The sharks did not hit him again until just before sunset.
He was stiff and sore now and his wounds and all of the strained parts of his body hurt with the cold of the night.I hope I do not have to fight again,he thought.I hope so much I do not have to fight again.
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 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 lay in the stern and steered and watched for the glow to come in the sky.I have half of him,he thought.Maybe I'll have the luck to bring the forward half in.I should have some luck.No,he said.You violated your luck when you went too far outside.
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.