ntly, now--gently. I see a fellow at least a foot
long down there coming to--Ha! that's it! Oh bother! he's off!"

"Did he bite?" said Jack, urging the log onwards a little with his
paddle.

"Bite? Ay! he took it into his mouth, but the moment I began to haul he
opened his jaws and let it out again."

"Let him swallow it next time," said Jack, laughing at the melancholy
expression of Peterkin's visage.

"There he's again!" cried Peterkin, his eyes flashing with excitement.
"Look out! Now, then! No! Yes! No! Why, the brute _won't_ swallow
it!"

"Try to haul him up by the mouth, then!" cried Jack. "Do it gently."

A heavy sigh and a look of blank despair showed that poor Peterkin had
tried and failed again.

"Never mind, lad," said Jack in a voice of sympathy; "we'll move on and
offer it to some other fish." So saying, Jack plied his paddle; but
scarcely had he moved from the spot when a fish with an enormous head
and a little body darted from under a rock and swallowed the bait at
once.

"Got him this time--that's a fact!" cried Peterkin, hauling in the line.
"He's swallowed the bait right down to his tail, I declare! Oh, what a
thumper!"

As the fish came struggling to the surface we leaned forward to see it,
and overbalanced the log. Peterkin threw his arms round the fish's
neck, and in another instant we were all floundering in the water!

A shout of laughter burst from us as we rose to the surface, like three
drowned rats, and seized hold of the log. We soon recovered our
position, and sat more warily; while Peterkin secured the fish, which
had well-nigh escaped in the midst of our struggles. It was little
worth having, however. But, as Peterkin remarked, it was better than
the smouts he had been catching for the last two or three days; so we
laid it on the log before us, and having re-baited the line, dropped it
in again for another.

Now, while we were thus intent upon our sport, our attention was
suddenly attracted by a ripple on the sea, just a few yards away from
us. Peterkin shouted to us to paddle in that direction, as he thought
it was a big fish and we might have a chance of catching it. But Jack,
instead of complying, said, in a deep, earnest tone of voice, which I
never before heard him use, "Haul up your line, Peterkin; seize your
paddle. Quick--it's a shark!"

The horror with which we heard this may well be imagined; for it must be
remembered that our legs were hanging d