Hemingway - Big Two-I-Iearted River
Hemingway - Big Two-I-Iearted River
Hemingway - Big Two-I-Iearted River
I
The train went on up the track out of sight, around one of
the hills of bunH timber. Nick sat down on the bundle of
canvas and bedding the baggage man had pitched out of the
door of the baggage car. There was no town, nothing but the
rails and the burned-over country. The thirteen saloons that had
lined the one street of Seney had not left a trace. The foundations of the Mansion House hotel stuck up above the ground.
The stone was cl1ipped and split by the fire. It was all that was
left of the town of Seney. Even the surface had been burned
off the ground.
Nick looked at the burned-over stretch of hillside, where he
had expected to find the scattered houses of the town and
then walked down the railroad track to the bridge over the
river. The river was there. It swirled against the log spiles
of the bridge. Nick looked down into the clear, brown water,
colored from the pebbly bottom, and watched the trout
keeping themselves steady in the current with wavering fins.
As he watched them they changed their positions by quick
angles, only to hold steady in the fast water again. Nick watched
I
[ 177]
many trout in
",""''''''''Dr1 far
surface of the
its surface
the resistance
the
the bottom
at first. Then
big trout
to
a varying mist of
rent.
I was a
Nick looked down into the pool from the
day. A
up the stream. It was a long time
since Nick
into a stream
seen trout They
1
were very
As the shadow of the
Imoved
up
a
trout
upstream in a
angle, only
his shadow marking the angle, then lost his shadov' as h~ came
through
of the water, caught
sun, an then,
as he went
into the stream under the surface, his hadow
the stream with the current, unre isting,
seemed to float
the bridge, where he
fading up
to his post
into the current.
He felt all the
as the trout
Nick's
Ul.L:'H"'C.
feeling.
He turned
BI
TWO-HEARTED RIVER
paralleled the
in the heat,
fire-scarred
the
r,,,,,
J"r\"
....
the
The road climbed
. It
was hard work
His
ached and the
was hot, but
He felt he had
behind, the
\-AUU"""';, the need to write, other needs.
It was all back
From the
baggage man
things had
over
an be burned.
ing in the sun, \..c.lU.l.lU'''~
rated the
The road
Nick went on
burnt hillside, reachE:d
and
as far as he
stopped off at
of dark pine
the line of the
glints of the
There was nr.l"h'r,n
plain ahead of
that
Superior height of
the far blue
could
see them, faint and far away in the heat-light
he
too steadily they were gone. But
over the plain.
if he only naJlr-I~:)O}CeQ
were there, the far-off hills of
height of land.
Nick sat
against the charred stump and smoked a
balanced on the top of the
cigarette. His
holding ready, hollow molded in it from his back. Nick sat
J H L J U ....,\..L
[179 ]
BI
Then it was
fern, growing ankle-high, to walk throllgh
and clumps of jack pines; a long undulating country with
frequent rises
descents sandy underfoot and the country
alive again.
Nick kept
direction by the sun. He knew where he
wa~ted to
the river and he kept on through the pine
plam,
small rises to see other rises ahead of him and
sometimes
the top of a rise a great solid island of pines
off to his right or his left. He broke off some sprigs of the
heathery sweet
and put them under his pack straps. The
chafing crushedit and he smelled it as he walked.
He was tired qlnd very hot, walking across the uneven, shadeless pine plain. At any time
knew he could strike the river
by turning off to his left. I t could not be more than a mile
away. But he kept on toward the north to hit the river as far
upstream as he c,::ould go in one day's walking.
For some time as he walked Nick had been in sight of
o~le of the big islands of pine standing out above the rolling
hIgh ground he 'was crossing. He dipped down and then as he
came slowly up to the crest of the ridge he turned and made
toward the pinel trees.
There was no underbrush in the island of pine trees. The
trunks of the trees went straight up or slanted
each
other. The trunks were straight and brown without branches.
The branches were high abo.ve. Some interlocked to make
a solid shadow on the brown forest floor. Around the grove
of trees was a bqlre space. It was brown and soft underfoot as
Nick walked on it. This was the overlapping of the pine
needle floor, extending out beyond the width of the high
branches. The trees had grmvn tan and the branches moved
high, leaving in the sun this bare space they had once covered
with shadow. Sharp at the edge of this extension of the forest
floor commenced the sweet fern.
[ 181 ]
Nick slipped off his pack and lay down in the shade. He
lay on his back and
up into the pine trees. His n ck
and back and the small of his back rested as he stretched. he
earth felt good against his back. He looked up at the ky,
through the branches, and then shut his eyes. He opened t em
and looked up again. There was a wind high up in the
branches. He shut his eyes again and went to sleep.
