They are voracious creatures, and sometimes swallow articles which even their stomachs cannot digest.

A lady's work-box was found in one, and the papers of a slave-ship in another." "Why, how could he get them ?" asked Walter.
"They had been thrown overboard," said the captain.
"Do those big sharks bite people ?" pursued the child.
"Yes, indeed; they will not only bite off an arm or leg when an opportunity offers, but have been known to swallow a man whole." "A worse fate than that of the prophet Jonah," remarked Betty.

"Do the sailors ever attempt to catch them, captain ?" "Sometimes; using a piece of meat as bait, putting it on a very large hook attached to a chain; for a shark's teeth find no difficulty in going through a rope.

But when they have hooked him and hauled him on board they have need to be very careful to keep out of reach of both his teeth and his tail; they usually rid themselves of danger from the latter by a sailor springing forward and cutting it above the fin with a hatchet.
"In the South Sea Islands they have a curious way of catching sharks by setting a log of wood afloat with a rope attached, a noose at the end of it; the sharks gather round the log, apparently out of curiosity, and one or another is apt soon to get his head into the noose, and is finally wearied out by the log." "I think that's a good plan," said Grace, "because it doesn't put anybody in danger of being bitten." No one spoke again for a moment, then the silence was broken by the sweet voice of Mrs.Elsie Travilla: "To-morrow is Sunday; does any one know whether any service will be held here ?" "Yes," replied Mr.Dinsmore; "there will be preaching in the parlors of one of the hotels, and I move that we attend in a body." The motion was seconded and carried, and when the time came nearly every one went.

The service occupied an hour; after that almost everybody sought the beach; but though some went into the surf--doubtless looking upon it as a hygienic measure, therefore lawful even on the Lord's day--there was not the usual boisterous fun and frolic.
Harold, by some manoeuvring, got his mother to himself for a time, making a comfortable seat for her in the sand, and shading her from the sun with an umbrella.
"Mamma," he said, "I want a good talk with you; there are some questions, quite suitable for Sunday, that I want to ask.