46 His hope and his confidence had never gone.

“One,”  the old man said.   His hope and his confidence had never gone.
But now they were freshening as when the breeze rises.　“Two,”  the boy said.

「一匹だ」老人は言った。彼には希望と自信がある。それは今、新しい風のように彼の中で強くなりつつあった。 「二匹だよ」少年は言った。

as は「～の様に」という意味の前置詞であろう