第5章 The Old Man and the Big Fish[第1頁/共21頁]

“Fish,”he said softly,aloud,“I'll stay with you until I am dead.”

He'll stay with me too,I suppose,the old man thought and he waited for it to be light.It was cold now in the time before daylight and he pushed against the wood to be warm. I can do it as long as he can,he thought.And in the first light the line extended out and down into the water.The boat moved steadily and when the first edge of the sun rose it was on the old man's right shoulder.

Shifting the weight of the line to his left shoulder and kneeling carefully he washed his hand in the ocean and held it there, submerged , for more than a minute watching the blood trail away and the steady movement of the water against his hand as the boat moved.

“You're feeling it now,fish,”he said.“And so,God knows,am I.”

With his prayers said, and feeling much better, but suffering exactly as much,and perhaps a little more,he leaned against the wood of the bow and began,mechanically,to work the fingers of his left hand.