[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.The force of the current demanded a steady kick to hold position atop the reef.It was here that he waited for ten minutes until, from out of the north edge, materializing from the cobalt sheen came a large silver fish followed by two others of lesser size.He had never seen the South Pacific mackerel, the wailu, but was certain that these fish were the object of his quest and he pumped up deep breaths and dove.He leveled out at thirty-five feet and waited.He estimated the lead fish to be well over sixty pounds and as it swam directly toward him, driven by a fearless curiosity, he realized the fish could be over eighty pounds, probably more.The fish moved in as if propelled by some other force, for there was no tail or fin movement that he could perceive.In that moment, he forgot his breath, forgot he was under the water and shifted the spear gun to accommodate the elevation change.He waited and tried to focus on the spot behind the gill plate where it bisected the lateral line.When the fish was twelve feet away, he pulled the trigger.The spear shaft spit out into the water like stainless lightning, arched, and fell beneath the fish, which swam lazily away.Rising to the surface on hurried kicks, he realized that the ultra-clear water had fooled him badly.The fish appeared much closer than it actually was, or it was much larger than it appeared or, more likely, both.Surprisingly, he was neither angry nor frustrated by the missed shot, reasoning that the reef was probably teeming with mackerel.His concern lay more with the degree by which the clear water had tricked him and the compensations he would have to make to correct for the distortion of distance.He reloaded the gun, re-strung the shooting line and worked his way to the north edge of the reef, fighting the current all the way.The fish returned in the same pattern as before, the big one in front, the smaller fish trailing.Dropping to their depth he waited until the big mackerel was so close it seemed that the end of the extended spear gun might well touch it, and let the spear fly.It struck high on the fish, which turned and accelerated for the depths in a rush of raw power.Instantly, he knew he had seen too much of the fish and did not see the small place that would have been the kill shot.The force of the fish’s run was such that he was violently pulled down and dragged like a child’s doll to the depths.He made a feeble attempt to pull the fish toward him but the force, the power of the fish, was beyond his imagining and he quickly submitted to the will of the line.In the violence and power of the fish lay fears he had not reconciled or, for that matter, had a remote notion of their existence.The force of the fish’s run was such that he could feel the seal of his face mask losing its grip around his face and he couldn’t reach up in time to grab it before it was pulled away.Now, for all practical purposes, he was blind in the grip of something well beyond any control and upon that realization he released the spear gun and struck for the surface as the fish hurdled to the depths.Compton reached the surface and raised his arm in signto Moses who came and picked him up.“Jesus, what a fish!” bellowed Compton, getting into the boat.“Silver, with big eyes, a long mouth and a full set of teeth.”“That’s the wailu!” confirmed Moses nodding in approval.“It took the gun, my mask! Unbelievable, I couldn’t imagine such power! The excitement in Compton’s voice shifted down.“I missed the kill spot.It went out over the reef and out of sight.Think we can find it?”“Terrible thing to lose a fish,” said Moses shaking his head.“Very bad.”“We can find it, can’t we? The water is so clear.Throw a line over the side and tow me behind the boat.I should be able to see the gun in the clear water.I have and extra mask in my gear bag but they don’t have corrective lenses.I’m going to have to learn to dive without them, unless they have them on Taveuni.”“Nothing like that on Taveuni,” said Moses who was about to say something else but held his tongue and went about lashing a line to a thwart as Compton donned the new mask and went over the side.He held the line with one hand as Moses put the boat in gear and left the other hand free to guide Moses from ten feet behind the boat.In this fashion they followed the invisible spoor into the fathomless blue.The vast ocean was another country.Having no references for distance or depth it became as disorienting as deep space, with the accompanying sense of insignificance.Compton felt reduced by it, small and vulnerable, as if he were a piece of bait being trolled for larger game.Moses made for a reef a mile away that broke water and seemed to be the logical place the mackerel might run.When they reached the reef, nothing of the fish could be seen nor had the gun popped up as Compton expected it would.He guessed that the fish had probably gone deep and wrapped around a coral outcropping in an attempt to rid itself of the spear and in the doing, break loose from the shooting line and gun.Moses trolled Compton back to the deep reef by way of another route without a sighting.They searched for another hour and when it was clear that neither the gun nor the fish would be found, Compton climbed into the boat and slumped onto a seat thoroughly exhausted.“That was one hell of a fish,” he said.“A big one, eh.”“Yeah, but I don’t know how big.I’ve nothing to compare it to.It could have been eighty pounds or a hundred pounds or more.It was awfully strong.” He paused, staring down at the bottom of the boat.Then almost to himself he whispered, “I wasn’t ready for a fish like that.”Moses said nothing and returned to the outboard and headed for Qamea.At full throttle the boat skimmed across the slick waters with scarcely a bump.Compton sagged in his seat and stared into an opened coconut.The mackerel swam before his eyes as vivid as the sun, shimmering of silver, moving with indomitable power.Out of that vision came the notion that this fish might well have been the Silver Fish that Abraham talked about and he asked Moses about it but he averted Compton’s eyes and shrugged.Compton scarcely noticed, returning to his thoughts.I didn’t see the small spot.I saw too much of the fish, no concentration when it mattered.Suddenly he blurted, ”Where can we get another spear gun?”“That was an old one we fixed up.The new ones are in the store at Somosomo on Taveuni, a full day journey, eh [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]