第8章 The Sharks Attack[第8页/共14页]

The old man wiped the blade of his knife and laid down the oar.Then he found the sheet and the sail filled and he brought the skiff onto her course.

He was a fish to keep a man all winter,he thought.Don't think of that.Just rest and try to get your hands in shape to defend what is left of him.The blood smell from my hands means nothing now with all that scent in the water.Besides they do not bleed much.There is nothing cut that means anything.The bleeding may keep the left from cramping.

The breeze was fresh now and he sailed on well. He watched only the forward part of the fish and some of his hope returned.

“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.”

“I wish I had a stone for the knife,”the old man said after he had checked the lashing on the oar butt.“I should have brought a stone.”You should have brought many things,he thought.But you did not bring them,old man. Now is no time to think of what you do not have.Think of what you can do with what there is.