but he slept on and the fish pulled steadily as the boat moved into the tunnel of clouds. He woke with the jerk of his right fist coming up against his face and the line burning out through his right hand. He has no feeling of his left hand, but he braked all he could with his right and the line rushed out. Finally, his left hand found the line and he leaned back against the line and now it burned his back and his left hand, and his left hand was taking all the strain and cutting badly. He looked back at the coils of the line and they were feeding smoothly.
Just then the fish jumped making a great bursting of the ocean and then a heavy fall. Then he jumped again and again and the boat was going fast although the line was still racing out and the old man was raising the strain to breaking point and raising it to breaking point
Just then the fish jumped making a great bursting of the ocean and then a heavy fall. Then he jumped again and again and the boat was going fast although the line was still racing out and the old man was raising the strain to breaking point and raising it to breaking point
This is what we waited for, he thought. So now let us take it. Make him pay for the line he thought. Make him pay for it.
He could not see the fish's jumps but only heard the breaking of the ocean and the heavy splash as he fell. The speed of the line was cutting his hands badly but he had always known this would happen and he tried to keep the cutting across the calloused parts and not let the line slip into the palm nor cut the fingers.
If the boy was here he would wet the coils of line, he thought. Yes, if the boy were here. If the boy were here.
The line went out and out and out bit it was slowing now and he was making the fish earn each inch of it. Now he got his head up from the wood and out of the slice of fish that his cheek had crushed. Then he was on his knees and then he rose slowly to his feet. He was ceding line, but more slowly all the time. He worked back to where he could feel with his foor the coils of the that he could not see. There was plenty of line and now the fish had to pull the friction of all that new line through the water.
Yes, he thought. And now he has jumped more than a dozen times and filled the sacks along his back with air and he cannot go down deep to die where I cannot bring him up. He wil start circling soon and then I must work on him. I wonder what starteled him so suddenly? Could it have been hunger that made him desperate, or was he frightened by something in the night? Maybe he suddenly felt fear. But he was such a calm, stong fish and he seemed so fearless and so confident. It was strange.
"You better be fearless and confident yourself, old man," he said. The old man held him with his left hand and his shoulders now and stoped down and scooped up water in his right hand to get the crushed dolphin flesh off his face.
He was afraid that it might nauseate him and he would vomit and lose his strength. When his face was cleaned he washed his right hand in the water over the side and then let it stay in the salt water while he watched the first light come before the sunrise. He's headed almost east, he thought. That means he is tired and going with the cirrent.
Soon he will have to circle. Then out true work begins. After he judged that his right hand had been in the water long enough he took it out and looked at it.
"Its not bad", he said. "And pain does not matter to a man".
He took hold of the line carefully so that it did not fit into any of the fresh line cuts and shifted his weight so that he could put his left hand into the sea on the other side of the skiff.
"Why was I not born with two good hands?" he thought.
Perhaps it was my fault in not training one properly. But God knows he has had enough chances to learn. He did not do so badly in the night, though, and he has only cramped once. If he cramps agian, let the line cut him off.
When he thought that he knew that he was not being clear-heared and he thought he should chew some more of the dolphin. But I can't, he told himself. It is better to be light-headed than to lose your strength from nausea. And I know I cannot keep it if I eat it, since my face was in it. I will keep it for an emergency untill it goes bad. But it is too late to try for strength now through nourishment.
He could not see the fish's jumps but only heard the breaking of the ocean and the heavy splash as he fell. The speed of the line was cutting his hands badly but he had always known this would happen and he tried to keep the cutting across the calloused parts and not let the line slip into the palm nor cut the fingers.
If the boy was here he would wet the coils of line, he thought. Yes, if the boy were here. If the boy were here.
The line went out and out and out bit it was slowing now and he was making the fish earn each inch of it. Now he got his head up from the wood and out of the slice of fish that his cheek had crushed. Then he was on his knees and then he rose slowly to his feet. He was ceding line, but more slowly all the time. He worked back to where he could feel with his foor the coils of the that he could not see. There was plenty of line and now the fish had to pull the friction of all that new line through the water.
Yes, he thought. And now he has jumped more than a dozen times and filled the sacks along his back with air and he cannot go down deep to die where I cannot bring him up. He wil start circling soon and then I must work on him. I wonder what starteled him so suddenly? Could it have been hunger that made him desperate, or was he frightened by something in the night? Maybe he suddenly felt fear. But he was such a calm, stong fish and he seemed so fearless and so confident. It was strange.
"You better be fearless and confident yourself, old man," he said. The old man held him with his left hand and his shoulders now and stoped down and scooped up water in his right hand to get the crushed dolphin flesh off his face.
He was afraid that it might nauseate him and he would vomit and lose his strength. When his face was cleaned he washed his right hand in the water over the side and then let it stay in the salt water while he watched the first light come before the sunrise. He's headed almost east, he thought. That means he is tired and going with the cirrent.
Soon he will have to circle. Then out true work begins. After he judged that his right hand had been in the water long enough he took it out and looked at it.
"Its not bad", he said. "And pain does not matter to a man".
He took hold of the line carefully so that it did not fit into any of the fresh line cuts and shifted his weight so that he could put his left hand into the sea on the other side of the skiff.
"Why was I not born with two good hands?" he thought.
Perhaps it was my fault in not training one properly. But God knows he has had enough chances to learn. He did not do so badly in the night, though, and he has only cramped once. If he cramps agian, let the line cut him off.
When he thought that he knew that he was not being clear-heared and he thought he should chew some more of the dolphin. But I can't, he told himself. It is better to be light-headed than to lose your strength from nausea. And I know I cannot keep it if I eat it, since my face was in it. I will keep it for an emergency untill it goes bad. But it is too late to try for strength now through nourishment.
