hed to the gunwale to avoid the
arching branches that swept over and tore at the sides of the skiff.
There was half an hour of this work. Dick's hands were blistered and
numb and his brain dizzy with the quick turns and changing courses
of the fish, when suddenly he became panic-stricken and called to
his companion:

"Captain! Are you perfectly _sure_ you know where you are? _Sure_
you can find Miss Barstow?"

The captain laughed.

"Find her? Why she's here within a hundred feet of you now."

And, sure enough, the next turn in the creek showed the girl
standing on the bank by the water's edge.

"Can't I get aboard?" she called out as the skiff swept past, and
Dick would have said "Yes," but the captain shook his head.

"There's trouble ahead. That fish is just getting ready to fight."

Before they had passed out of sight of the girl, the sawfish turned
around and for the first time headed for the skiff.

"Down, quick!" yelled the captain and both Dick and he crouched low
in the skiff as a great broad sword, swung with all the power of the
tremendous fish, swept over their heads. As the angry creature
passed them, a second blow which fell upon the skiff and threatened
to wreck it was echoed by a cry from the girl. The attack on the
skiff was the last great effort of the fish, and though he still
swam strongly he could be controlled. The captain ran the skiff on a
shallow bank and helped Dick with the line until sixteen feet of
fierceness lay stranded on the bank. As the sawfish is a species of
shark, Dick had no hesitancy about killing it, but wanted Molly to
first see his captive and have a look at her saw, before it left the
place where it grew. The captain brought the girl, and then a rope
was made fast to the saw of the fish and tied to a tree, after which
the brute's brain was explored with an axe and the saw cut off as a
trophy.

[Illustration: "THE HARPOON STRUCK THE FISH IN THE MIDDLE OF HIS
BROAD BACK"]

"Better wake up," shouted the captain the next morning, before the
boys were stirring. "There's a shark outside waiting for you, and
I've wired your harpoon line."

The boys omitted their ablutions that morning and must have hurried
their devotions, for three minutes after they were called found them
aboard the skiff which they drove toward a big fin and a swaying
tail, which was cutting the water a hundred yards from the _Irene_.
As they neared the shark, Dick took the harpoon pole and made ready