sprit, so as to gaze down into
the wonderfully clear water and watch the dolphins and bonita as they
darted through the sunlit depths with such ease and grace.

Sometimes I have wished that I could be a fish, able with a sweep or two
of my powerful tail to dart myself through the water just as I pleased,
or float at any depth, keeping up with the huge steamer as it was driven
on.

Then a change would come over me, and I would think to myself: Well, I'm
very glad I'm not a fish; for just as I would be watching some lovely
mackerel-like fellow with a flashing back of mottled blue and purple,
some monster ten times his size would make a dart at him and engulf him
in his capacious throat. And as I watched the larger fish seize their
food, it seemed to me that once they could get within easy range they
seemed to suck their prey into their jaws, drawing it in with the great
rush of water they sent through their gills.

It was not tempting at such times and above all when one used to see a
thin grey fellow, six or eight feet long, seeming to sneak by the side
of the ship, or just astern, where there was an eddy. Every now and
then it would turn half over and show the pale under parts as it made a
snatch at something that looked good to eat; and after a good many tries
the sailors managed to catch one by means of a hook baited with a piece
of ham that had been condemned as high.

It was only about six feet long, and when it lay on the wet deck
thrashing about with its tail I thought that after all a shark was not
such a dangerous-looking creature as I expected, and I said so to my
uncle.

"Think not, Nat?" he said.

"Why, no, uncle, I don't think I should be afraid of a shark; I think I
could catch such a fellow as that with a rod and line."

"Ah! Nat, some of them run up to fifteen or twenty feet in length," he
said; "and they are awfully savage brutes. Such a one as this would be
enough to kill a man."

"He don't look like it, uncle," I said. "Why, look here!"

I ran to where the shark lay, and stooping down, seized it with both
hands by the thin part just before where the tail forked, meaning to
give it a shake and drag the brute along the deck; but just as I got
tight hold the creature seemed to send a wave down its spine, and with
one flip I was sent staggering across the deck to fall heavily at full
length, the crew and passengers around roaring with laughter at my
discomfiture.

I was so angry and morti