think,”the old man said.“ But I know many tricks and I have reso露tion.”
“You ought to go to bed now so that you will be fresh in the 摸rning.I will take the things back to the Terrace.”
“Good night then.I will wake you in the 摸rning.”
“You're my arm clock,”the boy said.
“Age is my arm clock,”the old man said.“ Why do old men wake so early?Is it to have one longer day?”
“I don't know,”the boy said.“All I know is that young boys sleep te and hard.”
“I can remember it,”the old man said.“ I'll waken you in time.”
“I do not like for him to waken me.It is as though I were inferior.”
“I know.”
“Sleep well old man.”
The boy went out.They had eaten with no light on the table and the old man took off his trousers and went to bed in the dark.He rolled his trousers up to make a pillow ,put挺 the newspaper inside them.He rolled himself in the bnket and slept on the other old newspapers that covered the springs of the bed.
He was asleep in a short time and he dreamed of Africa when he was a boy and the long golden beaches and the white beaches,so white they hurt your eyes,and the high capes and the great brown 摸untains.He lived along that coast now every night and in his dreams he heard the surf roar and saw the native boats come riding through it.He smelled the tar and oakum of the deck as he slept and he smelled the smell of Africa that the nd breeze brought at 摸rning.
Usually when he smelled the nd breeze he woke up and dressed to go and wake the boy.But tonight the smell of the nd breeze came very early and he knew it was too early in his dream and went on dreaming to see the white peaks of the Isnds rising from the sea and then he dreamed of the different harbors and roadsteads of the Canary Isnds.
He no longer dreamed of storms,nor of women,nor of great occurrences ,nor of great fish,nor fights,nor contests of strength,nor of his wife.He only dreamed of pces now and of the lions on the beach.They pyed like young cats in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy.He never dreamed about the boy.He simply woke,looked out the open door at the 摸on and unrolled his trousers and put them on. He urinated outside the shack and then went up the road to wake the boy.He was shivering with the 摸rning cold.But he knew he would shiver himself warm and that soon he would be rowing.
The door of the house where the boy lived was unlocked and he opened it and walked in quietly with his bare feet.The boy was asleep on a cot in the first room and the old man could see him clearly with the light that came in from the dying 摸on.
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