Hemingway's Short Stories: Crossing the Sea (5~4)

Ever since I saw that Tangshan guy and accepted the deposit, I have always felt uneasy about this transaction. I can't sleep well at night. I sailed back to San Francisco and found Eddie waiting for me on the pier.

"Hey, Harry," he waved at me. I threw him the cable at the stern, and when he had tied it, he jumped on board: he looked taller, his sleepy eyes were more blinded, and he was even more drunk. I didn't say a word to him.

"What are you going to do with that Johnson guy just slipped away, Harry?" he asked me. "Did you hear anything?"

"Get out of the way," I told him. "You make me feel sick when I look at it. ”

"Dude, don't I feel as unhappy as you about this?"

"You get off the boat for me," I said to him.

But he leaned comfortably back in his chair and stretched out his legs. "I heard we were going to cross the sea today," he said. "yes, I don't think it's a big deal to stay here. ”

"You're not going. ”

"What's going on, Harry, what's the point of being angry with me?"

“没意思吗？你给我下船去。 ”

"Oh, don't get angry. ”

I punched him in the face, and he got to his feet, and finally got off the boat and into the dock.

"I would never have done this to you, Harry," he said.

"I don't want you on board," I told him. "That's it. ”

"Then why hit me?"

"You only believe it after beating you. ”

"But what are you going to do with me? stay here and starve?"

"Hungry, fart!" I said. "You can go to the ferry and work. Wouldn't it be possible to return home if you work on a ship?"

"It's so unjust for you to treat me like that," he said.

"Who are you doing justice again, you drunkard?" I said to him. "You will betray even your own wife. ”

I'm not wrong. Still, I regret beating him. What it's like to be a drunkard, you know it even if you don't say it. But now that there is such a situation in front of me, I can't take him with me on this ship anymore, and I can't take him anymore if I want to.

He walked down the docks, looking like he had been hungry for at least three meals. But after a few steps, he turned back again.

"How about I bring a few bucks, Harry?"

I drew a five-dollar bill from the Tangshan guy and gave it to him.

"I knew you were a good friend. Harry, why don't you take me with you?"

"You're a bad spirit. ”

"You're angry," he said. "It's okay, old man. You'll be willing to meet with me in the future. ”

With the money in his hand, he walked much faster, but even so, it was really disgusting to see him walk. Look at the way he looks, it's like the joints of his body are reversed.

So I went ashore and went to Pera to meet the chargé d'affaires of the customs broker, and he gave me the papers, and I invited him to a drink. I was there for lunch when Frankie came in.

"Someone told me to give this to you," he said, handing me a roll of something, like some kind of tube, wrapped in paper and tied with a red rope. When I opened it, it looked like a photograph, and I thought it was someone on the dock who took a picture of my boat, so I opened it up and looked at it.

Wow. It's a picture, it's a close-up, but it's a dead black man's head and chest, and his neck is cut off in the middle, and then it's carefully sewn, and there's a piece of paper on his chest that reads in Spanish: "That's how we dealt with Lenguas Largas." ”

"Who gave it to you?" I asked Frankie.

He pointed to a Spanish boy who used to do chores on the docks. The young man was standing in front of the light dining counter, and he was almost a little drunk with beer.

"Ask him to come over. ”

The lad came. He said it was handed to him by two young men at about eleven o'clock. They asked him if he knew me, and he said yes. Then he told Frankie to give me the stuff. They also gave him a dollar and told him to deliver it to me. According to him, they were all very well-dressed.

"It's not good," Frankie said.

"That's it," I said.

"They thought you told the police: you happened to meet the boys here the morning of the accident. ”

"Yes. ”

"That's not a good thing," Frankie said. "You're better gone. ”

"Did they leave any messages?" I asked the Spanish lad.

"No," he said. "I'll leave this to you. ”

"I just have to go now," I said to Frankie.

"That's not a good thing," Frankie said. "It's really bad. ”

I rolled up a roll of all the documents that the customs broker had given me, paid the bill, and walked out of the café, and then walked through the square and into the dock gate, until I passed the warehouse and came to the dock, and then I breathed a big sigh of relief. Those boys must have their eyes on me. They're too stupid, how could I leak the secrets of their opponents to others. Those boys were just like Pancho. As soon as they are frightened, they will burst into flames, and when they are on fire, they will kill.

I'll get on the boat and heat up the engine first. Frankie stood on the dock and watched. He always had the weird smile of a deaf man on his face. And I went back to him.

"Listen," I said. "You must not get involved in this, lest you get into trouble. ”

He can't hear me. I had to shout at him.

"I never do bad things," Frankie said. He untied the ship's cables.

Frankie threw the bow cable into the boat, and I waved at him, and the boat was out of the berth and down the course. A British cargo ship was about to leave the port when I overtook it. Out of the harbor, past Fort Morro, I turned the bow due north and headed in the direction of Key West. I dropped the steering wheel, went to the bow, wound the cables, and came back to take the rudder, Havana was still in the stern, and in the blink of an eye it was far behind, ushering in a green vein.

