d Ailie.

"No; I don't think I ever did. I doubt if I have seen even two
together. Why?"

"Oh! because they are so very, very funny. Sit down beside me, and I'll
tell you about three kittens I once had. They were very little--at
least they were little before they got big."

Glynn laughed.

"Oh, you know what I mean. They were able to play when they were very
little, you know."

"Yes, yes, I understand. Go on."

"Well, two were grey, and one was white and grey, but most of it was
white; and when they went to play, one always hid itself to watch, and
then the other two began, and came up to each other with little jumps,
and their backs up and tails curved, and hair all on end, glaring at
each other, and pretending that they were so angry. Do you know, Glynn,
I really believe they sometimes forgot it was pretence, and actually
became angry. But the fun was, that, when the two were just going to
fly at each other, the third one, who had been watching, used to dart
out and give them _such_ a fright--a _real_ fright, you know--which made
them jump, oh! three times their own height up into the air, and they
came down again with a _fuff_ that put the third one in a fright too; so
that they all scattered away from each other as if they had gone quite
mad. What's that?"

"It's a fish, I think," said Glynn, rising and going towards the river,
to look at the object that had attracted his companion's attention.
"It's a shark, I do believe."

In a few seconds the creature came so close that they could see it quite
distinctly; and on a more careful inspection, they observed that the
mouth of the river was full of these ravenous monsters. Soon after they
saw monsters of a still more ferocious aspect; for while they were
watching the sharks, two crocodiles put up their snouts, and crawled
sluggishly out of the water upon a mud-bank, where they lay down,
apparently with the intention of taking a nap in the sunshine. They
were too far off, however, to be well seen.

"Isn't it strange, Glynn, that there are such ugly beasts in the world?"
said Ailie. "I wonder why God made them?"

"So do I," said Glynn, looking at the child's thoughtful face in some
surprise. "I suppose they must be of some sort of use."

"Oh! yes, _of course_ they are," rejoined Ailie quickly. "Aunt Martha
and Aunt Jane used to tell me that every creature was made by God for
some good purpose; and when I came to the crocodile in my book, they