gain started to dig for the shellfish and Sue held the basket for
them. But she took care to stand on a big flat stone, so there was no
more danger of sinking down.

"Mother!" cried Harry, when he saw Mrs. Slater with Mrs. Brown, "digging
clams is lots of fun, and Sue got stuck in the mud."

"So we saw," his mother answered. "The seashore is a funny place. You
don't seem to know what will happen on land or in the water."

"Oh, it is all right when you get used to it," said Mrs. Brown,
laughing. "Have you enough clams, Bunny?"

"Not quite," he answered. "I like lots of 'em in my chowder."

"Well, you may dig a few more. We'll sit here and wait for you," said
his mother, and, finding a place on shore where a clump of trees gave a
little shade, she and Mrs. Slater sat down.

Bunny, Sue, and Harry kept on digging, Sue finally insisting on taking a
turn with the shovel.

"I'm coming to the seashore every year," declared Harry, as he dug out
an extra large clam. "I guess my dog would like it here, too. He's fond
of water."

"Where is your dog?" asked Bunny. "I didn't see you have any."

"We didn't bring him with us 'cause he's lost," said Harry, leaning on
his shovel. "He's an awful nice dog, too. We were going to bring him
here with us, but one day, when we were out in the automobile, he jumped
out and ran away and we never saw him again."

"We had a dog Splash, and he ran away, too," said Sue.

"My dog would carry things in his mouth," went on Harry. "He used to
carry our paper, and sometimes he would take things you didn't want him
to, and carry them away."

"Oh, Bunny!" suddenly exclaimed Sue, "that's just what the big yellow
dog did. He took mother's pocketbook when we didn't want him to and
carried it away. Maybe this is the same dog!"

"What kind of a dog was yours?" asked Bunny of his new friend.

"He was a big yellow one," was the answer. "But he was never here in
this place, 'cause we were never here ourselves before this summer. So
he couldn't have taken your mother's pocketbook."

"But the pocketbook wasn't taken from here," said Bunny. "It was where
we live--in Bellemere. And it was a big, yellow dog! Could your dog run
fast?" he asked Harry.

"Oh, yes, terribly fast. But what's that about your mother's
pocketbook?"

Bunny and Sue told the story by turns, how they had seen the dog
running away with the pocketbook containing the five-dollar bill and
their mother's diamond ring.

"And he ran