ive up dat calapee yet, da's a fac'."

The boys having repaired damages and unloaded the sand received during
the _melee_, and the moon being now well up, the tramp around the key
was commenced. The approved method is to walk along as near the water as
possible, and on finding a recent track to follow it up on the run, and
thus head off the turtle. For a mile or more we strolled along the
sands, the boys humming in low tones some old plantation melody, and
Sandy occasionally venting his wrath at some real or imaginary fault in
the young and rising generation. In the midst of one of these tirades,
the boys, who had kept ahead, suddenly darted up toward the bushes. We
were soon after them, following up a broad track distinctly marked on
the white, sandy beach, and came upon a fine green turtle, which
immediately started for the water, making rapid headway. The honor of
turning her was reserved for the writer, who, grasping the shell beneath
the flippers, essayed the task. Her struggles, the flying flippers, and
the giving sand verified Sandy's statement that "turklin' was wu'k,"
and, after several ineffectual attempts, we were forced to cry for help.
The animal was soon upon her back, and proved to be one of the largest
size. "Old an' tuff," said Sandy; "but," he added, "hit'll be all the
same up No'th."

The boys now proceeeded to cut slits in the flippers and lash them
together with rope-yarn, the animal being thus placed _hors de combat_.
The march was again taken up, and soon another track was found, but the
eggs had been laid and the game was gone. An attempt to find this nest
showed the cunning displayed by these clumsy creatures. Naturally, the
nest would be looked for at the end of the incoming track, but at this
spot the writer searched fruitlessly, while Sandy looked on in grim
satisfaction at his own superior knowledge. Finally he pointed out the
nest forty feet away, and the boys soon produced the soft, crispy eggs
as proof of his wisdom.

"Ole turtle jes' as cunnin' as coon," said Sandy, as he nipped one of
the eggs and transferred its contents to his capacious mouth. And,
indeed, so it seemed. Instead of laying directly on reaching the soft
sand, the turtle had crawled down the beach and made several holes,
finally forming her real nest, smoothing it over so that it could never
be distinguished from the rest, and again crawling down the beach before
turning toward the water: thus the nest may be looked for