第7章 The Old Mans Victory[第1頁/共18頁]

Yes,he thought.And now he has jumped more than a dozen times and filled the sacks along his back with air and he cannot go down deep to die where I cannot bring him up.He will start circling soon and then I must work on him. I wonder what started him so suddenly?Could it have been hunger that made him desperate,or was he frightened by something in the night?Maybe he suddenly felt fear.But he was such a calm,strong fish and he seemed so fearless and so confident.

After a while the fish stopped beating at the wire and started circling slowly again.The old man was gaining line steadily now.But he felt faint again.He lifted some sea water with his left hand and put it on his head.Then he put more on and rubbed the back of his neck.

It is strange.

“Don't jump,fish,”he said.“ Don't jump.”

On the next turn,he nearly had him.But again the fish righted himself and swam slowly away.

The old man felt faint and sick and he could not see well. But he cleared the harpoon line and let it run slowly through his raw hands and,when he could see,he saw the fish was on his back with his silver belly up.The shaft of the harpoon was projecting at an angle from the fish's shoulder and the sea was discoloring with the red of the blood from his heart.First it was dark as a shoal in the blue water that was more than a mile deep.Then it spread like a cloud.The fish was silver and still and floated with the waves.