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is choice had been to stay in the dee dark ater far out beyond all snares and tras and treacheries.y choice as to go there to find him beyond all eole.eyond all eole in the orld.o e are joined together and have been since noon.nd no one to hel either one of us.
erhas should not have been a fisherman,he thought. ut that as the thing that as born for. must surely remember to eat the tuna after it gets light.
ome time before daylight something took one of the baits that ere behind him.e heard the stick break and the line begin to rush out over the gunale of the skiff.n the darkness he loosened his sheath knife and taking all the strain of the fish on his left shoulder he leaned back and cut the line against the ood of the gunale.hen he cut the other line closest to him and in the dark made the loose ends of the reserve coils fast.e orked skillfully ith the one hand and ut his foot on the coils to hold them as he dre his knots tight.o he had six reserve coils of line.here ere to from each bait he had severed and the to from the bait the fish had taken and they ere all connected.
fter it is light,he thought, ill ork back to the forty-fathom bait and cut it aay too and link u the reserve coils. ill have lost to hundred fathoms of good atalan cordel and the hooks and leaders.hat can be relaced .ut ho relaces this fish if hook some fish and it cuts him off? don't kno hat that fish as that took the bait just no.t could have been a marlin or a broadbill or a shark. never felt him. had to get rid of him too fast.
loud he said“, ish had the boy.”
ut you haven't got the boy,he thought.ou have only yourself and you had better ork back to the last line no,in the dark or not in the dark,and cut it aay and hook u the to reserve coils.
o he did it.t as difficult in the dark and once the fish made a surge that ulled him don on his face and made a cut belo his eye.he blood ran don his cheek a little ay. ut it coagulated and dried before it reached his chin and he orked his ay back to the bo and rested against the ood.e adjusted the sack and carefully orked the line so that it came across a ne art of his shoulders and,holding it anchored ith his shoulders,he carefully felt the ull of the fish and then felt ith his hand the rogress of the skiff through the ater.
onder hat he made that lurch for,he thought.he ire must have slied on the hill of his back.ertainly his back cannot feel as badly as mine does.ut he cannot ull this skiff forever,no matter ho great he is.o everything is cleared aay that might make trouble and have a big reserve of line;all that a man can ask.
“ish,”he said softly,aloud,“'ll stay ith you until am dead.”
e'll stay ith me too, suose,the old man thought and he aited for it to be light.t as cold no in the time before daylight and he ushed against the ood to be arm. can do it as long as he can,he thought.nd in the first light the line extended out and don into the ater.he boat moved steadily and hen the first edge of the sun rose it as on the old man's right shoulder.
“e's headed north,”the old man said.he current ill have set us far to the eastard,he thought. ish he ould turn ith the current.hat ould sho that he as tiring.
hen the sun had risen further the old man realized that the fish as not tiring.here as only one favorable sign.he slant of the line shoed he as simming at a lesser deth. hat did not necessarily mean that he ould jum.ut he might.“od let him jum,”the old man said.“ have enough line to handle him.”
aybe if can increase the tension just a little it ill hurt him and he ill jum,he thought.o that it is daylight let him jum so that he'll fill the sacks along his backbone ith air and then he cannot go dee to die.
e tried to increase the tension,but the line had been taut u to the very edge of the breaking oint since he had hooked the fish and he felt the harshness as he leaned back to ull and kne he could ut no more strain on it. must not jerk it ever,he thought.ach jerk idens the cut the hook makes and then hen he does jum he might thro it. nyay feel better ith the sun and for once do not have to look into it.
here as yello eed on the line but the old man kne that only made an added drag and he as leased. t as the yello ulf eed that had made so much hoshorescence in the night.
“ish,”he said,“ love you and resect you very much. ut ill kill you dead before this day ends.”
et us hoe so,he thought.
small bird came toard the skiff from the north.e as a arbler and flying very lo over the ater.he old man could see that he as very tired.
he bird made the stern of the boat and rested there. hen he fle around the old man's head and rested on the line here he as morefortable.