After a while Fort Morro was gone, and after a while the National Hotel was gone, and finally only the dome of the Capitol was still visible. Compared to the last day we went out fishing, the current was not too fast, and the wind was only a light breeze. I saw two small sailing boats coming towards the port of Havana, coming from the west, so I knew that the current was relatively gentle.

I turned off the switch and turned off the engine. There is no point in wasting gasoline in vain. I drifted by boat. When it was dark, I could see the lights of Fort Moro, but drifted farther away, and the lights of Kaushimar should have been visible, and then I would have sailed the boat to the shore as far as Bakulanau. At this rate, I estimate that the boat will drift twelve miles after dark, just as far as Bakulanau, and I will be able to see the lights of Balakuaw.

With the engine turned off, I climbed onto the bow of the boat and looked around. In the middle of nowhere, I saw two small galleons heading towards the harbor in the west, and the white dome of the Capitol stood at the edge of the sea. There are some sargassumas floating in the Gulf Stream, and some birds peck at fish there, but not much. I sat on the roof of the cabin for a while, watching, but there were no other fish to be seen, except for a few small brown fish that floated after sargassum. Friends, don't listen to people's nonsense, think that the sea between Havana and Key West is not big. I'm just on the edge of the ocean.

It took me a while to get back to the helms' cabin below, and I didn't expect Eddie to be there!

"What's going on? What's wrong with this engine?"

"It's broken. ”

"Why didn't you close the hatch?"

"Oh, what the hell!" I said.

Do you know what tricks he played? It turns out that he slipped back in, crept into the front hatch, and slept in the cabin. He also brought two bottles of wine. As soon as he saw the hotel, he quickly bought wine and came to the ship. He woke up a moment while my ship was moving, but then fell asleep again. I drove into the bay and turned off the car, and the boat swayed a little with the waves, which woke him up.

"I knew you'd take mine, Harry," he said.

"Take your fart," I said. "Your name is not on the crew list at all. I'd like to tell you to jump into the sea. ”

"You're really good at telling jokes, Harry," he said. "We 'conchs' have a problem, we should be twisted into a rope. ”

"You," I said, "you're the worst of your mouth." You're hot-headed, who else can believe your mouth?"

"I'm a good man, Harry. Test me if I don't believe in me, see how good I am as a person. ”

"Bring me two bottles of wine," I said to him. But then I had something else in mind.

He took the wine out, and I took a sip of the bottle that had been opened, and took the two bottles together and placed them beside the steering wheel. He's still standing there, and I'm looking at him. I felt pity for him and felt sorry for the fact that I had to treat him like this. Alas, when I first met him, he was such a nice man.

"What's wrong with this machine, Harry?"

"Nothing. ”

"So what's going on? Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

"Brother," I said to him, feeling pity for him in my heart, "you are in trouble. ”

"What do you mean, Harry?"

"I can't say it right now," I said. "It's not clear whether it's long or short. ”

We sat there for a while, and I really didn't want to talk to him anymore. Once I had this thought, I found it difficult to say a word to him. Then I went down and took out an air gun and a 3030[10] Winchester, which had been hidden in the cabin, and attached the holster to the place under the hatch where the fishing rod was usually hung, that is, above the steering wheel, and I could reach it as soon as I reached out. I've always kept my gun well oiled and hidden in a short wool sheath. On ships, the only way to protect against gun rust is to use this method.

I turned on the air gun and pulled it a few times, then closed it again and pushed a bullet into the chamber. I loaded the Winchester gun in the chamber and filled the magazine. I pulled out a Smith & Wesson 38 pistol from under the mat, which I used when I was a police officer in Miami, and I wiped it, oiled it, loaded it with bullets, and put it on my belt.

"What's going on?" said Eddie. "What the hell is going on?"

"Nothing," I said to him.

"What do you want those goddamn guns for?"

"I've always carried these guns with me," I said. "If a bird comes to peck at the bait, it can be used to hunt birds, and sharks are often seen around the islands, so you can defend yourself if you encounter one. ”

"Damn, what the hell is going on?" said Eddie. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," I said to him. I sat there, and as soon as the boat rocked, my fulcrum slammed into my legs. I looked at him. I wondered again: what's the point of doing this now? I need him now.

"We're going to do a little thing," I said. "Agreed to go to Bakulanau. I'll tell you what to do when the time comes. ”

I don't want to tell him too soon, the more he thinks about it, the more anxious he becomes, the more scared he becomes, and then he'll be useless.

"You won't find a better helper than me, Harry," he said. "You can't use me. I'll help you with whatever you do. ”

I looked at him: tall, sleepy-eyed, trembling. I didn't say anything.

"Listen to me, Harry, will you just let me take a sip?" he begged me. "I'm not going to get drunk. ”

I gave him a sip and we sat there until it got dark. The sunset was beautiful, and there was a pleasant breeze, and when the sun had completely set, I started my engine and slowly drove the boat towards land.

