Hemingway's Short Stories: Crossing the Sea (5~1)

The ice truck has not yet come to deliver ice to the bar, and the homeless are still leaning against the wall outside the building to sleep, have you ever seen this early morning scene in Havana? But when we sat down in the café, we found that the three men were already waiting for us.

As soon as we were seated, one of them came over.

"How?" he said.

"I can't do that," I told him. "It's not that I won't help you. I told you last night that I can't do it. ”

"Make your own offer. ”

"It's not a question of price. I just can't do it. That's it. ”

The other two had already come over, and the three stood there, all looking very unhappy. They're all the same people, and I think it's a pity that I can't help them with this.

"How about a thousand dollars?" said one of them, speaking English fluently.

"Don't annoy me," I told him. "I don't tell you nonsense, I really can't do it. ”

"When the situation changes, you will have a good life. ”

"I know that. I fully believe your words. But I just can't. ”

"Why?"

"I've got to make a living from this boat. Without a boat, I would have lost my livelihood. ”

"If you have the money, you can buy another one. ”

"Why do you buy it after sitting in the class room?"

They must have thought that they would be able to move me with a little more tongue, because the other one was still talking.

"You can get 3,000 yuan, and you will have a good life in the future. You know, this situation is not going to last long. ”

"Listen," I said. "It doesn't matter who is the president here. Anyway, I have a purpose: as long as I can speak, don't think about taking my ship to the United States. ”

"You mean we're going to talk about it?" said one who never spoke. He was furious.

"What I'm saying is, as long as you can speak, you won't be allowed to go. ”

"你以为我们是longlanguages[1]?"

"I didn't mean that. ”

"你可明白什么叫long language?"

"Understood. It means a person with a long tongue. ”

"Do you know how we deal with people like this?"

"Don't be so cruel to me," I said. "You came to me for a consultation. I didn't come to you. ”

"Don't talk too much, Pancho," said the one who had spoken to the angry one.

"He said we'd get out," Pancho said.

"Listen," I said. "I said to you: As long as you can speak, you will not be allowed to go on my boat. Wine in sacks does not open. The jar of wine in the wicker basket will not open. There are a lot of things that can't be spoken. But people just speak. ”

"Tangshan, too?" said Pan Qiao angrily.

"I can speak, but I don't understand what they're saying," I told them.

"So you don't do it?"

"It's the same sentence last night: I can't do it. ”

"But you're not going to say it, are you?" said Pancho.

He had a misunderstanding of a sentence that made him so angry. Also, the thought in his heart has come to naught, and I think it is also one of the reasons why he is angry. So I simply didn't answer him.

"You're not a Lengua Larga, are you?" he asked, still puffing up.

"Listen," I said to him. "It's early in the Qing Dynasty, don't be so fierce. I'm sure you've killed a lot of people. But I haven't even had coffee today. ”

"So you've seen me kill someone?"

"Come on," I said. "I don't care about you. But can't you be so angry when you do things?"

"I'm just angry right now," he said. "I'm going to kill you. ”

"Oh, what a hell," I said to him. "It's okay for you to say a few words. ”

"All right, Pancho," said the other one. Then he turned back to me and said, "I'm so sorry. I still hope you'll give us a ride. ”

"I'm sorry too. But that can't be done. ”

The three men were ready to leave, and I watched them go. They were all beautiful young people, well-dressed, none of them wore hats, and they all looked like rich people. At least they're all people who say money. The kind of English they speak is also something that only some wealthy Cubans can speak.

There were two who looked like brothers, and the other was Pancho, who was a little taller, but who looked the same. is also a thin figure, well-dressed, and his hair is combed shiny. I don't think he's as rude as he is. It's probably that the temper is quite irritable.

Just as they were going out and turning right, I saw a car with its windows closed coming towards them through the square. Then there was a loud sound, and one of the glasses shattered, and a bullet entered and hit a row of bottles in the sample wine cabinet in the right frame. I heard the gun still smash hard, smack, smack, smash, and the row of bottles against the wall shattered.

I hurried to hide behind the liquor counter on the left, and I could see it clearly from the edge of the counter. The car had long since stopped, and two guys were lying down next to the car. One of them was holding a Tomson submachine gun, and the other was holding a sawn automatic shotgun. The one with the Thomson submachine gun was a black man. The other wears a car driver's white overalls.

One of the three descendants spread his hands and feet, face down, and threw himself on the sidewalk, not far from the large shattered glass window. The other two were hidden behind an ice delivery truck in front of the Chunard Bar next door. Two of these "tropical beer" ice delivery carts were parked in front of the Cunard Bar, one of which was lying on the ground with its harness attached, its feet still kicking there, and the other raising its hind hooves and struggling desperately.

