64 ALBACORA 



could tell them the comparatively good news. Torn lig- 

 aments are intensely painful but they are not nearly as 

 serious as a broken hip and now, with Dr. Lombardy 

 out of the way, Nieves felt she could really take over. 

 For some reason which no one at the hotel seemed to 

 know, the water was not running in the bathroom. 

 Nieves got water from downstairs, boiled it and trudged 

 up to my room carrying two huge steaming kettles. 

 She used one kettle to make hot packs, which eased my 

 aching hip considerably. She used the water in the other 

 to give me a bath, and I was actually feeling cheerful 

 by the waning hours of the afternoon. 



Then Lou came in. "I've got news for you," he said. 

 "Your marlin record lasted the shortest time of any rec- 

 ord I ever heard of." 



"What?" 



"Jo Manning," Lou said, "just caught a bigger one 

 on fifteen-thread line. Much bigger. 345 pounds." 



"Well," I said, trying to sound delighted. "That's 

 what records are made for, you know. They're made to 

 be broken." 



Possibly my joy appeared confined. "Don't worry," 

 Lou said. "You'll be up and fishing soon." 



Shattered record or not, this was a time for sports- 

 manship and I made Lou bring me the bar of Elizabeth 

 Arden soap. He had set off to invite Jo to a formal 

 presentation ceremony when the door opened again. 

 Mario and Gus entered side by side, smiling and ex- 