Nick woke stiff and cramped. The sun was nearly down. His
pack was heavy and the straps painful as he lifted it on./ He
leaned over with the pack on and picked up the leather [odcase and started out from the pine trees across the sweet ern
toward the river. He knew it could not be more han
a mile.
He came down a hillside covered with stumps in 0 a
meadow.' At the edge of the meadow flowed the river. lick
was glad to get to the river. He walked upstream throng the
meadow. His trousers were soaked with the dew as he wa ked.
After the hot day, the dew had come quickly and he vily.
The river made no sound. It was too fast and smooth. A the
edge of the meadow, before he mounted to a piece of high
ground to make camp, Nick looked down the river a the
trout rising. They were rising to insects come from the s amp
on the other side of the stream when the sun went down.1 The
trout jumped out of water to take them. While Nick w lked
through the little stretch of meadow alongside the st eam,
trout had jumped high out of water. Now as he looked own
the river, the insects must be settling on the surface, f r the
trou t were feeding steadily all down the stream. As far own
the long stretch as he could see, the trout were rising, m~king
circl~s all do~n the surface of the water, as though i1were
startmg to ram.
The ground rose,
and sandy, to overIoo. the
meadow, the stretch of river and the swamp. Nick drJpped
[ 182]
his pack and rod-case and looked for a level piece of ground.
He was very hungry and he wanted to make his camp before
he cooked. Between two jack pines, the ground was quite
lev~L ~e took the ax out of the pack and chopped out two
proJectmg roots. That leveled a piece of ground large enough
to sleep on. He smoothed out the sandy soil with his hand
and pulled all the sweet fern bushes by their roots. His hands
smelled goo~ frqm the sweet fern. He smoothed the uprooted
earth. He dId not want anything making lumps under the
blankets. When he had the ground smooth, he spread his three
blankets. One he folded double, next to the ground. The other
two he spread on top.
With the ax he slit off a bright slab of pine from one of
the stumps and split it into pegs for the tent.
wanted them
long and solid to hold in the ground. \tVith the tent unpacked
a~d spread on the ground, the pack, leaning against a jack
pme, looked much smaller. Nick tied the rope that served
the tent for a ridgepole to the trunk of one of the pine trees
and pulled the tent up off the ground with the other end of
the rope and tied it to the other pine. The tent hung on
the rope like a canvas blanket on a clothesline. Nick poked
a pole he had cut up under the back peak of the canvas and
t?en made it a tent by pegging out the sides. He pegged the
~Ides out taut and drove the pegs deep, hitting them down
mto the .ground with the flat of the ax until the rope loops
were buned and! the canvas was drum tight.
Across the open mouth of the tent Nick fixed cheesecloth to
keep ?ut m~squitoes. He crawled inside under the mosquito
bar WIth vanous: things from the pack to put at the head of
the bed under the slant of the canvas. Inside the tent the
light came thro~gh the brown canvas. It smelled pleasantly of
~anvas.. Already! there was something mysterious and homelIke. NIck was happy as he crawled inside the tent.
had
[183J
BI
TWO-HEARTED RIVER
not been
outside. It was
in
tent.
Nick went over to the
and
with his fing rs, a
long nail in a paper sack
nails, in
bottom
the ack.
He drove it into the
tree,
it close and hi. ting
it
the flat of the ax. He hung the pack up a the
nail.
his supplies were in the
were a the
ground and sheltered now.
not believe he had ever
was
He
a can of pork and
hungrier. He opened and
pan.
and a can of spaghetti in to
of stuff, if
willili g to
"I've got a
to eat this
",f-r"nrTD in the da
carry "Nick said. His voice
LlllLJ'''""U
[184 ]
"Chrise,"
He ate the
Nick finished
the plate shiny.
ham ",n~rln"'Ah
been a very
but had not
hours
if
places to camp
Nick tucked
flared up. He
of the
the hill, across
other bank was
as he knelt on
the stream. It
water was ice
up to the
Out
[185 ]
BIG
In the morning the sun was up and the tent was starting
to get hot. Nick crawled out under the mosquito netting
stretched across the mouth of
tent to look at the morning.
The grass was wet on his hands as he came out. He held his
trousers and his shoes in his hands. The sun was just up over
the hill. There was the meadow, the river and the
There were birch trees in the
of the swamp on the other
side of the river.
The river was dear and smoothly fast in the early morning.
Down about two hundred yards were three logs all the way
across the stream. They made the water smooth and deep
[186 ]
[187 ]
II
[ 188]
made heavy to lift back in the air and come forward flat a d
heavy and straight to make it possible to cast a fly which as
no weight. Nick opened the aluminum leader box. The lead rs
were coiled between the damp flannel pads. Nick had wet le
pads at the water cooler on the train up to St. Ignace. In he
damp pads the gut leaders had softened and Nick unrol ed
one and tied it by a loop at the end to the heavy fly line. e
fastened a hook on the end of the leader. It was a small ho k,
get a grasshopper.
