In the darkness the old man could feel the morning coming, and as he rowed he heard the trembling sound of flying fish rising from the water and the hissing of their stiff wings as they cut through the dark air. He felt a great attraction for the flying fish, which were his best friends in the ocean. He felt compassion for the birds, especially the small, delicate, dark terns that were always flying and searching and almost never finding, and he thought: birds lead a harder life than we do, except for the birds of prey and the big, strong ones.