A junior shot back at the corner of the rear of the ice truck, and the bullets flew off the sidewalk. The black man who fired the submachine gun almost cut his face into the pavement, and gave a shuttle to the rear of the ice truck up, and sure enough, he fell down the sidewalk, his head sticking out on the side of the sidewalk. He threw himself there with his head in his hands, and the driver of the car shot him with a shotgun, telling the black man to take advantage of the opportunity to change the round of bullets, but the marksmanship was not accurate and he missed a shot. I saw that little by little on the sidewalk, there were large lead bullet prints, like silver splashing everywhere.

The other boy took the bulleted boy by the leg and dragged him to the back of the ice truck, and I saw the black man press his face down the road again and give them a shuttle. After a while I saw the old man Pancho come out of the back of the ice delivery cart, and flash behind the horse that had not yet fallen. He left the cover of the horse with one leg and his face was as white as a dirty sheet, and he held a large Ruger pistol in one hand, and the other hand helped to hold the gun firmly, and in one fell swoop he shot the driver of the car. He pressed over again, and fired three shots at the black man, two of which flew over the black man's head, and one shot lowered.

He hit a car tire because I saw the air coming out of the tire and kicking up a puff of dust in the street. The black man waited for him to be ten feet away, raised his submachine gun and shot him in the stomach. That must have been the last bullet in his chamber, because I saw him shoot it and threw it away. The panjo man sat down with great difficulty, and then fell headlong forward. He clung to the Ruger and tried to get up, but his head could not be raised, so the black man took the opportunity to pick up the shotgun that had fallen on the wheels beside the driver, and with one shot he had half of his head off. This black charcoal is really powerful.

I saw an open bottle of wine nearby, and whoever brought it and poured it down my throat, and to this day I can't tell what it was drinking. Everything in front of me made me feel very uncomfortable. I ran fast behind the counter and slid out through the back kitchen. I walked all the way around the outer edge of the square, and without even glancing at the crowd that was gathering in front of the café, I entered the gate of the pier, came to the pier, and got on the boat.

The charter guest was already waiting on board. I told him what had happened.

"Where's Eddie?" asked the charterer, Johnson.

"I didn't see him again as soon as the gun started. ”

"Do you think he's going to get shot?"

"Absolutely not. The bullets that came into the café were all on the sample wine cabinet, so I'll cover you up. At that time, the car was driving behind them. The first guy was killed in front of the glass window at this moment. The direction they came from was such an angle......"

"You seem pretty sure," he said.

"I was looking," I told him.

At this point, I looked up and saw Eddie coming up from the docks, looking taller and scruffier than before. When I walked, it was as if the joints of my whole body were falling apart.

"Here he comes. ”

Eddie's face was very ugly. His face was not very good-looking early this morning, but now it is simply ugly.

"Where are you?" I asked him.

"Lying on the ground. ”

"Did you see it all?" Johnson asked him.

"Don't mention it, Mr. Johnson," Eddie said to him. "I want to vomit when I think about it. ”

"You'd better have a drink," Johnson said to him, then turned back to me and asked, "Okay, is it time to sail?"

"You decide. ”

"What's the weather like today?"

"It's pretty much the same as yesterday. Maybe better. ”

"Let's go, then. ”

"Well, anchor as soon as the bait arrives. ”

It's been three weeks since our beautiful yacht went fishing in the Gulfstream, and I haven't seen him except that he has paid me a hundred dollars in advance, paid me the consular fees, cleared customs, bought some food, and filled up enough gas. I provided everything for the ship's application, and he paid thirty-five dollars a day for charter. He slept in a hotel at night and came to the ship every morning. Eddie introduced me to this charter business, so I had to take him with me and give him four dollars a day.

"The boat has to be refueled," I said to Johnson.

"Come on. ”

"Then I'll have to pay some money. ”

"How much?"

"Two cents and eight gallons. Forty gallons are always indispensable. Then it will cost eleven dollars and two cents. ”

He pulled out fifteen dollars.

"Would you like to buy you some beer and ice with extra money?" I asked him.

"Okay," he said. "Anyway, just deduct it from my arrears. ”

I thought to myself: let him pay the bill for three weeks, which is a little longer, but if he can afford to pay the bill, what does it matter if he pays it later? It is said that it is best to pay it on Monday. But now I'm asking him for a month and then asking him for money. I've miscalculated, but it's better to let him wrap it up for a month. It's just that these last few days are left, and I feel a little uneasy looking at him, but I can't say anything, so as not to make him angry with me. As long as he can afford to pay the bills, the longer the bag is held, the better.

"Would you like a beer?" he asked me, opening the fridge.

"No thanks. ”

Just then, our black bait-handling man came running from the docks, and I told Eddie to untie the mooring and set sail.

