“Thr ll ad athr n thr or four days,”h sad.“But not tonght and not toorro.Rg no to gt so slp,old an,hl th fsh s cal and stady.”
H hld th ln tght n hs rght hand and thn pushd hs thgh aganst hs rght hand as h land all hs ght aganst th ood of th o.Thn h passd th ln a lttl lor on hs shouldrs and racd hs lft hand on t.
My rght hand can hold t as long as t s racd, h thought.If t rlaxs n slp y lft hand ll ak as th ln gos out.It s hard on th rght hand.But h s usd to punshnt.Evn f I slp tnty nuts or a half an hour t s good.H lay forard crapng hslf aganst th ln th all of hs ody,puttng all hs ght onto hs rght hand, and h as aslp.
H dd not dra of th lons ut nstad of a vast school of porposs that strtchd for ght or tn ls and t as n th t of thr atng and thy ould lap hgh nto th ar and rturn nto th sa hol thy had ad n th atr hn thy lapd.
Thn h drad that h as n th vllag on hs d and thr as a northr and h as vry cold and hs rght ar as aslp caus hs had had rstd on t nstad of a pllo.
Aftr that h gan to dra of th long yllo ach and h sa th frst of th lons co don onto t n th arly dark and thn th othr lons ca and h rstd hs chn on th ood of th os hr th shp lay anchord th th vnng off-shor rz and h atd to s f thr ould or lons and h as happy.
Th oon had n up for a long t ut h slpt on and th fsh pulld on stadly and th oat ovd nto th tunnl of clouds.
H ok th th jrk of hs rght fst cong up aganst hs fac and th ln urnng out through hs rght hand.H had no flng of hs lft hand ut h rakd all h could th hs rght and th ln rushd out.Fnally hs lft hand found th ln and h land ack aganst th ln and no t urnd hs ack and hs lft hand,and hs lft hand as takng all th stran and cuttng adly.H lookd ack at th cols of ln and thy r fdng soothly.Just thn th fsh jupd akng a grat urstng of th ocan and thn a havy fall.Thn h jupd agan and agan and th oat as gong fast although ln as stll racng out and th old an as rasng th stran to rakng pont and rasng t to rakng pont agan and agan.H had n pulld don tght onto th o and hs fac as n th cut slc of dolphn and h could not ov.
Ths s hat atd for,h thought.So no lt us tak t.
Mak h pay for th ln,h thought.Mak h pay for t.
H could not s th fsh's jups ut only hard th rakng of th ocan and th havy splash as h fll.Th spd of th ln as cuttng hs hands adly ut h had alays knon ths ould happn and h trd to kp th cuttng across th callousd parts and not lt th ln slp nto th pal nor cut th fngrs.
If th oy as hr h ould t th cols of ln,h thought.Ys.If th oy r hr.If th oy r hr.
Th ln nt out and out and out ut t as slong no and h as akng th fsh arn ach nch of t.No h got hs had up fro th ood and out of th slc of fsh that hs chk had crushd.Thn h as on hs kns and thn h ros sloly to hs ft.H as cdng ln ut or sloly all th t.H orkd ack to hr h could fl th hs foot th cols of ln that h could not s.Thr as plnty of ln stll and no th fsh had to pull th frcton of all that n ln through th atr.
Ys,h thought.And no h has jupd or than a dozn ts and flld th sacks along hs ack th ar and h cannot go don dp to d hr I cannot rng h up.H ll start crclng soon and thn I ust ork on h. I ondr hat startd h so suddnly?Could t hav n hungr that ad h dsprat,or as h frghtnd y sothng n th nght?May h suddnly flt far.But h as such a cal,strong fsh and h sd so farlss and so confdnt.
It s strang.
“You ttr farlss and confdnt yourslf, old an,”h sad.“ You'r holdng h agan ut you cannot gt ln.But soon h has to crcl .”
Th old an hld h th hs lft hand and hs shouldrs no and stoopd don and scoopd up atr n hs rght hand to gt th crushd dolphn flsh off hs fac.H as afrad that t ght nausat h and h ould vot and los hs strngth.Whn hs fac as cland h ashd hs rght hand n th atr ovr th sd and thn lt t stay n th salt atr hl h atchd th frst lght co for th sunrs.H's hadd alost ast,h thought.That ans h s trd and gong th th currnt.Soon h ll hav to crcl. Thn our tru ork gns.
Aftr h judgd that hs rght hand had n n th atr long nough h took t out and lookd at t.
“It s not ad.”h sad.“And pan dos not attr to a an.”
H took hold of th ln carfully so that t dd not ft nto any of th frsh ln cuts and shftd hs ght so that h could put hs lft hand nto th sa on th othr sd of th skff.
