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It was cold after the sun went down and the old man's sweat dried cold on his back and his arms and his old legs.

During the day he had taken the sack that covered the bait box and spread it in the sun to dry.

After the sun went down he tied it around his neck so that it hung down over his back and he cautiously worked it down under the line that was across his shoulders now.

The sack cushioned the line and he had found a way of leaning forward against the bow so that he was almost comfortable.

The position actually was only somewhat less intolerable; but he thought of it as almost comfortable.

I can do nothing with him and he can do nothing with me, he thought. Not as long as he keeps this up.

Once he stood up and urinated over the side of the skiff and looked at the stars and checked his course.

The line showed like a phosphorescent streak in the water straight out from his shoulders.

They were moving more slowly now and the glow of Havana was not so strong, so that he knew the current must be carrying them to the eastward.

If I lose the glare of Havana we must be going more to the eastward, he thought.

For if the fish's course held true I must see it for many more hours.

I wonder how the baseball came out in the grand leagues today, he thought.

It would be wonderful to do this with a radio.

Then he thought, think of it always.

Think of what you are doing.

You must do nothing stupid.

Then he said aloud, "I wish I had the boy. To help me and to see this."

No one should be alone in their old age, he thought. But it is unavoidable. I must remember to eat the tuna before he spoils in order to keep strong. Remember, no matter how little you want to, that you must eat him in the morning. Remember, he said to himself.

During the night two porpoise came around the boat and he could hear them rolling and blowing. He could tell the difference between the blowing noise the male made and the sighing blow of the female.

"They are good," he said. "They play and make jokes and love one another. They are our brothers like the flying fish."

Then he began to pity the great fish that he had hooked.

He is wonderful and strange and who knows how old he is, he thought.

Never have I had such a strong fish nor one who acted so strangely.

Perhaps he is too wise to jump.

He could ruin me by jumping or by a wild rush.

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