impossible that a man-eating shark might get into the boat alive, and,
as I heard an old fisherman say yesterday, 'make ugly work.'"

"Then I don't want to go," Zoe said, "and I'd rather you wouldn't; just
suppose you should get a bite?"

"Oh, no danger!" laughed Edward; "a man is better able to take care of
himself than a woman is of herself."

"Pooh!" exclaimed Betty; "I don't believe any such thing, and I want to
go; I want to be able to say I've done and seen everything other summer
visitors do and see on this island."

"Only a foolish reason, is it not, Betty?" mildly remonstrated her
Cousin Elsie. "But you will have to ask my father's consent, as he is
your guardian."

"No use whatever," remarked Bob, who had joined them a moment before; "I
know uncle well enough to be able to tell you that beforehand. Aren't
you equally sure of the result of such an application, Ned?"

"Yes."

"Besides," pursued Bob, teasingly, "there wouldn't be room in the boat
for a fine lady like my sister Betty, with her flounces and furbelows;
also you'd likely get awfully sick with the rolling and pitching of the
boat, and leaning over the side for the purpose of depositing your
breakfast in the sea, tumble in among the sharks and give them one."

"Oh, you horrid fellow!" she exclaimed, half angrily; "I shouldn't do