第6章 Tired of the Old Man[第8页/共14页]

I do not understand these things,he thought.But it is good that we do not have to try to kill the sun or the moon or the stars.It is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers.

He slid the carcass overboard and looked to see if there was any swirl in the water.But there was only the light of its slow descent.He turned then and placed the two flying fish inside the two fillets of fish and putting his knife back in its sheath,he worked his way slowly back to the bow.His back was bent with the weight of the line across it and he carried the fish in his right hand.

Back in the stern he turned so that his left hand held the strain of the line across his shoulders and drew his knife from its sheath with his right hand.The stars were bright now and he saw the dolphin clearly and he pushed the blade of his knife into his head and drew him out from under the stern.He put one of his feet on the fish and slit him quickly from the vent up to the tip of his lower jaw.Then he put his knife down and gutted him with his right hand,scooping him clean and pulling the gills clear.He felt the maw heavy and slippery in his hands and he slit it open.There were two flying fish inside.They were fresh and hard and he laid them side by side and dropped the guts and the gills over the stern. They sank leaving a trail of phosphorescence in the water. The dolphin was cold and a leprous gray-white now in the starlight and the old man skinned one side of him while he held his right foot on the fish's head.Then he turned him over and skinned the other side and cut each side off from the head down to the tail.