..me"..me/老人与海最新章节！
His choice had been to stay the deep dark water far out beyond all snares and traps and treacheries.My choice was to go there to fd him beyond all people.Beyond all people the world.Now we are joed together and have been sce noon.And no one to help either one of us.
Perhaps I should not have been a fisherman,he thought. But that was the thg that I was born for. I must surely remember to eat the tuna after it gets light.
Some time before daylight somethg took one of the baits that were behd him.He heard the stick break and the le beg to rush out over the gunwale of the skiff.In the darkness he loosened his sheath knife and takg all the stra of the fish on his left shoulder he leaned back and cut the le agast the wood of the gunwale.Then he cut the other le closest to him and the dark made the loose ends of the reserve coils fast.He worked skillfully with the one hand and put his foot on the coils to hold them as he drew his knots tight.Now he had six reserve coils of le.There were two from each bait he had severed and the two from the bait the fish had taken and they were all connected.
After it is light,he thought,I will work back to the forty-fathom bait and cut it away too and lk up the reserve coils. I will have lost two hundred fathoms of good Catalan cordel and the hooks and leaders.That can be replaced .But who replaces this fish if I hook some fish and it cuts him off?I don''t know what that fish was that took the bait just now.It could have been a marl or a broadbill or a shark.I never felt him.I had to get rid of him too fast.
Aloud he said“, I wish I had the boy.”
But you haven''t got the boy,he thought.You have only yourself and you had better work back to the last le now, the dark or not the dark,and cut it away and hook up the two reserve coils.
So he did it.It was difficult the dark and once the fish made a surge that pulled him down on his face and made a cut below his eye.The blood ran down his cheek a little way. But it coagulated and dried before it reached his ch and he worked his way back to the bow and rested agast the wood.He adjusted the sack and carefully worked the le so that it came across a new part of his shoulders and,holdg it anchored with his shoulders,he carefully felt the pull of the fish and then felt with his hand the progress of the skiff through the water.
I wonder what he made that lurch for,he thought.The wire must have slipped on the hill of his back.Certaly his back cannot feel as badly as me does.But he cannot pull this skiff forever,no matter how great he is.Now everythg is cleared away that might make trouble and I have a big reserve of le;all that a man can ask.
“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 the time before daylight and he pushed agast the wood to be warm. I can do it as long as he can,he thought.And the first light the le extended out and down to the water.The boat moved steadily and when the first edge of the sun rose it was on the old man''s right shoulder.
“He''s headed north,”the old man said.The current will have set us far to the eastward,he thought.I wish he would turn with the current.That would show that he was tirg.
When the sun had risen further the old man realized that the fish was not tirg.There was only one favorable sign.The slant of the le showed he was swimmg at a lesser depth. That did not necessarily mean that he would jump.But he might.“God let him jump,”the old man said.“I have enough le to handle him.”
Maybe if I can crease the tension just a little it will hurt him and he will jump,he thought.Now that it is daylight let him jump so that he''ll fill the sacks along his backbone with air and then he cannot go deep to die.
He tried to crease the tension,but the le had been taut up to the very edge of the breakg pot sce he had hooked the fish and he felt the harshness as he leaned back to pull and knew he could put no more stra on it.I must not jerk it ever,he thought.Each jerk widens the cut the hook makes and then when he does jump he might throw it. Anyway I feel better with the sun and for once I do not have to look to it.
There was yellow weed on the le but the old man knew that only made an added drag and he was pleased. It was the yellow Gulf weed that had made so much phosphorescence the night.
“Fish,”he said,“I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends.”
Let us hope so,he thought.
A small bird came toward the skiff from the north.He was a warbler and flyg very low over the water.The old man could see that he was very tired.
The bird made the stern of the boat and rested there. Then he flew around the old man''s head and rested on the le where he was more comfortable.
“How old are you?”the old man asked the bird.“ Is this your first trip?”
The bird looked at him when he spoke.He was too tired even to exame the le and he teetered on it as his delicate feet gripped it fast.
“It''s steady,”the old man told him.“ It''s too steady.You shouldn''t be that tired after a wdless night.What are birds comg to?”
The hawks ,he thought,that come out to sea to meet them.But he said nothg of this to the bird who could not understand him anyway and who would learn about the hawks soon enough.
“Take a good rest,small bird,”he said.“ Then go and take your chance like any man or bird or fish.”
It encouraged him to talk because his back had stiffened the night and it hurt truly now.
“Stay at my house if you like,bird,”he said.“ I am sorry I cannot hoist the sail and take you with the small breeze that is risg.But I am with a friend.”
Just then the fish gave a sudden lurch that pulled the old man down onto the bow and would have pulled him overboard if he had not braced himself and given some le.
The bird had flown up when the le jerked and the old man had not even seen him go.He felt the le carefully with his right hand and noticed his hand was bleedg .
“Somethg hurt him then,”he said aloud and pulled back on the le to see if he could turn the fish.But when he was touchg the breakg pot he held steady and settled back agast the stra of the le.
“You''re feelg it now,fish,”he said.“And so,God knows,am I.”
He looked around for the bird now because he would have liked him for company.The bird was gone.
You did not stay long,the man thought.But it is rougher where you are gog until you make the shore.How did I let the fish cut me with that one quick pull he made?I must be gettg very stupid.Or perhaps I was lookg at the small bird and thkg of him.Now I will pay attention to my work and then I must eat the tuna so that I will not have a failure of strength.
“I wish the boy were here and that I had some salt,”he said aloud.
Shiftg the weight of the le to his left shoulder and kneelg carefully he washed his hand the ocean and held it there, submerged , for more than a mute watchg the blood trail away and the steady movement of the water agast his hand as the boat moved.
“He has slowed much,”he said.
The old man would have liked to keep his hand the salt water longer but he was afraid of another sudden lurch by the fish and he stood up and braced himself and held his hand up agast the sun.It was only a le burn that had cut his flesh.But it was the workg part of his hand.He knew he would need his hands before this was over and he did not like to be cut before it started.
“Now,”he said,when his hand had dried,“I must eat the small tuna.I can reach him with the gaff and eat him here comfort.”
He knelt down and found the tuna under the stern with the gaff and drew it toward him keepg it clear of the coiled les.Holdg the le with his left shoulder aga,and bracg on his left hand and arm,he took the tuna off the gaff hook and put the gaff back place.He put one knee on the fish and cut strips of dark red meat longitudally from the back of the head to the tail.They were wedge-shaped strips and he cut them from next to the backbone down to the edge of the belly.When he had cut six strips he spread them out on the wood of the bow,wiped his knife on his trousers, and lifted the carcass of the bonito by the tail and dropped it overboard.
“I don''t thk I can eat an entire one,”he said and drew his knife across one of the strips.He could feel the steady hard pull of the le and his left hand was cramped.It drew up tight on the heavy cord and he looked at it disgust.
“What kd of a hand is that,”he said.“Cramp then if you want.Make yourself to a claw.It will do you no good.”Come on,he thought and looked down to the dark water at the slant of the le.Eat it now and it will strengthen the hand.It is not the hand''s fault and you have been many hours with the fish.But you can stay with him forever.Eat the bonito now.
He picked up a piece and put it his mouth and chewed it slowly.It was not unpleasant.
↑返回顶部↑