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.
I could not expect to kill them,he thought.I could have in my time.But I have hurt them both badly and neither one can feel very good.If I could have used a bat with two hands I could have killed the first one surely.Even now,he thought.
He saw the reflected glare of the lights of the city at what must have been around ten o'clock at night.They were only perceptible at first as the light is in the sky before the moon rises.Then they were steady to see across the ocean which was rough now with the increasing breeze.He steered inside of the glow and he thought that now,soon,he must hit the edge of the stream.
Now it is over, he thought. They will probably hit me again.But what can a man do against them in the dark without a weapon?
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.