第9章 Final Fight

    he put his hands in the water again to soak themit was getting late in the afternoon and he saw nothing but the sea and the skythere was more wind in the sky than there had been,and soon he hoped that he would see land

    “you"re tired,old man,”he said“ you"re tired inside”

    the sharks did not hit him again until just before sunset

    the old man saw the brown fins ing along the wide trail the fish must make in the waterthey were not even quartering on the scentthey were headed straight for the skiff swimming side by side

    he jammed the tiller,made the sheet fast and reached under the stern for the club it was an oar handle from a broken oar sawed off to about two and a half feet in length he could only use it effectively with one hand because of the grip of the handle and he took good hold of it with his right hand,flexing his hand on it,as he watched the sharks e they were both galanos

    i must let the first one get a good hold and hit him on the point of the nose or straight across the top of the head,he thought

    the two sharks closed together and as he saw the one nearest him open his jaws and sink them into the silver side of the fish,he raised the club high and brought it down heavy and slamming onto the top of the shark"s broad headhe felt the rubbery solidity as the club came downbut he felt the rigidity of bone too and he struck the shark once more hard across the point of the nose as he slid down from the fish

    the other shark had been in and out and now came in again with his jaws widethe old man could see pieces of the meat of the fish spilling white from the corner of his jaws as he bumped the fish and closed his jawshe swung at him and hit only the head and the shark looked at him and wrenched the meat loosethe old man swung the club down on him again as he slipped away to swallow and hit only the heavy solid rubberiness

    “e on,galano”the old man said“ e in again”

    the shark came in a rush and the old man hit him as he shut his jawshe hit him solidly and from as high up as he could raise the clubthis time he felt the bone at the base of the brain and he hit him again in the same place while the shark tore the meat loose sluggishly and slid down from the fish

    the old man watched for him to e again but neither shark showedthen he saw one on the surface swimming in circleshe did not see the fin of the other

    i could not expect to kill them,he thoughti could have in my timebut i have hurt them both badly and neither one can feel very goodif i could have used a bat with two hands i could have killed the first one surelyeven now,he thought

    he did not want to look at the fishhe knew that half of him had been destroyedthe sun had gone down while he had been in the fight with the shark

    “it will be dark soon,”he said“then i should see the glow of havanaif i am too far to the eastward i will see the lights of one of the new beaches”

    i cannot be too far out now,he thoughti hope no one has been too worried there is only the boy to worry, of coursebut i am sure he would have confidencemany of the older fishermen will worrymany others too,he thoughti live in a good town

    he could not talk to the fish anymore because the fish had been ruined too badlythen something came into his head

    “half fish,”he said“ fish that you werei am sorry that i went too far outi ruined us bothbut we have killed many sharks,you and i,and ruined many othershow many did you ever kill,old fishyou do not have that spear on your head for nothing”

    he liked to think of the fish and what he could do to a shark if he were swimming freei should have chopped the bill off to fight them with,he thoughtbut there was no hatchet and then there was no knife

    but if i had,and could have lashed it to an oar butt,what a weaponthen we might have fought them togetherwhat will you do now if they e in the nightwhat can you do“fight them,”he said“ i"ll fight them until i die”

    but in the dark now and no glow showing and no lights and only the wind and the steady pull of the sail he felt that perhaps he was already deadhe put his two hands together and felt the palmsthey were not dead and he could bring the pain of life by simply opening and closing themhe leaned his back against the stern and he knew he was not deadhis shoulders told him

    i have all those prayers i promised if i caught the fish, he thoughtbut i am too tired to say them nowi better get the sack and put it over my shoulders

    he lay in the stern and steered and watched for the glow to e in the skyi have half of him,he thoughtmaybe i"ll have the luck to bring the forward half ini should have some luckno,he saidyou violated your luck when you went too far outside

    “don"t be silly,”he said aloud“and keep awake and steeryou may have much luck yet”

    “i"d like to buy some if there"s any place they sell it,”he said

    what could i buy it withhe asked himselfcould i buy it with a lost harpoon and a broken knife and two bad hands“you might,”he said“you tried to buy it with eighty-four days at seathey nearly sold it to you too”

    i must not think nonsense,he thoughtluck is a thing that es in many forms and who can recognize her i would take some though in any form and pay what they askedi wish i could see the glow from the lights,he thought i wish too many thingsbut that is the thing i wish for now he tried to settle more fortably to steer and from his pain he knew he was not dead

    he saw the reflected glare of the lights of the city at what must have been around ten o"clock at nightthey were only perceptible at first as the light is in the sky before the moon risesthen they were steady to see across the ocean which was rough now with the increasing breezehe steered inside of the glow and he thought that now,soon,he must hit the edge of the stream

    now it is over, he thought they will probably hit me againbut what can a man do against them in the dark without a weapon

    he was stiff and sore now and his wounds and all of the strained parts of his body hurt with the cold of the nighti hope i do not have to fight again,he thoughti hope so much i do not have to fight again

    but by midnight he fought and this time he knew the fight was uselessthey came in a pack and he could only see the lines in the water that their fins made and their phosphorescence as they threw themselves on the fishhe clubbed at heads and heard the jaws chop and the shaking of the skiff as they took hold belowhe clubbed desperately at what he could only feel and hear and he felt something seize the club and it was gone

    he jerked the tiller free from the rudder and beat and chopped with it,holding it in both hands and driving it down again and againbut they were up to the bow now and driving in one after the other and together,tearing off the pieces of meat that showed glowing below the sea as they turned to e once more

    one came,finally,against the head itself and he knew that it was overhe swung the tiller across the shark"s head where the jaws were caught in the heaviness of the fish"s head which would not tearhe swung it once and twice and again he heard the tiller break and he lunged at the shark with the splintered butthe felt it go in and knowing it was sharp he drove it in againthe shark let go and rolled awaythat was the last shark of the pack that camethere was nothing more for them to eat

    the old man could hardly breathe now and he felt a strange taste in his mouthit was coppery and sweet and he was afraid of it for a momentbut there was not much of it

    he spat into the ocean and said,“eat that,galanos and make a dream you"ve killed a man”