“o old are you?”the old man asked the bird.“ s this your first tri?”
he bird looked at him hen he soke.e as too tired even to examine the line and he teetered on it as his delicate feet gried it fast.
“t's steady,”the old man told him.“ t's too steady.ou shouldn't be that tired after a indless night.hat are birdsing to?”
he haks ,he thought,thate out to sea to meet them.ut he said nothing of this to the bird ho could not understand him anyay and ho ould learn about the haks soon enough.
“ake a good rest,small bird,”he said.“ hen go in and take your chance like any man or bird or fish.”
t encouraged him to talk because his back had stiffened in the night and it hurt truly no.
“tay at my house if you like,bird,”he said.“ am sorry cannot hoist the sail and take you in ith the small breeze that is rising.ut am ith a friend.”
ust then the fish gave a sudden lurch that ulled the old man don onto the bo and ould have ulled him overboard if he had not braced himself and given some line.
he bird had flon u hen the line jerked and the old man had not even seen him go.e felt the line carefully ith his right hand and noticed his hand as bleeding .
“omething hurt him then,”he said aloud and ulled back on the line to see if he could turn the fish.ut hen he as touching the breaking oint he held steady and settled back against the strain of the line.
“ou're feeling it no,fish,”he said.“nd so,od knos,am .”
e looked around for the bird no because he ould have liked him forany.he bird as gone.
ou did not stay long,the man thought.ut it is rougher here you are going until you make the shore.o did let the fish cut me ith that one quick ull he made? must be getting very stuid.r erhas as looking at the small bird and thinking of him.o ill ay attention to my ork and then must eat the tuna so that ill not have a failure of strength.
“ ish the boy ere here and that had some salt,”he said aloud.
hifting the eight of the line to his left shoulder and kneeling carefully he ashed his hand in the ocean and held it there, submerged , for more than a minute atching the blood trail aay and the steady movement of the ater against his hand as the boat moved.
“e has sloed much,”he said.
he old man ould have liked to kee his hand in the salt ater longer but he as afraid of another sudden lurch by the fish and he stood u and braced himself and held his hand u against the sun.t as only a line burn that had cut his flesh.ut it as in the orking art of his hand.e kne he ould need his hands before this as over and he did not like to be cut before it started.
“o,”he said,hen his hand had dried,“ must eat the small tuna. can reach him ith the gaff and eat him here infort.”
e knelt don and found the tuna under the stern ith the gaff and dre it toard him keeing it clear of the coiled lines.olding the line ith his left shoulder again,and bracing on his left hand and arm,he took the tuna off the gaff hook and ut the gaff back in lace.e ut one knee on the fish and cut stris of dark red meat longitudinally from the back of the head to the tail.hey ere edge-shaed stris and he cut them from next to the backbone don to the edge of the belly.hen he had cut six stris he sread them out on the ood of the bo,ied his knife on his trousers, and lifted the carcass of the bonito by the tail and droed it overboard.
“ don't think can eat an entire one,”he said and dre his knife across one of the stris.e could feel the steady hard ull of the line and his left hand as cramed.t dre u tight on the heavy cord and he looked at it in disgust.
“hat kind of a hand is that,”he said.“ram then if you ant.ake yourself into a cla.t ill do you no good.”ome on,he thought and looked don into the dark ater at the slant of the line.at it no and it ill strengthen the hand.t is not the hand's fault and you have been many hours ith the fish.ut you can stay ith him forever.at the bonito no.
e icked u a iece and ut it in his mouth and cheed it sloly.t as not unleasant.
he it ell,he thought,and get all the juices.t ould not be bad to eat ith a little lime or ith lemon or ith salt.“o do you feel,hand?”he asked the cramed hand that as almost as stiff as rigor mortis.“ 'll eat some more for you.”
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