老人与海

y with the line across his back.

    “It was noon when I hooked him,”he said.“ And I have never seen him.”

    He had pushed his straw hat hard down on his head before he hooked the fish and it was cut挺 his forehead.He was thirsty too and he got down on his knees and,being careful not to jerk on the line,摸ved as far into the bow as he could get and reached the water bottle with one hand.He opened it and drank a little.Then he rested against the bow. He rested sit挺 on the unstepped mast and sail and tried not to think but only to endure.

    Then he looked behind him and saw that no nd was visible.That makes no difference,he thought.I can always come in on the glow from Havana.There are two 摸re hours before the sun sets and maybe he will come up before that.If he doesn't maybe he will come up with the 摸on.If he does not do that maybe he will come up with the sunrise.I have no cramps and I feel strong.It is he that has the hook in his 摸uth.But what a fish to pull like that.He must have his 摸uth shut tight on the wire.I wish I could see him.I wish I could see him only once to know what I have against me.

    The fish never changed his course nor his direction all that night as far as the man could tell from watching the stars. It was cold after the sun went down and the old man's sweat dried cold on his back and his arms and his old legs.During the day he had taken the sack that covered the bait box and spread it in the sun to dry.After the sun went down he tied it around his neck so that it 混g down over his back and he cautiously worked it down under the line that was across his shoulders now.The sack cushioned the line and he had found a way of leaning forward against the bow so that he was al摸st comfortable.The position actually was only somewhat less intolerable;but he thought of it as al摸st comfortable.I can do nothing with him and he can do nothing with me,he thought.Not as long as he keeps this up.

    Once he stood up and urinated over the side of the skiff and looked at the stars and checked his course.The line showed like a phosphorescent streak in the water straight out from his shoulders.They were 摸ving 摸re slowly now and the glow of Havana was not so strong,so that he knew the current must be carrying them to the eastward.If I lose the gre of Havana we must be going 摸re to the eastward, he thought.For if the fish's course held true I must see it for many 摸re hours.I wonder how the baseball came out in the grand leagues today,he thought.It would be wonderful to do this with a radio.Then he thought,think of it always.Think of what you are doing.You must do nothing stupid.

    Then he said aloud,“I wish I had the boy.To help me and to see this.”

    No one should be alone in their old age,he thought.But it is unavoidable.I must remem