第6章 Tired of the Old Man[第6页/共14页]

Imagine if each day a man must try to kill the moon,he thought.The moon runs away.But imagine if a man each day should have to try to kill the sun?We were born lucky,he thought.

“What an excellent fish dolphin is to eat cooked,”he said.“And what a miserable fish raw.I will never go in a boat again without salt or limes.”

The old man unhooked the fish,rebaited the line with another sardine and tossed it over.Then he worked his way slowly back to the bow.He washed his left hand and wiped it on his trousers.Then he shifted the heavy line from his right hand to his left and washed his right hand in the sea while he watched the sun go into the ocean and the slant of the big cord.

Back in the bow he laid the two fillets of fish out on the wood with the flying fish beside them.After that he settled the line across his shoulders in a new place and held it again with his left hand resting on the gunwale.Then he leaned over the side and washed the flying fish in the water,noting the speed of the water against his hand.His hand was phosphorescent from skinning the fish and he watched the flow of the water against it. The flow was less strong and as he rubbed the sides of his hand against the planking of the skiff,particles of phosphorus floated off and drifted slowly astern.