About a mile offshore, the boat stopped in the dark. As soon as the sun set, the current was already speeding up again, and I saw that it was the high tide. I could see the lights of the Moroburg Lighthouse in the far west, and a blush in Havana, and the lights opposite us were the two lighthouses of Linkang and Balakua. I sailed against the current, past Bakulanau, and almost to Kaushimal. Then I drifted down the river in the boat. It was already quite dark, but I could recognize the ship everywhere, and I couldn't make a mistake. There was not a single light on my boat.

"What the hell is this for, Harry?" Eddie asked me. He grew scared again.

"What do you see?"

"I don't know," he said. "You're in such a hurry to kill me. "I saw that he was going mad with alcohol, and when he leaned close to me, I could only smell a breath, and it stinked like a vulture.

"What time is it?"

"I'll go down and see," he said. Back it was half past nine.

"Are you hungry?" I asked him.

"Not hungry," he said. "You know I just don't have the ability to eat, Harry. ”

"Very well," I said. "Just take a sip. ”

When he had taken a sip, I asked him how he felt, and he said he was happy.

"I'll give you two more sips in a moment," I said to him. "I know you don't have the guts to drink without drinking, but there's not much alcohol on board. So you should save some drinks. ”

"Tell me what's wrong," Eddie said.

"Listen," I said to him in the dark. "We're going to Bakulanau to pick up twelve Tangshankees. After a while, I will ask you to take the helm, and you will take the helm, and you will do whatever I tell you to do. We picked up the twelve Tangshankes onto the ship and locked them in the front cabin. Now you go up to the bow and bolt the hatch from the outside. ”

He went, and against the night sky I saw his dark figure. As soon as he returned, he said, "Harry, can you let me take a sip now?"

"No," I said. "I'll have to rely on wine to strengthen your guts. You can't be left in a wreck. ”

"I'm a good one, Harry. You see. ”

"You're an alcoholic," I said. "Listen. Back there, a Tangshan guy will bring those twelve people. He would give me a sum of money at first. When they're all on the boat, he'll give me a sum of money. When you see that he has given the money for the second time, you turn the bow of the ship and go out to sea. You don't even pay attention to what's going on here. No matter what's going on here, you're going to keep the boat out. Got it?"

"Understood. ”

"Once the ship is out at sea, if any Tangshane guy breaks through the cabin and escapes through the hatch, you take off that air gun and shoot them, and as soon as they come out, you beat them back. Will you use an airsoft gun?"

"No, it won't. You've taught me. ”

"You can't remember what I taught you. Will you make that Winchester?"

"Just blow the bolt and shoot. ”

"Yes," I said. "Don't make holes in the hull. ”

"You'd better let me drink the wine," Eddie said.

"Okay. I'll give you a sip. ”

I actually gave him a big sip. I know that he will not get drunk if he drinks it now, and I am so scared in my heart, how can I get drunk if I drink it. However, each sip can only last for a short time. This time, Eddie drank and spoke in a cheerful tone: "So we're going to transport Tangshanke." Hey, really, don't I always say, if I end up empty-handed one day, I'll go to Yunhuagong. ”

"But have you never been empty-handed before?" I said to him. This guy is still quite interesting.

I gave him three more sips to hold up his guts until half past ten. It's interesting to watch him, and I forget to think about my own thoughts when I see him. I didn't think I would have to wait so much. I calculated that I would set out after dark, and I would sail out to sea to avoid the eyes and ears, and then I could drift along the coast all the way to Kaushimal.

Shortly after eleven o'clock, I saw two lights appear on the headland. I waited a moment, and then I slowly sailed away. Bakulanau is a small bay where there used to be a large wharf for sand. There is also a small river, which rises during the rainy season and breaks away the sandbar at the mouth of the river. In winter, when a strong wind blew from the north, the sand piled up and blocked the mouth of the river.

In the past, there were people who sailed up the river to transport the guavas produced along the river, and the local town was once formed. But the hurricane swept away the town, and now there is only one house left, which was built on the rubble by some Spanish Yankees after the hurricane knocked down the original shack, which they used as a clubhouse and came from Havana every Sunday to swim and picnic. There is also a house that is the escrow's house, but it is far from the beach.

There is a government-appointed custodian in a small place like this along the coast, but I think the Tangshanke must have used his own boat, and he must have bought off the joints. As the ship entered the harbor, I smelled the scent of sea grapes[11] and the aroma of the bushes wafting from the land.

"Go to the bow of the boat," I said to Eddie.

"Try to stay this way and you won't bump into anything," he said. "The boat is going inside, and the reef is over there. "You see, he's a pretty good guy.

"Attention," I said, and I sailed the boat into the harbor, to a place where I thought they could see. If there were no waves crashing on the shore, they should have heard the sound of the engine. I wasn't sure if they saw us, but I didn't want to wait any longer, so I turned on the navigation lights once, and only the red and green ones lit, turned them on and turned them off. Then I turned the bow of the boat again and drove out of the harbor, so that the boat was just outside the mouth of the harbor with the engine not stalled. There are a few small waves coming in waves.