“They beat me, Manolin,”he said.“They truly beat me.”
“You must get well fast for there is much that I can learn and you can teach me everything.How much did you suffer?”
He knew he was beaten now finally and without remedy and he went back to the stern and found the jagged end of the tiller would fit in the slot of the rudder well enough for him to steer.He settled the sack around his shoulders and put the skiff on her course. He sailed lightly now and he had no thoughts nor any feelings of any kind.He was past everything now and he sailed the skiff to make his home port as well and as intelligently as he could.In the night sharks hit the carcass as someone might pick up crumbs from the table.The old man paid no attention to them and did not pay any attention to anything except steering.He only noticed how lightly and how well the skiff sailed now there was no great weight beside her.
“No.I will remember.”
As the boy went out the door and down the worn coral rock road he was crying again.
“Do you want a drink of any kind?”the proprietor asked.
He could feel he was inside the current now and he could see the lights of the beach colonies along the shore.He knew where he was now and it was nothing to get home.