第9章 Final Fight[第3页/共6页]

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 old man saw the brown fins coming along the wide trail the fish must make in the water.They were not even quartering on the scent.They were headed straight for the skiff swimming side by side.

The shark came in a rush and the old man hit him as he shut his jaws.He hit him solidly and from as high up as he could raise the club.This 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.

He did not want to look at the fish.He knew that half of him had been destroyed.The sun had gone down while he had been in the fight with the shark.

The old man watched for him to come again but neither shark showed.Then he saw one on the surface swimming in circles.He did not see the fin of the other.

“You're tired,old man,”he said.“ You're tired inside.”

What could I buy it with?He asked himself.Could 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 sea.They nearly sold it to you too.”