第4章 The Big Fish Bit the Hook

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Just thn,atchng hs lns,h sa on of th projctng grn stcks dp sharply.

“Ys,”h sad.“Ys,”and shppd hs oars thout upng th oat.H rachd out for th ln and hld t softly tn th thu and forfngr of hs rght hand. H flt no stran nor ght and h hld th ln lghtly.Thn t ca agan.Ths t t as a tntatv pull,not sold nor havy,and h kn xactly hat t as.On hundrd fathos don a arln as atng th sardns that covrd th pont and th shank of th hook hr th hand-forgd hook projctd fro th had of th sall tuna.

Th old an hld th ln dlcatly,and softly,th hs lft hand,unlashd t fro th stck.No h could lt t run through hs fngrs thout th fsh flng any tnson .

Ths far out,h ust hug n ths onth,h thought.Eat th,fsh.Eat th.Plas at th.Ho frsh thy ar and you don thr sx hundrd ft n that cold atr n th dark.Mak anothr turn n th dark and co ack and at th.

H flt th lght dlcat pullng and thn a hardr pull hn a sardn's had ust hav n or dffcult to rak fro th hook .Thn thr as nothng.

“Co on,”th old an sad aloud.“Mak anothr turn.Just sll th.Arn't thy lovly?Eat th good no and thn thr s th tuna.Hard and cold and lovly.Don't shy,fsh.Eat th.”

H atd th th ln tn hs thu and hs fngr,atchng t and th othr lns at th sa t for th fsh ght hav su up or don.Thn ca th sa dlcat pullng touch agan.

“H'll tak t,”th old an sad aloud.“God hlp h to tak t.”

H dd not tak t though.H as gon and th old an flt nothng.

“H can't hav gon,”h sad.“Chrst knos h can't hav gon.H's akng a turn.May h has n hookd for and h rrs sothng of t.”

Thn h flt th gntl touch on th ln and h as happy.

“It as only hs turn,”h sad.“ H'll tak t.”

H as happy flng th gntl pullng and thn h flt sothng hard and unlvaly havy.It as th ght of th fsh and h lt th ln slp don,don,don,unrollng off th frst of th to rsrv cols.As t nt don,slppng lghtly through th old an's fngrs,h stll could fl th grat ght,though th prssur of hs thu and fngr r alost prcptl .

“What a fsh,”h sad.“ H has t sdays n hs outh no and h s ovng off th t.”

Thn h ll turn and sallo t,h thought.H dd not say that caus h kn that f you sad a good thng t ght not happn.H kn hat a hug fsh ths as and h thought of h ovng aay n th darknss th th tuna hld crosss n hs outh. At that ont h flt h stop ovng ut th ght as stll thr.Thn th ght ncrasd and h gav or ln.H tghtnd th prssur of hs thu and fngr for a ont and th ght ncrasd and as gong straght don.

“H's takn t,”h sad.“ No I'll lt h at t ll.”

H lt th ln slp through hs fngrs hl h rachd don th hs lft hand and ad fast th fr nd of th to rsrv cols to th loop of th to rsrv cols of th nxt ln.No h as rady.H had thr forty-fatho cols of ln n rsrv no,as ll as th col h as usng.

“Eat t a lttl or,”h sad.“ Eat t ll.”

Eat t so that th pont of th hook gos nto your hart and klls you,h thought,Co up asy and lt put th harpoon nto you.All rght.Ar you rady?Hav you n long nough at tal?

“No!”H sad aloud and struck hard th oth hands,gand a yard of ln and thn struck agan and agan, sngng th ach ar altrnatly on th cord th all th strngth of hs ars and th pvotd ght of hs ody.

Nothng happnd.Th fsh just ovd aay sloly and th old an could not ras h an nch.Hs ln as strong and ad for havy fsh and h hld t aganst hs ack untl t as so taut that ads of atr r jupng fro t.Thn t gan to ak a slo hssng sound n th atr and h stll hld t,racng hslf aganst th thart and lanng ack aganst th pull.Th oat gan to ov sloly off toard th northst.

Th fsh ovd stadly and thy travlld sloly on th cal atr.Th othr ats r stll n th atr ut thr as nothng to don.

“I sh I had th oy,”th old an sad aloud.“I' ng tod y a fsh and I' th tong tt.I could ak th ln fast.But thn h could rak t.I ust hold h all I can and gv h ln hn h ust hav t.Thank God h s travllng and not gong don.”

What I ll do f h dcds to go don,I don't kno. What I'll do f h sounds and ds I don't kno.But I'll do sothng.Thr ar plnty of thngs I can do.

H hld th ln aganst hs ack and atchd ts slant n th atr and th skff ovng stadly to th northst.

Ths ll kll h,th old an thought.H can't do ths forvr.But four hours latr th fsh as stll sng stadly out to sa,tong th skff,and th old an as stll racd soldly th th ln across hs ack.

“It as noon hn I hookd h,”h sad.“ And I hav nvr sn h.”

