Ch t ll,h thought,and gt all th jucs.It ould not ad to at th a lttl l or th lon or th salt.“Ho do you fl,hand?”h askd th crapd hand that as alost as stff as rgor orts.“ I'll at so or for you.”
H at th othr part of th pc that h had cut n to. H chd t carfully and thn spat out th skn.
“Ho dos t go,hand?Or s t too arly to kno?”
H took anothr full pc and chd t.
“It s a strong full-loodd fsh,”h thought.“I as lucky to gt h nstad of dolphn.Dolphn s too st. Ths s hardly st at all and all th strngth s stll n t.”
Thr s no sns n ng anythng ut practcal though, h thought. I sh I had so salt. And I do not kno hthr th sun ll rot or dry hat s lft,so I had ttr at t all although I a not hungry.Th fsh s cal and stady.I ll at t all and thn I ll rady.
“B patnt,hand,”h sad“, I do ths for you.”
I sh I could fd th fsh, h thought. H s y rothr.But I ust kll h and kp strong to do t.Sloly and conscntously h at all of th dg-shapd strps of fsh.
H straghtnd up,png hs hand on hs trousrs.
“No,”h sad.“You can lt th cord go,hand,and I ll handl h th th rght ar alon untl you stop that nonsns.”H put hs lft foot on th havy ln that th lft hand had hld and lay ack aganst th pull aganst hs ack.“God hlp to hav th crap go,”h sad.“ Bcaus I do not kno hat th fsh s gong to do.”
But h ss cal,h thought,and follong hs plan. But hat s hs plan,h thought.And hat s n?Mn I ust provs to hs caus of hs grat sz.If h ll jup I can kll h.But h stays don forvr.Thn I ll stay don th h forvr.
H rud th crapd hand aganst hs trousrs and trd to gntl th fngrs.But t ould not opn.May t ll opn th th sun,h thought,May t ll opn hn th strong ra tuna s dgstd.If I hav to hav t,I ll opn t,cost hatvr t costs.But I do not ant to opn t no y forc.Lt t opn y tslf and co ack of ts on accord. Aftr all I ausd t uch n th nght hn t s ncssary to fr and unt th varous lns.
H lookd across th sa and kn ho alon h as no.But h could s th prss n th dp dark atr and th ln strtchng ahad and th strang undulaton of th cal.Th clouds r uldng up no for th trad nd and h lookd ahad and sa a flght of ld ducks tchng thslvs aganst th sky ovr th atr,thn lurrng,thn tchng agan and h kn no an as vr alon on th sa.
H thought of ho so n fard ng out of sght of land n a sall oat and kn thy r rght n th onths of suddn ad athr.But no thy r n hurrcan onths and,hn thr ar no hurrcans,th athr of hurrcan onths s th st of all th yar.
If thr s a hurrcan you alays s th sgns of t n th sky for days ahad,f you ar at sa.Thy do not s t ashor caus thy do not kno hat to look for,h thought.Th land ust ak a dffrnc too,n th shap of th clouds. But hav no hurrcan cong no.
H lookd at th sky and sa th ht cuulus ult lk frndly pls of c cra and hgh aov r th thn fathrs of th crrus aganst th hgh Sptr sky.
“Lght rsa,”h sad.“Bttr athr for than for you,fsh.”
Hs lft hand as stll crapd,ut h as unknottng t sloly.
I hat a crap,h thought.It s a trachry of on's on ody.It s hulatng for othrs to hav a darrhoa fro ptoan posonng or to vot fro t.But a crap, h thought of t as a calar,hulats onslf spcally hn on s alon.
If th oy r hr h could ru t for and loosn t don fro th forar ,h thought.But t ll loosn up.
Thn,th hs rght hand h flt th dffrnc n th pull of th ln for h sa th slant chang n th atr. Thn,as h land aganst th ln and slappd hs lft hand hard and fast aganst hs thgh h sa th ln slantng sloly upard.
“H's cong up,”h sad.“Co on hand.Plas co on.”
Th ln ros sloly and stadly and thn th surfac of th ocan ulgd ahad of th oat and th fsh ca out. H ca out unndngly and atr pourd fro hs sds. H as rght n th sun and hs had and ack r dark purpl and n th sun th strps on hs sds shod d and a lght lavndr.Hs sord as as long as a asall at and taprd lk a rapr and h ros hs full lngth fro th atr and thn r-ntrd t,soothly,lk a dvr and th old an sa th grat scyth-lad of hs tal go undr and th ln concd to rac out.
