To Have and Have Not Read online

  By t/ze same aut/or IN O[JR TIME FIESTA MEN WITHOUT VOMEN A FAREWELL TO ARMS DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON THE TORRENTS OF SPRING WINNER TAKE NOTHING GREEN HILLS OF AFRICA THE FIFTH COLUbIN AND THE FIRST FQ.,R T Y- N I N E FOR WHOM THE BELL TOI, LS zXCROSS THE RIVER AND INTO THE TREES SELECTED STORIES THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA

  ERNEST HEMINGWAY

  TO

  HAVE

  HAVE NOT

  jONATHAN CAPE THIRTY BEDFORD SQUARE LONDON

  FIRST P.BLISHED BY |ONATHAN CAPE OCTOBER I937 SECOND XMPRE,ION O(OBE I 7 THIRD rPssroN OOB r937 RE-IUED IN TIlE HALF-CRO'N FICTION SERIES RE-ISSUED IN TIIE TRAVELI-ERS * LIBRARY I 0 E-ISSUED IN CROVN VO FORMAT REPRINTED 1955

  PD IN GREAT BRITAIN BY BRADFORD AND DICKENS LONDON BOUND BY A, W. BAIN AND CO, I,T1).

  NOTE

  IN view of a recent tendency to identify characters in fiction with real people, it seems proper to state that there are no real people in this volume: both the characters and their names are fictitious. If the name of any living person has been used, the use was purely accidental.

  PART ONE

  HARRY MORGAN Spring

  HARRY MORGAN--SPRING Demijohns can't talk. There's other things that can't talk. Men can talk.' 'Can Chinamen talk?' Pancho said, pretty nasty. 'They can talk but I can't understand them,' I told him. 'So you won't?' 'It's just like I told you last night. I c.an't.' 'But you won't talk?' Pancho said. The one thing that he hadn't understood right had made him nasty. I guess it was disappointment, too. I didn't even answer him. 'You're not a lengua larga, are you?' he asked, 11 nasty. sti'I don't think so.' 'What's that? A threat?' 'Listen,' I told him. 'Don't be so tough so early in the morning. I'm sure you've cut plenty people's throats, i haven't even had my coffee yet.' 'So you're sure I've cut people's throats?' 'No,' I said. 'And I don't give a damn. Can't you do business without getting angry?' 'I am angry now,' he said. 'I would like to kill you.' 'Oh, hell,' I told him. 'Don't talk so much.' 'Come on, Pancho,' the first one said. Then, to me, 'I am very sorry. I wish you would take us.' 'I'm sorry, too. But I can't.' The three of them started for the door, and I watched them go. They were good-looking young fellows, wore good clothes; none of them wore hats, II

  TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT just tittle ones weighing a couple of pounds apiece. 'Put out any time you want,' I told Johnson. He put on his belt and his harness and put out the big rod with the Hardy reel with six hundred yards of thirty-six thread. I looked back and his bait was trolling nice, just bouncing along on the swell, and the two teasers were diving and jumping. We were going just about the right speed and I headed her into the stream. 'Keep the rod butt in the socket on the chair,' i told him. 'Then the rod won't be as heaw. Keep the drag off so you can slack to him when he hits. If one ever hits with the drag on he'll jerk you over- board.' Every day I'd have to tell him the same thing, but I didn't mind that. One out of fifty parties you get know how to fish. Then when they do know half the time they're goofy and want to use line that isn't strong enough to hold anything big. 'How does the day look?' he asked me. 'It couldn't be better,' I told him. It was a pretty day all fight. i gave the nigger the wheel and told him to work along the edge of the stream to the eastward and went back to where Johnson was sitting watching his bait bouncing along. 'Want me to put out another rod?' I asked him. 'I don't think so,' he said. 'I want to hook, fight, and land my fish myself. 'Good,' i said. 'Do you want Eddy to put it x8

  HARRY MORGAN--SPRING race, us wth the sun at our backs; the biggest black marlin I ever saw in my life hit Johnson's bait. We'd put out a feather squid and caught four of those little tuna and the nigger put one on his hook for bait. It trolled pretty heavy but it made a big splash in the wake. Johnson took the harness off the reel so he could put the rod across his knees because his arms got tired holding it in position all fle-time. Because his hands got tired holding the spool of the reel against the drag of the big bait, he screwed the drag down when I wasn't looking. I never knew he had it down. I didn't like to see him hold the rod that way but I hated to be crabbing at him all the time. Besides, with the drag off, line would go out so there wasn't any danger. But it was a sloppy way to fish. I was at the wheel and was working the edge of the stream opposite that old cement factory where it makes deep so close in to shore and where it makes a sort of eddy where there is always lots of bait. Then I saw a splash like a depth bomb and the sword, and eye, and open lower-jaw and huge purple-black head of a black marlin. The whole top fin was up out of water looking as high as a full- rigged ship, and the whole scythe tail was out as he smashed at that tuna. The bill was as big around as a baseball bat and slanted up, and as he grabbed the bait he sliced the ocean wide open. He was solid purple-black, and he had an eye as big as a soup 5

  TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT

  bowl. He was huge. I bet he'd go a thousand pounds. I yelled to Johnson to let him have line, but before i could say a word, I saw Johnson rise up in the air off the chair as thoug h he was being der- ricked, and him holding just for a second on to that rod and the rod bending like a bow, and then the butt caught him in the belly, and the whole works went overboard. He'd screwed the drag fight, and when the fish struck, it lifted Johnson fight out of the chair and he couldn't hold it. He'd had the butt under one leg and the rod across his lap. If he'd had the harness on it would have taken him along, too. I cut out the engine and went back to the stern. He was sitting there holding on to his belly where the rod butt had hit him. 'I guess that's enough for to-day,' I said. 'What was it?' he said to me. 'Black marlin,' I said. 'How did it happen?' 'You figure it out?' I said. 'The reel cost two hundred and fifty dollars. It costs more now. The rod cost me forty-five. There was a little under six hundred yards of thirty-six thread.' Just then Eddy slaps him on the back 'Mr. O J hmon, he says, 'you're just unlucky. You know I never saw that happen before in my life.' 'Shut up, you rummy,' I said to him. 'I tall you, Mr. Johnson,' Eddy said, 'that's the rarest occur.enee I ever saw in my life.' 26

  TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT

  'I'll see,' Frankie said. 'Where will you be?' 'I'll be at the Perla,' I told him. 'I have to eat.' You can get a good meal at the Perla for twenty- five cents. Everything on the menu is a dime except soup, and that is a nickel. I walked as far as there with Frankie, and I went in and he went on. Before he went he shook me by the hand and clapped me on the back again. 'Don't worry,' he said. 'Me Frankie; much politics. Much business. Much drinking. No money. But big friend. Don't worry.' 'So long, Frankie,' I said. 'Don't you worry either, boy.'

  HARRY MORGAN-SPRING

  'Government no let.' 'Hell of a situation,' i sid. 'You do business him?' 'Maybe.' 'Good business,' said Frankie. 'Better than politics. Much money. Plenty big business.' 'Have a bottle of beer,' I told him. 'You not worry any more?' 'Hell, no,' I said. 'Plenty big business. Much obliged.' 'Good,' said Frankie, and patted me on the back. 'Make me happier than nothing. All I want is you happy. Chinamen good business, eh?' 'Wonderful.' 'Make me happy,' said Frankie. I saw he was about ready to cry because he was so pleased every- thing was all right, so I patted him on the back. Some Frankie. First thing in the morning I got hold of the broker and told him to clear us. He wanted the crew list and I told him nobody. 'You're going to cross alone, Captain?' 'That's right.' 'What's become of your mate?' 'He's on a drunk,' I told him. 'It's very dangerous to go alone.' 'It's only ninety miles,' I said. 'Do you think having a rummy on board makes any difference?' I ran her over to the Standard Oil dock across the harbour and filled up both the tanks. She held

  4I

  HARRY MORGAN--SPRING I figured the way the current looked she would drift the twelve miles up to Bacuranao by dark and I'd see the lights of Baracoa. Well, I killed the engine and climbed up forward to have a look around. All there was to see was the two smack
s off to the westward headed in, and way back the dome of'the Capitol standing up white out of the edge of the sea. There was some gulfweed on the stream and a few birds working, but not many. I sat up there awhile on top of the house and watched, but the only fish I saw were those little brown ones that use around the gulfweed. Brother, don't let anybody tell you there isn't plenty d water between Havana and Key West. I was just on the edge of it: After a while I went down into the cockpit again, and there was Eddy. 'What's the matter? What's the matter with the engine?' 'She broke down.' 'Why haven't you got the hatch up?' 'Oh, hell!' I said. Do you know what he'd done? He'd come back again and slipped the forward hatch and gone down into the cabin and gone to sleep. He had two quaru with him. He'd gone into the first bodega he'd seen and bought it and come aboard. When I started ou he woke up and went back to sleep again. When I stopped her out in the gulf and she began to roll a little with the swell it woke him up. 47

  TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT Bacuranao. I'll tell you what to do when it' tim' I didn't want to tell him too far ahead because he would get to worrying and get so spooked he wouldn't be any use. 'You couldn't have anybody bettcr than me, Harry,' he said. 'I'm the man for you. i'm with you on anything.' I looked at him, tall and bleary and shaky, and didn't say anything. 'Listen, Harry. Would you g/re me just one?' he asked me. 'I don't want to get the shakes.' I gave him one and we sat and waited for t to get dark. It was a fine sunse and there was a nice light breeze, and when the sun got pretty well down I started the engine and headed her in slow toward land.

