第8章 The Sharks Attack[第2页/共14页]

“You think too much,old man,”he said aloud.

“I have the gaff now,”he said.“ But it will do no good.I have the two oars and the tiller and the short club.”

“Galanos.”he said aloud.He had seen the second fin now coming up behind the first and had identified them as shovel-nosed sharks by the brown, triangular fin and the sweeping movements of the tail.They had the scent and were excited and in the stupidity of their great hunger they were losing and finding the scent in their excitement.But they were closing all the time.

He did not need a compass to tell him where southwest was. He only needed the feel of the trade wind and the drawing of the sail.I better put a small line out with a spoon on it and try and get something to eat and drink for the moisture .But he could not find a spoon and his sardines were rotten.So he hooked a patch of yellow gulf weed with the gaff as they passed and shook it so that the small shrimps that were in it fell onto the planking of the skiff.There were more than a dozen of them and they jumped and kicked like sand fleas.The old man pinched their heads off with his thumb and forefinger and ate them chewing up the shells and the tails. They were very tiny but he knew they were nourishing and they tasted good.