第8章 The Sharks Attack[第3页/共15页]

“Ay,”the old man said.“ Galanos.Come on Galanos.”

“I shouldn't have gone out so far,fish,”he said.“ Neither for you nor for me.I'm sorry,fish.”

I have no understanding of it and I am not sure that I believe in it.Perhaps it was a sin to kill the fish.I suppose it was even though I did it to keep me alive and feed many people. But then everything is a sin. Do not think about sin.It is much too late for that and there are people who are paid to do it.Let them think about it.You were born to be a fisherman as the fish was born to be a fish.San Pedro was a fisherman as was the father of the great DiMaggio.

“I killed him in self-defense,”the old man said aloud.“And I killed him well.”

“No?”the old man said and he drove the blade between the vertebrae and the brain.It was an easy shot now and he felt the cartilage sever.The old man reversed the oar and put the blade between the shark's jaws to open them.He twisted the blade and as the shark slid loose he said,“Go on,galano. Slide down a mile deep.Go see your friend,or maybe it's your mother.”

They sailed well and the old man soaked his hands in the salt water and tried to keep his head clear.There were high cumulus clouds and enough cirrus above them so that the old man knew the breeze would last all night.The old man looked at the fish constantly to make sure it was true.It was an hour before the first shark hit him.