The black man got into the boat with the bait, and we untethered and set out of the harbor. The black man kept his head buried in his bait with two mackerels: he first put the hook into the mouth of the fish, and then pierced it through the belly of the fish, and then pierced it through the belly of the fish, and then tied the mouth of the fish together on the hook line, and tied the hook firmly so that the hook could not fall off, and second, so that the bait could float smoothly in the water and not spin.

He was a veritable black charcoal, a clever man, but he had a gloomy face, a string of blue voodoo rosaries around his neck in his shirt, and an old straw hat on his head. On the ship, he likes to do two things: sleep and read the newspaper. However, he has a good hand of bait, and he has a quick hand and feet.

"Can't you bait like that, Captain?" Johnson asked me.

"Yes. ”

"Then why do you bring black charcoal for this job?"

"When the big fish come, you'll understand," I told him.

"What do you mean by that?"

"This black man is faster than I am. ”

"Eddie can't do it?"

"Misconduct."

"I always felt that this expense was unnecessary. He gave the black man a dollar a day, and the black man went to the rumba dance every night. I could tell he was feeling a little sleepy by now.

"This man is indispensable," I said.

By this time our boat had already passed the group of fishing boats with fish tanks moored in front of the hut village, and the small boats that were leaning near Fort Moro, which specialized in the fishing of underwater sheepfish[2], so I sailed towards the watershed in the bay, where I could see where there was a dark line. Eddie released two large baits[3], and the black man's bait was already loaded with three fishing rods.

The Gulfstream was almost reaching the nearshore waters, and as the boat headed towards the divide, the Gulfstream was almost purple-red, and the whirlpools were constantly rolling. A slight east wind blew on the sea, and we were startled by a lot of flying fish, and when the big ones flew out, they looked like watching a movie of Lin Bai [4] flying across the Atlantic.

The appearance of those big flying fish is the best sign. At this time, you can see a small stall of yellowed sargassum fruit, which means that the main stream of the Gulf Stream has arrived, and you can see birds pecking at schools of small tuna there in the foreground. You can see the tuna jumping out of the water, but they are all small fish, only two or three pounds each.

"Now it's time to let the rods go," I said to Johnson.

He harnessed his belt, fastened the safety rope, and lowered the large fishing rod with Hardy-style reels with 600 yards of 36 lines wound around them. I looked back and saw that his bait was well dragged behind the boat, going up and down with the waves, and the two baits were sometimes in the water and sometimes out of the water. Seeing that the speed was about right, I headed the boat towards the Gulf Stream.

"Stick the rod in the socket on the chair," I told him. "It doesn't feel heavy to hold the rod that way. Don't tighten the brake screws on the reel, so that you can use it when the fish is hooked. If you screw it on, the hooked fish will have to throw you into the sea. ”

I have to tell him that every day, but I'm not afraid of nagging. Only one out of fifty of these chartered fishing guests knows how to fish. It's just that you know some doorways, and your mind is very simple, and you always refuse to use a stronger line, and if the line is not firm, how can you eat a big fish.

"What do you think of the day?" he asked me.

"It couldn't be better," I told him. It's going to be a sunny day, you can't be wrong.

I let the black man steer for me for a while, and told him to follow the edge of the Gulf Stream due east, and I went back to Johnson, where I saw Johnson sitting and watching the bait go up and down the waves.

"Do you want me to put another rod out?" I asked him.

"No," he said. "I like that I have to catch the fish with my own hands, and I have to fight and catch it myself. ”

"Okay," I said. "Then do you want to tell Eddie to let the rod out, and if there is a fish on the hook, ask him to give you the rod and you will pull the hook himself?"

"Don't," he said. "I think it's better to just put a fishing rod. ”

"Okay. ”

The black man still drove the boat outward, and when I looked, he found that in the direction of the upper stream, a large field of flying fish suddenly appeared not far ahead. Looking back, I saw that Havana was not spectacular in the sun, and at this moment a ship happened to pass through Fort Morro and leave the port.

"I see that you have a chance that the fish will be hooked today, and you should be able to wrestle a little, Mr. Johnson," I told him.

"It's time," he said. "How many days have we been out at sea?"

"It's been exactly three weeks as of today. ”

"It took three weeks to catch a fish, which is long enough. ”

"The fish here are weird," I told him. "I don't usually see it, but I only have it when I come. But if you don't come, it's enough, and when you come, it's a big piece. The line was never broken. If you don't come now, I'm afraid you won't come again. But the moon is very good. The Gulfstream is also gaining momentum, and the wind is blowing well. ”

"When we first arrived, there were some small fish. ”

"yes," I said. "Didn't I tell you. There are fewer small fish, and if they don't come, it's time for the big fish to appear. ”

"That's how you've always been captains on cruise ships. It's either early or late, or the wind is not in the right direction, or the moon is not good. But you still get the money. ”