第5章 The Old Man and the Big Fish[第1页/共16页]

Maybe if I can increase 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.

There was yellow weed on the line 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 in the night.

If there is a hurricane you always see the signs of it in the sky for days ahead,if you are at sea.They do not see it ashore because they do not know what to look for,he thought.The land must make a difference too,in the shape of the clouds. But we have no hurricane coming now.

“I'll kill him though,”he said.“In all his greatness and his glory.”

“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 in comfort.”

He tried to increase the tension,but the line had been taut up to the very edge of the breaking point since he had hooked the fish and he felt the harshness as he leaned back to pull and knew he could put no more strain 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 into it.