"That's right, my dear," replied the old sailor. "There's nothing like keeping your temper. But, we must now see about hauling in the trawl; for the chap who has got into the net is a big fellow, whoever he is, and, if we don't pull him in pretty sharp, he'll knock our net to pieces!" So saying, the Captain brought the end of the tackle to the little windlass placed amidships; when he and Mr Dugald Strong, who did not find the task, by the way, as easy as he imagined, began reeling in the trawl rope fathom by fathom, until, anon, the end of the beam was seen peering above the water alongside. The jerking of the tackle, which had continued all the time they were hauling in, appeared to increase as the trawl was raised to the surface, the net now that it was within view swaying from side to side; and, when Captain Dresser and the barrister leant over the gunwale to lift in the beam with its pocket attached, there was a hoarse barking sound heard proceeding from the folds of the net, like that of a dog in the distance. "Oh!" cried Nellie, in alarm, climbing up on the thwarts and getting as far away as she could--"what is it?" "What is it?" echoed Bob in the same breath. "What is it?" The Captain, however, did not immediately satisfy their curiosity. "I've got my suspicions," he commenced in a leisurely way as he bent a little more over the side to get a better hold of the net; but, what he saw, as the trawl lifted out of the sea, made him quicken his speech, and he exclaimed in a much louder tone-- "Take care, missy, and look out, you boys! There's a shark in the trawl-net, and a pretty venomous beast, too!" CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. THE SPOILS OF THE SEA. "A shark!" yelled out Mister Bob, evincing much greater fright than his sister Nell, although he was very fond of referring to her contemptuously as "being only a girl," when manly exploits happened to be the topic of conversation and she chanced to hazard an opinion; and, at the same instant, he jumped madly from the gunwale of the little cutter on to the top of her half-deck forwards, climbing from thence into the lee rigging, where he evidently thought he would be safer. "A shark! Won't it bite?" "Aye, by Jove, it will!" said the Captain ironically. "I'd swarm up to the masthead, if I were you, so as to be out of harm's way. You needn't mind your sister or any of us down here. We can take care of ourselves!" This made Bob a bit ashamed, and he began to climb down again from the rigging, looking gingerly the while over the side, as if expecting every minute that the terrible monster of the deep which his imagination had pictured would spring up and seize him. "I--I--was afraid," he faltered. "I--I--thought it best to get out of the way." "So it seems," said the old sailor grimly. "It's lucky, though, that every one was not of the same mind; or where would we all be! Dick, where's that hatchet I gave you this morning to put into the boat?"