no doubts that either will do all he can to prove to my father how
much he values him; but I confess I should not like to quit the
canoe, with the certainty we have of there being enemies like those
we have seen in the forest. But my uncle can decide for me in
this matter."

"I have no liking for the woods," said Cap, "while one has a clear
drift like this on the river. Besides, Master Pathfinder, to say
nothing of the savages, you overlook the sharks."

"Sharks! Who ever heard of sharks in the wilderness?"

"Ay! Sharks, or bears, or wolves -- no matter what you call a
thing, so it has the mind and power to bite."

"Lord, lord, man! Do you dread any creatur' that is to be found
in the American forest? A catamount is a skeary animal, I will
allow, but then it is nothing in the hands of a practysed hunter.
Talk of the Mingos and their devilries if you will; but do not
raise a false alarm about bears and wolves."

"Ay, ay, Master Pathfinder, this is all well enough for you,
who probably know the name of every creature you would meet. Use
is everything, and it makes a man bold when he might otherwise be
bashful. I have known seamen in the low latitudes swim for hours
at a time among sharks fifteen or twenty feet long."

"This is extraordinary!" exclaimed Jasper, who had not yet acquired
that material part of his trade, the ability to spin a yarn. "I
have always heard that it was certain death to venture in the water