“I hope the shark won’t bite him,” sighed Janet.
“Don’t worry, little girl,” said one of the women on the beach. “If the fishermen do catch a shark in their nets they’ll kill it before they lift it into the boat. It can’t hurt your brother.”
“I’m glad of that,” Janet said.
“I don’t see how the little boy got into the boat,” said another woman. “My boy has been teasing to go, but the men wouldn’t let him.”
“I don’t see how Teddy got in to go,” said Janet. “My mother will be worried about him, I’m afraid.”
“He’ll soon be back,” answered the fisherman, consolingly. “He may be back before your mother has a chance to worry. Sometimes we don’t get many fish in the nets, and it doesn’t take long to empty them. Now don’t cry any more.”
So Janet dried her tears and she and William watched the big flat wagon, loaded with fish, rumble up the sand toward the packing house. Now and then Janet gazed off to sea, where the fishing boat, containing Ted, was growing smaller and smaller the farther it went from shore. It was almost at the fish nets now.
And now, I think, it is time for us to find out how it was that Ted happened to be in the boat, and how he was taken out to sea.
As I have told you, he and Janet were much interested in seeing the different kinds of fish brought in by the first boat. The children ran from one side to the other of the craft, as it rested on the sand, having been pulled well above the high tide limit.
Then Ted thought he would like to look into the boat that was about to go out to the nets. He wanted to see what it was like. Now, though these motor fishing-boats look rather small when they are out on the ocean, they are, really, quite large and will hold a number of men and many hundreds of fishes—even several big sharks.