But in the dark now and no glow showing and no lights and only the wind and the steady pull of the sail he felt that perhaps he was already dead.He put his two hands together and felt the palms.They were not dead and he could bring the pain of life by simply opening and closing them.He leaned his back against the stern and he knew he was not dead.His shoulders told him.
“Don't be silly,”he said aloud.“And keep awake and steer.You may have much luck yet.”
“It will be dark soon,”he said.“Then I should see the glow of Havana.If I am too far to the eastward I will see the lights of one of the new beaches.”
He put his hands in the water again to soak them.It was getting late in the afternoon and he saw nothing but the sea and the sky.There was more wind in the sky than there had been,and soon he hoped that he would see land.
He liked to think of the fish and what he could do to a shark if he were swimming free.I should have chopped the bill off to fight them with,he thought.But there was no hatchet and then there was no knife.
The old man could hardly breathe now and he felt a strange taste in his mouth.It was coppery and sweet and he was afraid of it for a moment.But there was not much of it.