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.”
He could not talk to the fish anymore because the fish had been ruined too badly.Then something came into his head.
The sharks did not hit him again until just before sunset.
The other shark had been in and out and now came in again with his jaws wide.The old man could see pieces of the meat of the fish spilling white from the corner of his jaws as he bumped the fish and closed his jaws.He swung at him and hit only the head and the shark looked at him and wrenched the meat loose.The old man swung the club down on him again as he slipped away to swallow and hit only the heavy solid rubberiness.
I cannot be too far out now,he thought.I hope no one has been too worried. There is only the boy to worry, of course.But I am sure he would have confidence.Many of the older fishermen will worry.Many others too,he thought.I live in a good town.
But by midnight he fought and this time he knew the fight was useless.They came in a pack and he could only see the lines in the water that their fins made and their phosphorescence as they threw themselves on the fish.He clubbed at heads and heard the jaws chop and the shaking of the skiff as they took hold below.He clubbed desperately at what he could only feel and hear and he felt something seize the club and it was gone.