“here ill be bad eather in three or four days,”he said.

“ut not tonight and no no to get some slee,old man,hile the fish is calm and steady.”

e held the line tight in his right hand and then ushed his thigh against his right hand as he leaned all his eight against the ood of th he assed the line a little loer on his shoulders and braced his left hand on it.

y right hand can hold it as long as it is braced, h it relaxes in slee my left hand ill ake me as the line goe is hard on the righ he is used t if slee tenty minutes or a half an hour it i lay forard craming himself against the line ith all of his body,utting all his eight onto his right hand, and he a did not dream of the lions but instead of a vast school of oroises that stretched for eight or ten miles and it as in the time of their mating and they ould lea high into the air and return into the same hole they had made in the ater hen the he dreamed that he as in the village on his bed and there as a norther and he as very cold and his right arm as aslee because his head had rested on it instead of that he began to dream of the long yello beach and he sa the first of the lions come don onto it in the early dark and then the other lions came and he rested his chin on the ood of the bos here the shi lay anchored ith the evening off-shore breeze and he aited to see if there ould be more lions and he a moon had been u for a long time but he slet on and the fish ulled on steadily and the boat moved into the tunnel o oke ith the jerk of his right fist coming u against his face and the line burning out through his righ had no feeling of his left hand but he braked all he could ith his right and the line rushe his left hand found the line and he leaned back against the line and no it burned his back and his left hand,and his left hand as taking all the strain and cuttin looked back at the coils of line and they ere feedin then the fish jumed making a great bursting of the ocean and then a heav he jumed again and again and the boat as going fast although line as still racing out and the old man as raising the strain to breaking oint and raising it to breaking oint again an had been ulled don tight onto the bo and his face as in the cut slice of dolhin and he could no is hat e aited for,h no let us take it.

ake him ay for the line,h him ay for it.

e could not see the fish's jums but only heard the breaking of the ocean and the heavy slash as h seed of the line as cutting his hands badly but he had alays knon this ould haen and he tried to kee the cutting across the calloused arts and not let the line sli into the alm nor cut th the boy as here he ould et the coils of line,h the boy er the boy er line ent out and out and out but it as sloing no and he as making the fish earn each inch of it.

o he got his head u from the ood and out of the slice of fish that his cheek ha he as on his knees and then he rose sloly to hi as ceding line but more sloly all th orked back to here he could feel ith his foot the coils of line that he could no as lenty of line still and no the fish had to ull the friction of all that ne line through th,h no he has jumed more than a dozen times and filled the sacks along his back ith air and he cannot go don dee to die here cannot bring him u.

e ill start circling soon and then must ork o hat started him so suddenly?

ould it have been hunger that made him deserate,or as he frightened by something in the night?

aybe he suddenly fel he as such a calm,strong fish and he seemed so fearless and s is strange.

“ou better be fearless and confident yourself, old man,”he said.

“ ou're holding him again but you cannot ge soon he has to circle .”

he old man held him ith his left hand and his shoulders no and stooed don and scooed u ater in his right hand to get the crushed dolhin flesh off hi as afraid that it might nauseate him and he ould vomit and lose hi his face as cleaned he ashed his right hand in the ater over the side and then let it stay in the salt ater hile he atched the first light come before th's headed almost east,h means he is tired and going ith th he ill have t our true or he judged that his right hand had been in the ater long enough he took it out and looked at it.

“t is not bad.”he said.

“nd ain does not matter to a man.”

e took hold of the line carefully so that it did not fit into any of the fresh line cuts and shifted his eight so that he could ut his left hand into the sea on the other side of the skiff.

“ou did not do so badly for something orthless,”he said to his left hand.

“ut there as a moment hen could not find you.”

hy as not born ith to good hands?

it as my fault in not training that on od knos he has had enough chances t did not do so badly in the night,though,and he has only crame he crams again let the line cut hi he thought that he kne that he as not being clear-headed and he thought he should che some more of th can't,he tol is better to be light-headed than to lose your strength fro kno cannot kee it if eat it since my face as in it.

ill kee it for an emergency until it goe it is too late to try for strength no throug're stuid, he tol the other flyin as there,cleaned and ready,and he icked it u ith his left hand and ate it cheing the bones carefully and eating all of it don to th has more nourishment than almost any fish, h least the kind of strength that have done hat can,h him begin to circle and let the figh sun as rising for the third time since he had ut to sea hen the fish started t could not see by the slant of the line that the fish a as too early fo just felt a faint slackening of the ressure of the line and he commenced to ull on it gently ith his righ tightened,as alays, but just hen he reached the oint here it ould break,line began to come in.

e slied his shoulders and head from under the line and began to ull in line steadily an used both of his hands in a singing motion and tried to do the ulling as much as he could ith his body and hi old legs and shoulders ivoted ith the singing of the ulling.

“t is a very big circle,”he said.

“ ut he is circling.”

hen the line ould not come in any more and he held it until he sa the dros juming from it in th it started out and the old man knelt don and let it go grudgingly back into the dark ater.

“e is making the far art of his circle no,”h hold all can,h strain ill shorten his circle eac in an hour ill se must convince him and then must kil the fish ket on circling sloly and the old man as et ith seat and tired dee into his bones to hour the circles ere much shorter no and from the ay the line slanted he could tell the fish had risen steadily hile h an hour the old man had been seeing black sots before his eyes and the seat salted his eyes and salted the cut over his eye and on hi as not afraid of the blac ere normal at the tension that he as ulling on th,though,he had felt faint and dizzy and that had orried him.

“ could not fail myself and die on a fish like this.”he said.

“o that have him coming so beautifully,od hel m'll say a hundred ur athers and a hundred ai cannot say them no.”

onsider them said,h'll say the then he felt a sudden banging and jerking on the line he held ith his t as shar and hard-feeling an is hitting the ire leader ith his sear,h as bound t had to d may make him jum though and ould rather he stayed circlin jums ere necessary for him to tak after that each one can iden the oening of the hook ound and he can thro the hook.

“on't jum,fish,”he said.

“ on't jum.”

he fish hit the ire several times more and each time he shook his head the old man gave u a littl hold his ain here it is,h does no contro his ain could drive hi a hile the fish stoed beating at the ire and started circling slol old man as gaining line steadil he felt fain lifted some sea ater ith his left hand and ut it on hi he ut more on and rubbed the back of his neck.

“ have no crams.”he said.

“ e'll be u soon and ca have t't even seak of it.”

e kneeled against the bo and,for a moment,slied the line over his bac'll rest no hile he goes out on the circle and then stand u and ork on him hen he comes in,h as a great temtation to rest in the bo and let the fish make one circle by himself ithout recovering an hen the strain shoed the fish had turned to come toard the boat,the old man rose to his feet and started the ivoting and the eaving ulling that brought in all the line h'm tireder than have ever been,he thought,and no the trade ind i that ill be good to take him i that badly.

“'ll rest on the next turn as he goes out,”he said.
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