Part 22 (1/2)

”Can't you skip, as we do when we play hopscotch?” asked Sue.

”Maybe,” her brother answered.

He was about to try it, and his mother was just going to tell him that a better way would be to dip his foot back in the water when the crab might swim away, when the pinching creature decided to let go anyhow. It loosened its claws and dropped with a splash into the puddle of water.

”Oh, he's gone! He let go my toe!” cried Bunny, and then he ran up the sandy sh.o.r.e as fast as he could go.

”Let me see where he pinched you,” said Mrs. Brown, when Bunny had reached her side. ”Is it bleeding?”

”Yes, I guess it is! And maybe he pinched my whole toe off,” said Bunny, almost ready to cry.

He held up his bare foot, and his mother looked at the toe. It was quite red, but the skin was not broken and there was no blood.

”Is it--is it off?” asked Bunny, his voice trembling.

”No, you silly boy, it isn't even bleeding,” laughed his mother.

”Well, it--it felt as if it was off,” said Bunny. ”I don't like crabs.”

”No, they aren't very pleasant when they nip you,” agreed his mother.

”But this one took such a big pinch and his claw was so much over your toe nail that he really did very little damage. You'd better not wade in that pool any more.”

”I won't,” decided Bunny.

He sat down and softly rubbed his toe where the crab had pinched him.

As Mrs. Brown had said, there was no blood, though it does not take much of a nip from even a small crab to break the skin and cause a bleeding.

And sometimes the pinch of a crab, where it does draw blood, becomes very sore.

However, Bunny was well out of this adventure, and when he had got over his fright his mother took him and Sue up under the shady umbrella and gave them some lunch.

”But I don't want any more crabs to bite me,” said Bunny.

The remainder of the day was spent in happy fas.h.i.+on, though Bunny waded in no more pools.

”I'm glad the crab didn't pinch me,” said Sue, as she wiggled her toes in the soft sand. ”'Cause my foot's littler than Bunny's,” she went on, holding it near his, ”and maybe that crab would have taken hold of two of my toes, and bitten them all off.”

”Oh, I think that wouldn't have happened,” said Mrs. Brown. ”A crab doesn't really want to nip children just for fun. They'll get away from you if they can; but if they think you are going to hurt them they'll open their claws and pinch. Bunny must have stepped on the one that took hold of his toe.”

”Maybe I did,” said Bunny. ”I stepped on something, and I thought it was a clam sh.e.l.l, but it wiggled out from under my foot and then my toe was grabbed.”

When Bunny and Sue went back to the bungalow that night they saw Bunker Blue busy at work on a small boat at the dock, which was at the end of the walk leading down from ”Bark Lodge,” as their place was named, for it was made of logs with the bark on.

”What are you doing, Bunker?” Sue called to him.

”I got bit by a crab!” announced Bunny, not giving the fish boy time to answer. ”He held on to my toe and I lifted him right out of the water, same as we catch crabs on a string and fishhead.”

”Is that so?” asked Bunker, and he went on hammering away at the boat.