As soon as the shark gave signs of being among the defunct, Arthur sprang to his brother, and clasping him affectionately round the neck, held on by the remnant of the sail till both were drawn on board, amid the plaudits of the crew and passengers. Such, young friends, is the story of the Shark and the Middies; and I hope you will be so far instructed by it as to be ready, at all times, to venture your life to save that of a brother. You may not be called upon to do it by fighting with sharks of the sea; but there are “land sharks” worse than sea sharks, in the various business matters of this world, which it may be necessary for you to combat to save a brother’s life, or, what is equally precious, his integrity or his honour. [Illustration] Transcriber’s notes: In the text version, italics are represented by _underscores_, and bold and black letter text by =equals= symbols. This book contains a considerable number of unusual and inconsistent spellings. In some cases, research indicates that a spelling that appears incorrect in current times, was in use at the time that this book was printed, however a good number are probably typesetting errors or originate with the authors. In the majority of cases, spelling has been left as printed but a small number of errors which obscure the meaning for the reader have been corrected. Both uncorrected and corrected spellings are noted below. Some incorrect puntuation has been silently corrected Page p7 exhilirating — left as printed. p8 despatches — more common than dispatches pre 1900. p9 pecularity — left as printed. p9 jackall — occurs occasionally in this era. p20 comsumptive — left as printed. p21 our — corrected to cur. p21 summersault — Both this and somersault were in use in 1850s. p26 discernable — left as printed. p33 massacreing — occurs occasionally in this era. p37 cupfull —left as printed. p38 titilation — occurs equally with titillation in this era p38 wont — corrected p39 undulterated — left as printed. p39 St. Columb — St. Columba used elsewhere — left as printed. p40 hostlery — left as printed. p53 chesnuts — chesnut may be correct, it appears to be used in this era. p57 Mahommedans — occurs occasionally in this era. p58 p145 p239 p245 ancles — occurs occasionally in this era. p59 gipsies — a more common alternative in this era. p62 througout — left as printed. p62 spiritural — left as printed. p63 immates — left as printed. p63 superintendance — left as printed. p67 sumptous — left as printed. p68 effctually — left as printed. p71 Mediteranean — left as printed. p77 distinquishes — left as printed. p82 sumptousness — left as printed. p84 entrused — left as printed. p85 suprised — left as printed. p85 commision — left as printed. p86 powerful — corrected, there is space at end which probably held it.