een the seals?" asked Mr. Merrill who met them at the bird
house.

No, they hadn't.

"It's almost four o'clock," said Mr. Merrill, looking at his watch, "and
Mr. Holden said they ate at four and we should meet him there, so let's
hurry."

It was a good thing they did hurry for other folks seemed to know, too,
that the seals were fed at four. From all directions, folks could be seen
walking toward the big enclosed pond where the seals were kept. But, by
hurrying, they got there in time to stand close to the iron fence where
they could see the antics of those queerest of animals, the seals.

One would suppose that even the seals knew it was nearly four o'clock,
dinner time, for they were so excited and eager. They barked and swam and
flung themselves around vigorously as though they could hardly stand
waiting for anything. Then, just at four, a man came out of a near-by
building. In his hand he carried a basket of fish--a great, well-filled
basket. He came over to a little platform close by where the Merrill and
Holden children were standing; so they could see everything.

He picked up a big fish, tossed it over into the rocky island in the
middle of the seals' pond and then! such a scrambling as there was till
the middle-sized seal with a few ungainly flops, grabbed the fish and
gulped it down in one bite.

Then he threw another fish and another and another--one after the other so
fast that Mary Jane felt sure the seals must get all mixed up about
catching them. But they didn't. Those seals must have been smarter than
folks had thought for they seemed to know, every time, just about where
the fish was to hit on the rocks and to know, too, just how to get to that
particular spot the quickest. Mary Jane thought it very wonderful.

But one thing worried her. There was one small seal, who for some reason
or other, seemed to be always just a second too late to get a fish. Mary
Jane was sure he had had but one and all the others had had, oh, a lot.
And she couldn't help wishing all the others wouldn't be quite so grabby.

When the man who was feeding the seals got almost to the bottom of his big
basket, he stopped and looked at the crowd of children assembled for the
feeding. And as he looked, he spied Mary Jane's sober little face.

"Don't you like to watch them?" he asked her in surprise.

"Yes, I like to only they're so grabby," she replied promptly, "and he
hasn't had but one." She pointed out the little seal who