To Have And Have Not

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT
though he had been struck in the abdomen with a
club. His back was against one of the iron-pipe
supports of the fishing chairs and while the Cuban
shot at him again and splintered the fishing chair
above his head, he reached down, found the
Thompson gun, raised it carefully, holding the for-
ward grip with the hook and rattled half of the fresh
dip into the man who sat leaning forward, calmly
shooting at him from the seat. The man was down
on the seat in a heap and Harry felt around on the
cockpit floor until he could find the big-faced man,
who lay face down, felt for his head with the hook
on his bad arm, hooked it around, then put the
muzzle of the gun against the head and touched
the trigger. Touching the head, the gun made a
noise like hitting a pumpkin with a club. Harry put
down the gun and lay on his side on the cockpit
floor.
Tm a son of a bitch,5 he said, his lips against the
planking, Fm a gone son of a bitch now. I got to
cut the engines or we'll all burn up, he thought.
I got a chance still. I got a kind of a chance. Jesus
Christ. One thing to spoil it. One thing to go
wrong. God damn it. Oh, God damn that Cuban
bastard* Who'd have thought I hadn't got him?
He got on his hands and knees and letting one
side of the hatch over the engines slam down,
crawled over it forward to where the steering stool
was. He pulled up on it, surprised to find how well
he could nfove, then suddenly feeling faint and weak
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