“That’s why she’s taken such a fancy to you, Jim, old man,” laughed Joe.
“Well, as long as pity is akin to——” began Joe, when Mabel, tired with laughing, interrupted him:
“But suppose the stick should break,” she said.
“Then there would be just one less native,” answered Jim, solemnly. “By the way, Joe,” he added, “speaking of sharks—what’s the difference between a dog and a shark?”
“Give it up,” replied Joe promptly.
“Because,” chuckled Jim, “a dog’s bark is worse than his bite, but a shark’s bite is—is—worse than his—er——”
“Go ahead,” said Joe bitterly, while the girls giggled. “Perpetrate it. What shark has a bark?”
“A dog-faced shark,” crowed Jim triumphantly.
“Of all the idiots,” lisped Reggie, joining them at the rail. “’Pon honor, you know, I never heard such bally nonsense.”
The gibe that followed this remark was cut short by the approach of the lighter on which the passengers were to be carried to the shore. 160