第6章 Tired of the Old Man[第1页/共14页]

The sun and his steady movement of his fingers had uncramped his left hand now completely and he began to shift more of the strain to it and he shrugged the muscles of his back to shift the hurt of the cord a little.

“With so much flying fish there should be dolphin,”he said,and leaned back on the line to see if it was possible to gain any on his fish.But he could not and it stayed at the hardness and waterdrop shivering that preceded breaking. The boat moved ahead slowly and he watched the airplane until he could no longer see it.

The sky was clouding over to the east and one after another the stars he knew were gone.It looked now as though he were moving into a great canyon of clouds and the wind had dropped.

“But you have not slept yet,old man,”he said aloud.“ It is half a day and a night and now another day and you have not slept.You must devise a way so that you sleep a little if he is quiet and steady.If you do not sleep you might become unclear in the head.”

Then he was sorry for the great fish that had nothing to eat and his determination to kill him never relaxed in his sorrow for him.How many people will he feed,he thought. But are they worthy to eat him?No,of course not.There is no one worthy of eating him from the manner of his behavior and his great dignity.