  5o

  CHAPTER IV

  WE lay offshore about a mile in the dark. The current had freshened up, with the sun down, and I noticed it running in. I could see the Morro. light way down to the westward and the glow of Havana, and the lights opposite us were Rincon and Baracoa. I headed her up against the current until I was past Bacuranao and nearly to Cojimar. Then I let her drift down. It was plenty dark but I could tell good where we were. I had all the lights out. 'What's it going to be, Harry?' Eddy asked me. He was beginning to be spooked again. 'What do you think?' 'I don't know,' he said. 'You've got me worried.' He was pretty close to the shakes and when he came near me he had a breath like a buzzard. 'What time is it?' 'I'll go down and see,' he said. He came back up and said it was half-past nine. 'Are you hungry?' I asked him. 'No,' he said. 'You know I couldn't eat, Harry.' 'All right,' I told him. 'You can have one.' After he had it I asked him how he felt. He said he felt fine. 'I'm going to give you a couple more in a little while,' I told him. 'I know you haven't got any

  TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT cojones unless you've got rum and there isn't muchon board. So you'd better go easy.' 'Tell me what's up,' said Eddy. 'Listen,' i said, talking to him in the dark. 'We're going to Bacuranao and pick up twelve Chinks. You take the wheel when I tell you to and do what I tell you to. We'll take the twelve Chinks on board and we'll lock them below forward. Go on forward now and fasten the hatch fi'om the outside.' He went up and I saw him shadowed against the dark. He came back and he said, 'Harry, can I have one of those now?' 'No,' i said. 'I want you rum-brave. I don't want you useless.' 'I'm a good man, Harry. You'll see.' 'You're a rummy,' I said. 'Listen. One Chink is going to bring those twelve out. He's going to give me some money at the start. When they're all on board he's going to give me some more money. When you see him start to hand me money the .second time you put her ahead and hook her up and head her out to sea. Don't you pay any attention to what happens. You keep her going out no matter what happens, Do you understand?' 'Yes,' 'If any Chink starts bunting out of the cabin or coming through the hatch, once we're out and under way, you take that pump-gun and blow them back as fast 'as they come out. Do you know how to use the pump-gun?'

  HARRY MORGAN--SPRING

  He was mad and plenty brave. He said something in Chink and the others started going into the water off the stern. 'All right,' I said to Eddy. 'Get the anchor up.' As we headed her out, the moon started to come up, and you could see the Chinks with just their heads out of water, walking ashore, and the shine of the beach and the brush behind. We got out past the reef and I looked back once and saw the beach and the mountains starting to show up; then I put her on her course for Key West. 'Now you can take a sleep,' I said to Eddy. 'No, wait, go below and open all the ports to get the stink out and bring me the iodine.' 'What's the matter?' he said when he brought it. 'I cut my finger.'. 'Do you want me to steer?' 'Get a sleep,' I said. 'I'11 wake you up.' He lay down on the built-in bunk in the cockpit, over the gas tank, and in a little while he was asleep.

  PAIT TArO

  HARRY MORGAN Autumn

  HARRY MORGAN-AUTUMN

  'You treat a man no better than a dog,' the nigger said. He was getting ugly now. But the man was still sorry for him. 'I'm going to make you comfortable, Wesley,' he said. 'You lay quiet now.' 'You don't care what happens to a man,' the nigger said. 'You ain't hardly human.' 'I'm going to fix you up good,' the man said. 'You just lay quiet.' 'You ain't going to fix me up,' the nigger said. The man, whose name was Harry Morgan, said nothing then because he liked the nigger and there was nothing to do now but hit him, and he couldn't hit him. The nigger kept on talking. "Why didn't we stop when they started shooting?' The man did not answer. 'Ain't a man's life worth more than a load of liquor?' The man was intent on his steering. 'All we have to do is to stop and let them take' the liquor.' 'No,' the man said. 'They take the liquor and o the boat and you go to jail.' 'I don't mind jail,' the nigger said. 'But I never wanted to get shot.' He was getting on the man's nerves now and the man was becoming tired of heating him talk. 'Who the bell's shot worse?' he asked him. 'You or me?' 'You're shot worse,' the nigger said. 'But I ain't

