But I must think， he thought. Because it is all I have left. That and baseball. I wonder how the great DiMaggio would have liked the way I hit him in the brain？ It was no great thing， he thought. Any man could do it. But do you think my hands were as great a handicap as the bone spurs？ I cannot know. I never had anything wrong with my heel except the time the sting ray stung it when I stepped on him when swimming and paralyzed the lower leg and made the unbearable pain.
“Think about something cheerful， old man，” he said. “Every minute now you are closer to home. You sail lighter for the loss of forty pounds.”
He knew quite well the pattern of what could happen when he reached the inner part of the current. But there was nothing to be done now.
“Yes there is，” he said aloud. “I can lash my knife to the butt of one of the oars.”
So he did that with the tiller under his arm and the sheet of the sail under his foot.
“Now，” he said. “I am still an old man. But I am not unarmed.”
The breeze was fresh now and he sailed on well. He watched only the forward part of the fish and some of his hope returned.
It is silly not to hope， he thought. Besides I believe it is a sin. Do not think about sin， he thought. There are enough problems now without sin. Also I have no understanding of it.
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.
But he liked to think about all things that he was involved in and since there was nothing to read and he did not have a radio， he thought much and he kept on thinking about sin. You did not kill the fish only to keep alive and to sell for food， he thought. You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman. You loved him when he was alive and you loved him after. If you love him， it is not a sin to kill him. Or is it more？
“You think too much， old man，” he said aloud.
But you enjoyed killing the dentuso， he thought. He lives on the live fish as you do. He is not a scavenger nor just a moving appetite as some sharks are. He is beautiful and noble and knows no fear of anything.
“I killed him in self-defense，” the old man said aloud. “And I killed him well.”
Besides， he thought， everything kills everything else in some way. Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me alive. The boy keeps me alive， he thought. I must not deceive myself too much.
He leaned over the side and pulled loose a piece of the meat of the fish where the shark had cut him. He chewed it and noted its quality and itsgood taste. It was firm and juicy， like meat， but it was not red. There was no stringiness in it and he knew that it would bring the highest price In the market. But there was no way to keep its scent out of the water and the old man knew that a very had time was coming.
The breeze was steady. It had backed a little further into the north-east and he knew that meant that it would not fall off. The old man looked ahead of him but he could see no sails nor could he see the hull nor the smoke of any ship. There were only the flying fish that went up from his bow sailing away to either side and the yellow patches of Gulf weed. He could not even see a bird.
He had sailed for two hours， resting in the stern and sometimes chewing a bit of the meat from the marlin， trying to rest and to be strong， when he saw the first of the two sharks.
“Ay，” he said aloud. There is no translation for this word and perhaps it is just a noise such as a man might make， involuntarily， feeling the nail go through his hands and into the wood.
“Galanos，” he said aloud. He had seen the second fin now coming up behind the first and had identified them as shovel-nosed sharks by the brown， triangular fin and the sweeping movements of the tail. They had the scent and were excited and in the stupidity of their great hunger they were losing and finding the scent in their excitement. But they were closing all the time.
The old man made the sheet fast and jammed the tiller. Then he took up the oar with the knife lashed to it. He lifted it as lightly as he could because his hands rebelled at the pain. Then he opened and closed them on it lightly to loosen them. He closed them firmly so they would take the pain now and would not flinch and watched the sharks come. He could see their wide， flattened， shovel-pointed heads now and their white tipped wide pectoral fins. They were hateful sharks， bad smelling， scavengers as well as killers， and when they were hungry they would bite at an oar or the rudder of a boat. It was these sharks that would cut the turtles’ legs and flippers off when the turtles were asleep on the surface， and they would hita man in the water， if they were hungry， even if the man had no smell of fish blood nor of fish slime on him.
“Ay，” the old man said. “Galanos. Come on galanos.”
They came. But they did not come as the Mako had come. One turned and went out of sight under the skiff and the old man could feel the skiff shake as he jerked and pulled on the fish. The other watched the old man with his slitted yellow eyes and then came in fast with his half circle of jaws wide to hit the fish where he had already been bitten. The line showed clearly on the top of his brown head and back where the brain joined the spinal cord and the old man drove the knife on the oar into the juncture， withdrew it， and drove it in again into the shark’s yellow cat-like eyes. The shark let go of the fish and slid down， swallowing what he had taken as he died.