I wonder what he made that lurch for,he thought.The wire must have slipped on the great hill of his back.Certainly his back cannot feel as badly as mine does.But he cannot pull this skiff for ever,no matter how great he is.Now everything is cleared away that might make trouble and I have a big reserve of line;all that a man can ask.
‘Fish,'he said softly,aloud,‘I'll stay with you until I am dead.'
He'll stay with me too,I suppose,the old man thought and he waited for it to be light.It was cold now in the time before daylight and he pushed against the wood to be warm.I can do it as long as he can,he thought.And in the first light the line extended out and down into the water.The boat moved steadily and when the first edge of the sun rose it was on the old man's right shoulder.
‘He's headed north,'the old man said.The current will have set us far to the eastward,he thought.I wish he would turn with the current.That would show that he was tiring.
When the sun had risen further the old man realized that the fish was not tiring.There was only one favourable sign.The slant of the line showed he was swimming at a lesser depth.That did not necessarily mean that he would jump.But he might.
‘God let him jump,'the old man said.‘I have enough line to handle him.'
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 sacs along his backbone with air and then he cannot go deep to die.
He tired 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.
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.
‘Fish,'he said,‘I love you and respect you very much.But I will kill you dead before this day ends.'
Let us hope so,he thought.
A small bird came toward the skiff from the north.He was a warbler and flying very low over the water.The old man could see that he was very tired.
The bird made the stern of the boat and rested there.Then he flew around the old man's head and rested on the line where he was more comfortable.
‘How old are you?'the old man asked the bird.‘Is this your first trip?'
The bird looked at him when he spoke.He was too tired even to examine the line and he teetered on it as his delicate feet gripped it fast.
‘It's steady,'the old man told him.‘It's too steady.You shouldn't be that tired after a windless night.What are birds coming to?'
The hawks,he thought,that come out to sea to meet them.But he said nothing of this to the bird who could not understand him anyway and who would learn about the hawks soon enough.
‘Take a good rest,small bird,'he said.‘Then go in and take your chance like any man or bird or fish.'
It encouraged him to talk because his back had stiffened in the night and it hurt truly now.
‘Stay at my house if you like,bird,'he said.‘I am sorry I cannot hoist the sail and take you in with the small breeze that is rising.But I am with a friend.'
Just then the fish gave a sudden lurch that pulled the old man down on to the bow and would have pulled him overboard if he had not braced himself and given some line.
The bird had flown up when the line jerked and the old man had not even seen him go.He felt the line carefully with his right hand and noticed his hand was bleeding.
‘Something hurt him then,'he said aloud and pulled back on the line to see if he could turn the fish.But when he was touching the breaking point he held steady and settled back against the strain of the line.
‘You're feeling it now,fish,'he said.‘And so,God knows,am I.'
He looked around for the bird now because he would have liked him for company.The bird was gone.
You did not stay long,the man thought.But it is rougher where you are going until you make the shore.How did I let the fish cut me with that one quick pull he made?I must be getting very stupid.Or perhaps I was looking at the small bird and thinking of him.Now I will pay attention to my work and then I must eat the tuna so that I will not have a failure of strength.
‘I wish the boy were here and that I had some salt,'he said aloud.
Shifting the weight of the line to his left shoulder and kneeling carefully he washed his hand in the ocean and held it there,submerged,for more than a minute watching the blood trail away and the steady movement of the water against his hand as the boat moved.
‘He has slowed much,'he said.
The old man would have liked to keep his hand in the salt water longer but he was afraid of another sudden lurch by the fish and he stood up and braced himself and held his hand up against the sun.It was only a line burn that had cut his flesh.But it was in the working part of his hand.He knew he would need his hands before this was over and he did not like to be cut before it started.
‘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 knelt down and found the tuna under the stern with the gaff and drew it toward him keeping it clear of the coiled lines.Holding the line with his left shoulder again,and bracing on his left hand and arm,he took the tuna off the gaff hook and put the gaff back in place.He put one knee on the fish and cut strips of dark red meat longitudinally from the back of the head to the tail.They were wedge shaped strips and he cut them from next to the back bone down to the edge of the belly.When he had cut six strips he spread them out on the wood of the bow,wiped his knife on his trousers,and lifted the carcass of the bonito by the tail and dropped it overboard.