H had pushd hs stra hat hard don on hs had for h hookd th fsh and t as cuttng hs forhad.H as thrsty too and h got don on hs kns and,ng carful not to jrk on th ln,ovd as far nto th o as h could gt and rachd th atr ottl th on hand.H opnd t and drank a lttl.Thn h rstd aganst th o. H rstd sttng on th unstppd ast and sal and trd not to thnk ut only to ndur.

Thn h lookd hnd h and sa that no land as vsl.That aks no dffrnc,h thought.I can alays co n on th glo fro Havana.Thr ar to or hours for th sun sts and ay h ll co up for that.If h dosn't ay h ll co up th th oon.If h dos not do that ay h ll co up th th sunrs.I hav no craps and I fl strong.It s h that has th hook n hs outh.But hat a fsh to pull lk that.H ust hav hs outh shut tght on th r.I sh I could s h.I sh I could s h only onc to kno hat I hav aganst .

Th fsh nvr changd hs cours nor hs drcton all that nght as far as th an could tll fro atchng th stars. It as cold aftr th sun nt don and th old an's sat drd cold on hs ack and hs ars and hs old lgs.Durng th day h had takn th sack that covrd th at ox and sprad t n th sun to dry.Aftr th sun nt don h td t around hs nck so that t hung don ovr hs ack and h cautously orkd t don undr th ln that as across hs shouldrs no.Th sack cushond th ln and h had found a ay of lanng forard aganst th o so that h as alost cofortal.Th poston actually as only sohat lss ntolral;ut h thought of t as alost cofortal.I can do nothng th h and h can do nothng th ,h thought.Not as long as h kps ths up.

Onc h stood up and urnatd ovr th sd of th skff and lookd at th stars and chckd hs cours.Th ln shod lk a phosphorscnt strak n th atr straght out fro hs shouldrs.Thy r ovng or sloly no and th glo of Havana as not so strong,so that h kn th currnt ust carryng th to th astard.If I los th glar of Havana ust gong or to th astard, h thought.For f th fsh's cours hld tru I ust s t for any or hours.I ondr ho th asall ca out n th grand lagus today,h thought.It ould ondrful to do ths th a rado.Thn h thought,thnk of t alays.Thnk of hat you ar dong.You ust do nothng stupd.

Thn h sad aloud,“I sh I had th oy.To hlp and to s ths.”

No on should alon n thr old ag,h thought.But t s unavodal.I ust rr to at th tuna for h spols n ordr to kp strong.Rr,no attr ho lttl you ant to,that you ust at h n th ornng. Rr,h sad to hslf.

Durng th nght to porpos ca around th oat and h could har th rollng and long.H could tll th dffrnc tn th long nos th al ad and th sghng lo of th fal.

“Thy ar good,”h sad.“ Thy play and ak joks and lov on anothr.Thy ar our rothrs lk th flyng fsh.”

Thn h gan to pty th grat fsh that h had hookd. H s ondrful and strang and ho knos ho old h s, h thought.Nvr hav I had such a strong fsh nor on ho actd so strangly.Prhaps h s too s to jup.H could run y jupng or y a ld rush.But prhaps h has n hookd any ts for and h knos that ths s ho h should ak hs fght.H cannot kno that t s only on an aganst h,nor that t s an old an.But hat a grat fsh h s and hat h ll rng n th arkt f th flsh s good.H took th at lk a al and h pulls lk a al and hs fght has no panc n t.I ondr f h has any plans or f h s just as dsprat as I a?

H rrd th t h had hookd on of a par of arln.Th al fsh alays lt th fal fsh fd frst and th hookd fsh,th fal,ad a ld,panc-strckn, dsparng fght that soon xhaustd hr,and all th t th al had stayd th hr,crossng th ln and crclng th hr on th surfac.H had stayd so clos that th old an as afrad h ould cut th ln th hs tal hch as sharp as a scyth and alost of that sz and shap.Whn th old an had gaffd hr and clud hr,holdng th rapr ll th ts sandpapr dg and clung hr across th top of hr had untl hr color turnd to a color alost lk th ackng of rrors,and thn,th th oy's ad,hostd hr aoard,th al fsh had stayd y th sd of th oat.Thn, hl th old an as clarng th lns and prparng th harpoon,th al fsh jupd hgh nto th ar sd th oat to s hr th fal as and thn nt don dp, hs lavndr ngs,that r hs pctoral fns,sprad d and all hs d lavndr strps shong.H as autful, th old an rrd,and h had stayd.

That as th saddst thng I vr sa th th,th old an thought.Th oy as sad too and ggd hr pardon and utchrd hr proptly.

“I sh th oy as hr,”h sad aloud and sttld hslf aganst th roundd planks of th o and flt th strngth of th grat fsh through th ln h hld across hs shouldrs ovng stadly toard hatvr h had chosn.

Whn onc,through y trachry,t had n ncssary to h to ak a choc,th old an thought.