The Old Man and the Sea: Summary Part 3

By the third day of the ordeal the marlin begins to circle the skiff. This signifies to Santiago that he is growing tired and will not last for much longer, but Santiago knows that he does not have much energy either. He knows that the only way to finish this is to give all of the strength he has left and finish the marlin off. He is not certain who will win but he knows that only one of them will be living alive. He pulls the marlin in using the line and with his harpoon he stabs him in the side and wounds him. He then proceeds to tie him up against the skiff so he can bring him home, but it dawns on him the sharks will pick up on the scent of blood when he notices the water around turning very red. He hopes he can make it home without much issue but he knows that will not be the case. He knows that if he can make it home however that he will get a very large sum of money for such a massive fish. He begins to make his way back home but as he predicted sharks begin attacking the fish. The first shark takes an extremely large chunk out of the fish and he slowly realize he will not make it home with the fish intact. Despite this he continues to fight the sharks killing and wounding as many as he can. When he finally returns to the village the fish is nothing more than skeletal remains. He gathers up his gear and goes home to fall into an extremely deep sleep. The next day the other fishermen gather around to view the great fish's skeleton and they are all amazed at it's size. One tourist even mistakes it for a shark. Manolin goes to see Santiago and when he sees him in his current state he weeps for him. He gets him coffee and food and wakes him telling him he will never fish without him from now on and Santiago agrees.