‘I remember everything from when we first went together.

’The old man looked at him with his sunburned,confident,loving eyes.

‘If you were my boy I'd take you out and gamble,’he said.

‘But you are your father's and your mother's and you are in a lucky boat.

’‘May I get the sardines?I know where I can get four baits too.

’‘I have mine left from today.I put them in salt in the box.

’‘Let me get four fresh ones.’‘One,’the old man said.

His hope and his confidence had never gone.

But now they were freshening as when the breeze rises.

‘Two,’the boy said.‘Two,’the old man agreed.

‘You didn't steal them?’‘I would,’the boy said.‘But I bought these.

’‘Thank you,’the old man said.He was too simple to wonder when he had attained humility.

But he knew he had attained it and he knew it was not disgraceful and it carried no loss of true pride.

‘Tomorrow is going to be a good day with this current,’he said.‘Where are you going?’the boy asked.

‘Far out to come in when the wind shifts.I want to be out before it is light.

’‘I'll try to get him to work far out,’the boy said.‘

Then if you hook something truly big we can come to your aid.

’‘He does not like to work too far out.’‘No,’the boy said.

‘But I will see something that he cannot see such as a bird working and get him to come out after dolphin.’‘

Are his eyes that bad?’‘He is almost blind.’‘It is strange,’the old man said.‘He never went turtling.

That is what kills the eyes.’‘But you went turtling for years off the Mosquito Coast and your eyes are good.’‘

I am a strange old man.’‘But are you strong enough now for a truly big fish?’‘I think so.And there are many tricks.’‘Let us take the stuff home,’the boy said.‘So I can get the cast net and go after the sardines.’They picked up the gear from the boat.The old man carried the mast on his shoulder and the boy carried the wooden box with the coiled,hard braided brown lines,the gaff and the harpoon with its shaft.The box with the baits was under the stern of the skiff along with the club that was used to subdue the big fish when they were brought alongside.No one would steal from the old man but it was better to take the sail and the heavy lines home as the dew was bad for them and,though he was quite sure no local people would steal from him,the old man thought that a gaff and a harpoon were needless temptations to leave in a boat.