Captain. "An' when yer get aboard, STAY aboard, will yer?"

The "Hoppergrass" turned again, and the same performance was gone
through. The pink-shirted man climbed into the tender, but this
time he sat down cautiously in the stern, and waited for the
painter to become taut. It had not slackened however, so there was
no chance for another such accident as that which knocked him
overboard before. He watched the painter for a moment, and then
shook his fist at it.

"Fooled you that time, you old rope!"

Jimmy and Ed pulled the tender alongside, and the wet man stepped
gingerly aboard the "Hoppergrass." His clothes stuck tight to him,
and his shoes made a squshy sound, wherever he stepped. But he
insisted on shaking hands with us, all around.

"If you hadn't come just when you did," he remarked solemnly, "I
should have been devoured by sharks. Already I had noticed a black
fin circling about the island--I mean a LEAN, black fin,--or is it
a low, rakish, black fin? No; that's a craft,--a low, rakish,
black craft. It was a LEAN, black fin--"

Captain Bannister gave a great snort of disgust.

"SHARKS!" he exclaimed, "there aint no sharks in this river!"

"No? Well, probably you are more familiar with it than I am."

"Guess I ought to know something 'bout it," the Captain returned;