第9章 Final Fight[第1頁/共8頁]

The old man could hardly breathe now and he felt a strange taste in his mouth.It was coppery and sweet and he was afraid of it for a moment.But there was not much of it.

“It will be dark soon,”he said.“Then I should see the glow of Havana.If I am too far to the eastward I will see the lights of one of the new beaches.”

“Half fish,”he said.“ Fish that you were.I am sorry that I went too far out.I ruined us both.But we have killed many sharks,you and I,and ruined many others.How many did you ever kill,old fish?You do not have that spear on your head for nothing.”

“Come on,galano.”the old man said.“ Come in again.”

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.

Now it is over, he thought. They will probably hit me again.But what can a man do against them in the dark without a weapon?

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 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 head.He felt the rubbery solidity as the club came down.But 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.