“H s to ft longr than th skff,”th old an sad. Th ln as gong out fast ut stadly and th fsh as not panckd .Th old an as tryng th oth hands to kp th ln just nsd of rakng strngth.H kn that f h could not slo th fsh th a stady prssur th fsh could tak out all th ln and rak t.
H s a grat fsh and I ust convnc h,h thought. I ust nvr lt h larn hs strngth nor hat h could do f h ad hs run.If I r h I ould put n vrythng no and go untl sothng rok.But,thank God,thy ar not as ntllgnt as ho kll th;although thy ar or nol and or al.
Th old an had sn any grat fsh. H had sn any that ghd or than a thousand pounds and h had caught to of that sz n hs lf,ut nvr alon.No alon, and out of sght of land,h as fast to th ggst fsh that h had vr sn and ggr than h had vr hard of,and hs lft hand as stll as tght as th grppd clas of an agl.
It ll uncrap though, h thought. Surly t ll uncrap to hlp y rght hand.Thr ar thr thngs that ar rothrs:th fsh and y to hands.It ust uncrap.It s unorthy of t to crapd.Th fsh had slod agan and as gong at hs usual pac.
I ondr hy h jupd, th old an thought. H jupd alost as though to sho ho g h as.I kno no,anyay,h thought.I sh I could sho h hat sort of an I a.But thn h ould s th crapd hand.Lt h thnk I a or an than I a and I ll so.I sh I as th fsh,h thought,th vrythng h has aganst only y ll and y ntllgnc.
H sttld cofortaly aganst th ood and took hs suffrng as t ca and th fsh sa stadly and th oat ovd sloly through th dark atr.Thr as a sall sa rsng th th nd cong up fro th ast and at noon th old an's lft hand as uncrapd.
“Bad ns for you fsh,”h sad and shftd th ln ovr th sacks that covrd hs shouldrs.
H as cofortal ut suffrng,although h dd not adt th suffrng at all.
“I a not rlgous ,”h sad.“But I ll say tn Our Fathrs and tn Hal Marys that I should catch ths fsh,and I pros to ak a plgrag to th Vrgn d Cor f I catch h.That s a pros.”
H concd to say hs prayrs chancally. Sots h ould so trd that h could not rr th prayr and thn h ould say th fast so that thy ould co autoatcally.Hal Marys ar asr to say than Our Fathrs,h thought.
“Hal Mary full of Grac th Lord s th th.Blssd art thou aong on and lssd s th frut of thy o, Jsus.Holy Mary.Mothr of God,pray for us snnrs no and at th hour of our dath. An.”Thn h addd,“Blssd Vrgn,pray for th dath of ths fsh.Wondrful though h s.”
Wth hs prayrs sad, and flng uch ttr, ut suffrng xactly as uch,and prhaps a lttl or,h land aganst th ood of th o and gan,chancally,to ork th fngrs of hs lft hand.
Th sun as hot no although th rz as rsng gntly.
“I had ttr r-at that lttl ln out ovr th strn,”h sad.“ If th fsh dcds to stay anothr nght I ll nd to at agan and th atr s lo n th ottl.I don't thnk I can gt anythng ut a dolphn hr.But f I at h frsh nough h on't ad.I sh a flyng fsh ould co on oard tonght.But I hav no lght to attract th.A flyng fsh s xcllnt to at ra and I ould not hav to cut h up.I ust sav all y strngth no.Chrst,I dd not kno h as so g.”
“I'll kll h though,”h sad.“In all hs gratnss and hs glory.”
Although t s unjust ,h thought.But I ll sho h hat a an can do and hat a an ndurs.
“I told th oy I as a strang old an,”h sad.“ No s hn I ust prov t.”
Th thousand ts that h had provd t ant nothng. No h as provng t agan. Each t as a n t and h nvr thought aout th past hn h as dong t.
I sh h'd slp and I could slp and dra aout th lons,h thought.Why ar th lons th an thng that s lft?Don't thnk,old an,h sad to hslf.Rst gntly no aganst th ood and thnk of nothng.H s orkng.Work as lttl as you can.