The first grasshopper gave a jump in the neck of the b ttle
and went out into the water. He was sucked under in the
whirl by Nick's right leg and came to the surface a little way
down stream. He floated rapidly, kicking. In a quick circle,
breaking the smooth surface of the water, he
A
trout had taken him.
Another hopper! poked his head out of the bottle. His
antennae wavered. IHe was getting his front legs out of the
bottle to jump. Nick took him by the head and held him while
he threaded the slim hook under his chin, down through his
thorax and into thellast segments of his abdomen. The grasshopper took hold of the hook with his front feet, spitting
tobacco juice on it. Nick dropped him into the water.
Holding the rod Iin his right hand he let out line against
the pull of the grclsshopper in the current. He stripped off
line from the reel with his left hand and let it run free. He
could see the hopper in the little waves of the current. It went
out of sigh t.
There was a tug Ion the line. Nick pulled against the taut
line. It was his first strike. Holding the now living rod across
the current, he brought in the line with his left hand. The
rod bent in jerks, the trout pumping against the current. Nick
knew it was a small one. He lifted the rod straight up in the
air. It bowed with the pull.
He saw the trout in the water jerking with his head and
body against the shifting tangen t of the line in the stream.
Nick took the line in his left hand and pulled the trout,
thumping tiredly against the current, to the surface. flis back
was mottled the clear, water-over-gravel color, his side flashing
in the sun. The rod under his right arm, Nick stooped, dipping
his right hand into the current. He held the trout, never still,
with his moist right hand, while he unhooked the barb from
his mouth, then dr'OPped him back into the stream.
He hung unsteadily in the current, then settled to the bottom beside a stone. Nick reached down his hand to touch him ,
[190 ]
[ 191 )
There was a
tug. Nick
and
rod came alive
and dangerous,
out
double, the line tightening,
of water, hnhh:>n
all in a heavy, dangerous, steady
Nick felt
the leader
break if the
strain increased
let the line go.
The reel
in to a mechanical shriek as the line
went ont in a
Nick could not check it, the line
rushing out, the
note rising as the line ran out.
\\lith the core
showing,
feeling stopped
with the PVl"' ....:>n-.'ont leaning back against the current that
mounted icily
thighs,
the reel hard with his
left hand. It
awkward getting
thumb inside the fly
reel frame.
As he put on
the line
into sudden hardness and beyond
logs a
trout went high out of water.
As he jumped,
the tip of the rod. But he felt, as
he dropped the
to ease the strain, the moment when the
strain was too
the
tigh t. Of course, the
leader had
There was no
feeling vvhen
spring left the
and it became
Then it went
slack.
His mouth
his heart down, Nick reeled in. He had never
seen so big a
There was a
a power not to be
held, and then
bulk of him, as he
He looked as
broad as a
Nick's hand
shaky. He reeled in slowly. The thrill had
been too
felt,
a little sick, as
it
would be better
sit
The leader
broken
the hook was tied to it.
Nick took it in
hand. He
the trout somewhere
on the bottom,
himself steady over the gravel, far
dovvn below the
under
logs, with the
in his
jmv. Nick knew
trout's teeth would cut through the snell
[192 ]
[193 ]
"(HllA\o'!!
U,-,"','-'lA'<;"
[194 ]
BIG
WO-HEARTED RIVER
in them,
to the edge of
could see deep cnaml1eJS,
the stream by
and
and
the tree roots,
ruts of deep
Nick
and the line,
one of the deep cn:,mrlelS
Nick h,.,.,,",..on
Holding
.. ,....'O~'"'.-Drl tree and sloshing backward in
the rod """""''-'UA;:;;'
open river.
rent, Nick h r ..."1t"h
the spring of the
underwater, but
stream with the
trout over
The trout
mottled trout back and
silver sides in
heavy sides,
good to hold,
and big, '''''~'''I''''
in the water.
Nick spread
mouth of the sack against the current and
it filled, heavy
water. He held it up, the
in the
stream, and the
out
sides.
in the water.
at the bottom
Nick moved do'wnstr,earn. The sack out ahead of
from
heavy in the
It was getting
on
back of
sun
neck.
Nick had one
trout. He did not care
getting
[195]
BIG
WO-HEARTED RIVER
(196 ]
[197 ]
S STORIES
it and
hard
the
The trout
the log in the shade and
same
laid them
the
trout in the stream.
he held them
they
live fish. Their
He washed his hands and dried them on
laid
trout on the sack spread out on
tied the bundle and put it in the
blade stuck in the
it in his
his rod, the
the water and
cut up into the
back to camp. He
through the trees. There
fish
.. n,rI1POf'
(199]