“You dd not do so adly for sothng orthlss,”h sad to hs lft hand.“But thr as a ont hn I could not fnd you.”
Why as I not orn th to good hands?H thought.Prhaps t as y fault n not tranng that on proprly.But God knos h has had nough chancs to larn.H dd not do so adly n th nght,though,and h has only crapd onc.If h craps agan lt th ln cut h off.
Whn h thought that h kn that h as not ng clar-hadd and h thought h should ch so or of th dolphn.But I can't,h told hslf.It s ttr to lght-hadd than to los your strngth fro nausa.And I kno I cannot kp t f I at t snc y fac as n t.I ll kp t for an rgncy untl t gos ad.But t s too lat to try for strngth no through nourshnt.You'r stupd, h told hslf.Eat th othr flyng fsh.
It as thr,cland and rady,and h pckd t up th hs lft hand and at t chng th ons carfully and atng all of t don to th tal.
It has or nourshnt than alost any fsh, h thought.At last th knd of strngth that I nd.No I hav don hat I can,h thought.Lt h gn to crcl and lt th fght co.
Th sun as rsng for th thrd t snc h had put to sa hn th fsh startd to crcl.
H could not s y th slant of th ln that th fsh as crclng.It as too arly for that.H just flt a fant slacknng of th prssur of th ln and h concd to pull on t gntly th hs rght hand.It tghtnd,as alays, ut just hn h rachd th pont hr t ould rak,ln gan to co n.H slppd hs shouldrs and had fro undr th ln and gan to pull n ln stadly and gntly. H usd oth of hs hands n a sngng oton and trd to do th pullng as uch as h could th hs ody and hs lgs. Hs old lgs and shouldrs pvotd th th sngng of th pullng.
“It s a vry g crcl,”h sad.“ But h s crclng.”
Thn th ln ould not co n any or and h hld t untl h sa th drops jupng fro t n th sun. Thn t startd out and th old an knlt don and lt t go grudgngly ack nto th dark atr.
“H s akng th far part of hs crcl no,”h sad. I ust hold all I can,h thought.Th stran ll shortn hs crcl ach t.Prhaps n an hour I ll s h.No I ust convnc h and thn I ust kll h.
But th fsh kpt on crclng sloly and th old an as t th sat and trd dp nto hs ons to hours latr. But th crcls r uch shortr no and fro th ay th ln slantd h could tll th fsh had rsn stadly hl h sa.
For an hour th old an had n sng lack spots for hs ys and th sat saltd hs ys and saltd th cut ovr hs y and on hs forhad.H as not afrad of th lack spots. Thy r noral at th tnson that h as pullng on th ln.Tc,though,h had flt fant and dzzy and that had orrd h.
“I could not fal yslf and d on a fsh lk ths.”h sad.“No that I hav h cong so autfully,God hlp ndur.I'll say a hundrd Our Fathrs and a hundrd Hal Marys.But I cannot say th no.”
Consdr th sad,h thought.I'll say th latr.
Just thn h flt a suddn angng and jrkng on th ln h hld th hs to hands.It as sharp and hard-flng and havy.
H s httng th r ladr th hs spar,h thought. That as ound to co.H had to do that.It ay ak h jup though and I ould rathr h stayd crclng no. Th jups r ncssary for h to tak ar.But aftr that ach on can dn th opnng of th hook ound and h can thro th hook.
“Don't jup,fsh,”h sad.“ Don't jup.”
Th fsh ht th r svral ts or and ach t h shook hs had th old an gav up a lttl ln.
I ust hold hs pan hr t s,h thought.Mn dos not attr.I can control n.But hs pan could drv h ad.
Aftr a hl th fsh stoppd atng at th r and startd crclng sloly agan.Th old an as ganng ln stadly no.But h flt fant agan.H lftd so sa atr th hs lft hand and put t on hs had.Thn h put or on and rud th ack of hs nck.
“I hav no craps.”h sad.“ H'll up soon and I can last.You hav to last.Don't vn spak of t.”
H knld aganst th o and,for a ont,slppd th ln ovr hs ack agan.I'll rst no hl h gos out on th crcl and thn stand up and ork on h hn h cos n,h dcdd.
It as a grat tptaton to rst n th o and lt th fsh ak on crcl y hslf thout rcovrng any ln. But hn th stran shod th fsh had turnd to co toard th oat,th old an ros to hs ft and startd th pvotng and th avng pullng that rought n all th ln h gand.
I' trdr than I hav vr n,h thought,and no th trad nd s rsng.But that ll good to tak h n th.I nd that adly.
“I'll rst on th nxt turn as h gos out,”h sad.“I fl uch ttr.Thn n to or thr turns or I ll hav h.”