"Go ahead," grinned Bert, "only don't be surprised if we fish you out minus a leg or two. Those two sharks that have been following the ship for the last week would welcome you as a very agreeable addition to their bill of fare."
"Yes," chimed in Ralph, "and that's not the only thing, either. I've felt sorry for those poor old sharks for quite a while. Here they follow our ship around for a week, hoping that somebody will fall overboard and furnish them a square meal, and then everybody disappoints them. I call it pretty mean conduct."
"That's my idea exactly," agreed Bert, "and I think it would only be doing the gentlemanly thing for Dick to volunteer. You won't disappoint your friends on a little point like that, will you, Dick?"
"No, certainly not," responded Dick, scornfully. "Just ring the dinner bell, so that the sharks will be sure not to miss me, and I'll jump in any time you say. Nothing I can think of would give me greater pleasure."
"Well, on second thought," laughed Bert, "I think we'd better save you a little while, and fatten you up. I'm afraid you haven't got fat enough on you at present to give entire satisfaction. We might as well do this thing up right, you know."
"O, sure, anything to oblige," grunted Dick. "Just dispose of me any way you think best. Naturally, the subject has little interest for me."
"Aw, you're selfish, Dick, that's what's the matter with you," said Ralph. "I'd be willing to bet any money that you're thinking more of yourself than you are of those two poor, hungry fish. Gee, I'm glad I'm not like that."
"All right, then," responded Dick, quickly, "as long as you feel that way, and I don't, why don't you serve yourself up to the suffering sharks? Besides, you're fatter than I am."
Apparently Ralph could think of no satisfactory answer to this profound remark and so changed the subject.
"Well," he exclaimed, "all this doesn't get us any nearer to a good swim. I wish this were one of the steamships I was on not long since."
"Well, on that ship they had a regular swimming tank on board. Of course, it wasn't a very big one, but it was plenty large enough to give a person a good swim. Gee, I used to just about live in that tank on a day like this."