuna undr th strn th th gaff and dr t toard h kpng t clar of th cold lns.Holdng th ln th hs lft shouldr agan,and racng on hs lft hand and ar,h took th tuna off th gaff hook and put th gaff ack n plac.H put on kn on th fsh and cut strps of dark rd at longtudnally fro th ack of th had to th tal.Thy r dg-shapd strps and h cut th fro nxt to th ackon don to th dg of th lly.Whn h had cut sx strps h sprad th out on th ood of th o,pd hs knf on hs trousrs, and lftd th carcass of th onto y th tal and droppd t ovroard.
“I don't thnk I can at an ntr on,”h sad and dr hs knf across on of th strps.H could fl th stady hard pull of th ln and hs lft hand as crapd.It dr up tght on th havy cord and h lookd at t n dsgust.
“What knd of a hand s that,”h sad.“Crap thn f you ant.Mak yourslf nto a cla.It ll do you no good.”Co on,h thought and lookd don nto th dark atr at th slant of th ln.Eat t no and t ll strngthn th hand.It s not th hand's fault and you hav n any hours th th fsh.But you can stay th h forvr.Eat th onto no.
H pckd up a pc and put t n hs outh and chd t sloly.It as not unplasant.