  73

  HARRY MORGAN--AUTUMN 'Nobody going to come out with this brceze,' he thought. 'They won't look for us to have started with this blowing.' 'You think they'll come out?' the nigger asked. 'Sure,' the man said. 'Why not?' 'It's blowing too hard.' 'They're looking for us.' 'Not with it like this. What you want to lie to me for?' The nigger was talking with his mouth almost against a sack. 'Take it easy, Wesley,' the man told him. 'Take it easy, the man says,' the nigger went on. 'Take it easy. Take what easy? Take dyin' like a dog easy? You got me here. Get me out.' 'Take it easy,' the man said, kindly. 'They ain't coming,' the nigger said. 'I -know they ain't coming. I'm cold. I tell you. I can't stand this pain and cold, I tell you.' The man sat up feeling hollow and unsteady. The nigger's eyes watched him as he rose on one knee, his right arm dangling, took the hand of his fight arm in his left hand and placed it between his knees and then pulled himself up by the plank nailed above the gunwale until he stood, looking down, down at the nigger, his right hand still held between his thighs. He was thinking that he had never really felt pain before. 'If i keep it out straight, pulled out straight, it don't hurt so bad,' he said. 'Let me tie it up in a sling,: the nigger said. 77

  HARRY MORGAN-AUTUMN got cojones. He must have got that whole blow. She's a sea boat all right. How you suppose he smashed his windshield? Damned ifI'd cross a night like last night. Damned if I'd ever run liquor from Cuba. They bring it all from Mariel now. It's sup- posed to be wide open. 'What's that you say, Cap?' 'What boat is that?' asked one of the men in the fishing clmirs. 'That boat?' 'Yes, that boat.' 'Oh, that's a Key West boat.' 'What I said was, whose boat is it?' 'i wouldn't know that, Cap.' 'Is the owner a fisherman?' 'Well, some say he is.' 'What do you mean?' 'He does a little of everything.' 'You don't know his name?' 'No, sir.' 'You called him Harry.' 'Not me.' 'I heard you call him Harry.' Captain Willie Adams took a good look at the man who was speaking "to him. He saw a high- eheekboned, thin-lipped, very ruddy face with deep set grey eyes and a contemptuous mouth looking at him from under a white canvas hat. 'I must have called him that by mistake,' Captain Willie said. 'You can see that the man is wounded, Doctor,'

  HARRY MORGAN-AUTUMN

  Above the roar of the motors and the high, slap- ping rush of the boat through the water he felt a strange, hollow singing in his heart. He alwa
ys felt figs way coming home at the end of a trip. I hope they can fix that arm, he thought. I got a lot of use for that arm.

  PART THR. EE

  HARRY MORGAN Winter

  TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT 'What did you think?' 'How do you drink in here?' 'I wasn't till you asked me,' I told him. He edged over a little towards me. 'You want to make a trip?' 'Depends on what it is.' 'We'll talk about that.' 'All fight.' 'Come on out in the car,' he said. 'So long, Freddy.' He breathed a little fast the way he did when he's been drinking and I walked up along where the street had been tore up, where we'd been working all day, to the corner where his car was. 'Get in,' he said. 'Where are we going?' I asked him. 'I don't know,' he said. 'I'm going to find out.' We drove up Whitehead Street and he didn't say anything and at the head of the street he turned to the left and we drove across the head of town to White Street and out on it to the beach. All the time Harry didn't say anything and we turned on to the sand road and drove along it to the boulevard. Out on the boulevard he pulled the car over to the edge of the sidewalk and stopped. 'Some strangers want to charter my boat to make a trip,' he said. 'The customs got your boat tied up.' 'The strangers don't know that.' 'What kind of a trip?' 'They say they want to carry somebody over that has to go to Cuba to do some business and can't

  HARRY MORGAN--WINTER

  ot" the hardest working married women in town used to be sporting women and this was a hard working woman, I tell you that. 'Your folks all wall?' she asked me. 'They're all fine.' We went on through the kitchen and into this back room. There was Bee-lips the lawyer, and four Cubans with him, sitting at a table. 'Sit down,' said one of them in English. He was a tough looking fellow, heavy, with a big face and a voice deep in his throat, and he had been drinking plenty you could see. 'What's your name?' 'What's yours?' said Harry. 'All right,' said this Cuban. 'Have it your own way. Where's the boat?' 'She's down at the yacht basin,' Harry said. 'Who's this?' the Cuban asked him, looking at me. 'My mate,' Harry said. The Cuban was looking me over and the other Cubans were looking us both over. 'He looks hungry,' the Cuban said and laughed. The others didn't laugh. 'You want a drink?' 'All right,' Harry said. 'What? Bacardi?' 'Whatever you're drinking,' Harry td him. 'Does your mate drink?' 'I'll have one,' I said. 'Nobody asked you yet,' the big Cuban said. 'I just asked if you drank.' 'Oh, cut it out, Roberto,' one ofthe other Cubans,