Chap and Phœnix now loudly demanded a full account of the adventures of the others, and when these had been told and the little bears had been admired and patted and finally stowed away in an old box, which was lined with a blanket from one of the beds, Chap exhibited the fish he and Phœnix had caught, and told of the big fellow they had seen in the water. “You don’t mean to say you went in to swim?” exclaimed Adam. “I never thought of your doin’ a thing like that when I left you. Why, do you know you were in a great deal more danger than we were, even if the old man-bear had got after us? That big fish you saw was a shark, and if it had come along a little sooner, it would a’ taken off one of your legs as like as not. This is a very good river, but it wasn’t made for white folks to swim in--at least, not in these parts. There are plenty of sharks here, and I’m not sure but what you might tempt a ’gator, if you were very anxious to get bit.” “Do you know,” said Chap, in a very impressive way, “that I never thought that there were sharks in this river, and that I totally, absolutely, and utterly forgot alligators?” “Sharks!” exclaimed Adam, looking at the fish the boys had caught. “Why, you ought to have known they were in the river, for here you’ve got one!” “A shark!” cried all the boys together, as they clustered around the pile of fish. “Yes,” said Adam, pointing to a fish about a foot and a half long, with a smooth skin and a large flat-topped head; “this is a young shark.” “Upon my word,” cried Chap, “we hadn’t the least idea of that! We thought the thing was a big cat-fish. We noticed it hadn’t any feelers on its mouth, but we supposed cat-fish might be different down here from those we’re used to. We had lots of trouble in getting the hook out of its mouth.” “It’s a lucky thing you didn’t get your fingers into those jaws,” said Adam, “for you might never have got them out again.” “Gentlemen,” cried Chap, throwing one arm into the air, “it’s time we got away from this place. For all we know, there’s a savage bear raging through the woods after some of us, and out there in the river there’s an exasperated shark waiting till one of the party is foolish enough to go in to swim or accidentally tumbles overboard. Let’s up sail and be off!” “Well,” said Adam, “as there’s a good breeze gettin’ up from the sou’east, that’s about the best thing we can do, even if we don’t take into account bears and sharks.” As soon as they were fairly under way, Adam gave the tiller to one of the boys, and set about taking care of his young bears. A small quantity of condensed milk in tin cans had been purchased of Mr. Brewer, and some of this, mixed with water, was fed to the cubs. They were very hungry, and soon lapped it up eagerly. “It seems like a cruel thing,” said Chap, “to break up a family in that manner.”