ost 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 fashion, 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 shell, 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?"