There, tied to a pier not far from Cousin Tom's bungalow, was a large boat. Near it stood Mother and Father Bunker and Cousin Ruth. Cousin Ruth had some peach baskets, two long-handled nets and some strings to the ends of which were tied chunks of meat.

"Are we going to feed a dog?" asked Russ.

"No, that is bait for the crabs," said Cousin Tom. "Come, now, get into the boat, and we'll go for a new kind of fishing."

CHAPTER XII

"THEY'RE LOOSE!"

"All aboard!" cried Russ as he stood on the edge of the little wharf in the inlet, at which the boat was tied. "All aboard."

"Does he mean we must all get a piece of board?" asked Violet.

"No," answered her mother with a smile. "Russ is saying what the sailors say when they want every one to get on the ship, take their places, and be ready for the start."

The rowboat was a large one, and would hold the six little Bunkers, as well as their daddy and mother and Cousin Tom.

Cousin Ruth had intended to go, but, at the last minute, the woman living in the next bungalow asked her to help with some sewing; so Cousin Ruth stayed at home.

"I'll get all ready to cook the crabs if you catch any," she said with a smile, as Cousin Tom and Daddy Bunker rowed the boat out into the inlet.

"Oh, we'll get some!" cried Russ.

"Crabs bite, don't they?" asked Violet, who seemed started on her questioning tricks.

"Well, they don't exactly bite; it's more of a pinch," said Cousin Tom.

"But it hurts, I can tell you."

"Then I'm not going to catch any," declared Violet. "I'll just watch you."

"Oh, a crab won't pinch you if you catch him in a net; and that's what I'll do," said her cousin. "We'll soon be at the place where there are lots of them, I hope."

As Cousin Tom rowed along, he told the six little Bunkers that the crabs swam up the inlet from the sea to get things to eat, and also for the mother crab to lay eggs, so little crabs would hatch out.

"And when the big crabs swim up, which they do whenever the tide runs into the inlet, twice a day," said Cousin Tom, "we go out and catch them. Of course you can catch them at other times, but the crabbing is best when the tide is coming in."

"But I don't see any hooks on the lines," remarked Laddie, who was looking at the strings in the bottom of the boat. On one end of each string was a short piece of wood, and on the other end a piece of meat, while on a few were some fish heads.

"You don't need hooks to catch crabs," explained Cousin Tom. "All you need to do is to tie a piece of meat on the string."

"And does the crab bite that?" asked Russ.

"No, but he takes it in his strong claws, to hold it so he can tear off little pieces with his smaller claws and put them into his mouth," said Cousin Tom. "A crab's mouth is small, and he has to tear his food into little bits before he can swallow it. He uses his big front claws for grabbing hold of what he wants to eat and holding on to it, and he likes old meat or fish heads best of all.

"So, when we get to the place where I think some crabs are, we'll let down the pieces of meat. The crabs, swimming along, or crawling sideways on the bottom of the inlet, as they more often do, will smell the chunk of meat. They will take hold of it in their claws, and then one of us can reach down the net and scoop it under Mr. Crab. That's how we catch them."

"But how do you know when one has hold of the piece of meat on the string?" asked Rose.

"You can feel him giving it little jerks and tugs," said Cousin Tom.

"Or, if the water is clear, you can see him as he takes hold of the chunk of meat. Then you want to pull up on your string, very, very gently, so as not to scare the crab and make him let go. If you know how to do it you can lift your string up with one hand, and scoop the net under the crab with the other. But when you children have a bite, your Daddy or I will use the net for you."

"Oh, it's going to be lots of fun," cried Violet. "I like this kind of fishing."

"And there aren't any sharp hooks to hurt the crab," added Rose.

"No, it doesn't hurt a crab to catch him this way," said Daddy Bunker.

"And crabs are very good to eat after they are cooked. I like them better than fish."

"Is a crab a fish?" asked Laddie, who was holding a little stick down in the water, watching the ripples it made as the boat was rowed along.

"A crab is a sort of fish," said Cousin Tom. "Why did you ask?"

"Oh, I am trying to make up a riddle about a crab and a fish," said Laddie. "But I don't guess I can if they are pretty near the same. I guess I'll make up a riddle about a boat. I have one 'most thought up.

It goes like this: When a boat goes in the water why doesn't the water go in the boat?"

"It does, sometimes, if the boat leaks," replied Cousin Tom with a laugh. "I hope your riddle doesn't come true this trip, Laddie!"

"Oh, well, I haven't got the riddle all made up yet," was the answer. "I can't think of a good answer. Maybe I can after I catch some crabs."

"Why doesn't our boat sink?" asked Violet.

"'Cause it's wood, and that floats," said Russ.

"Well, once you made a little wooden boat, and it sunk when we put a lot of stones on it," said Vi. "And my doll--a little one--was on the boat, and she got all wet."

"Well, if a boat is made of wood, an' it's big enough, it won't sink, will it, Daddy?" asked Russ.

"No, I don't believe it will, if it doesn't get a hole through it so the water can get in. But sit still now, children. I think we are at the place where Cousin Tom is going to let us catch crabs. Aren't we, Tom?"

asked Mr. Bunker of his nephew.

"Yes," said Cousin Tom, "this is a good place. There is plenty of seaweed on the bottom of the inlet here, and the crabs like to hide in that--especially the soft-sh.e.l.led crabs."

"Are there two kinds?" Russ inquired.

"Yes, hard and soft," was his cousin's answer.

"Like eggs," said Russ with a laugh. "There are hard and soft boiled eggs. Isn't that so, Cousin Tom?

"Yes," said Cousin Tom with a smile. "But the funny part of it is that sometimes the same crab is soft-sh.e.l.led, and again it is hard-sh.e.l.led.

An egg can't be that way. Once it is boiled hard it never can be boiled soft again."

"What makes soft crabs?" Rose wanted to know.

"A soft-sh.e.l.led crab is a hard-sh.e.l.led crab with its old, hard sh.e.l.l off, and it is only soft while it is waiting for its new sh.e.l.l to harden in the salty sea water," explained Cousin Tom. "You see a crab grows, but its sh.e.l.l, or its house that it lives in, doesn't grow. So it has to shed that, or wiggle out of it, to let a larger one grow in its place.

When it does that it is a soft-sh.e.l.led crab for a time, and very good to eat. But you can't catch soft-sh.e.l.led crabs on a string and a chunk of meat. You have to go along and scoop them out of the seaweed with a net.