第7章 The Old Mans Victory[第2页/共16页]

The old man was sweating now but from something else besides the sun.On each calm placid turn the fish made he was gaining line and he was sure that in two turns more he would have a chance to get the harpoon in.

“You did not do so badly for something worthless,”he said to his left hand.“But there was a moment when I could not find you.”

That way nothing is accomplished, he thought. His mouth was too dry to speak but he could not reach for the water now.I must get him alongside this time,he thought.I am not good for many more turns.

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.

He started to pull the fish in to have him alongside so that he could pass a line through his gills and out his mouth and make his head fast alongside the bow.I want to see him, he thought,and to touch and to feel him.He is my fortune, he thought.But that is not why I wish to feel him.I think I felt his heart,he thought.When I pushed on the harpoon shaft the second time.Bring him in now and make him fast and get the noose around his tail and another around his middle to bind him to the skiff.