elves."

"What do you say to that, Molly?"

"See here, sis," interrupted Ned, "it's up to you to put up or shut
up. If you don't give us this chance to make good you are not to say
'manatee' again on this trip."

"Give 'em what they want, Daddy. They can't do much harm in three
days, and just think of the fun I'll have with them afterwards."

"Well, hoys, you shall have your chance. It may prove a good lesson
to you."

"You heard that, Captain? Dick and I are boss for three days, and we
want this boat to start up Broad River immejit!"

"Tide's jist a-bilin' out of the river. It'll take all day to get
anywhere. Hadn't you better anchor at the mouth of the river till it
turns? We can run up the river in the night, so you won't lose any
time."

The _Irene's_ anchor was dropped behind the bar that lies opposite
the mouth of the river, and Molly and the boys went out in the skiff
to call on a family of pelicans which were keeping house on a little
coral key, surrounded by oyster reefs, between Rodgers and Broad
rivers. As the skiff neared the key the old birds flew lazily away
and lit on a mud-flat a hundred yards distant, but the pelican
children waddled around on the oyster reef without showing much
alarm until Dick caught one, when the indignant bird struck him with
its big bill and punched holes in his hat. As the tide fell the
oyster bars were uncovered, the water shoaled on the mud-flats, and
the boys gathered oysters from one, and clams weighing from half a
pound to four pounds each from the other.

[Illustration: "THE INDIGNANT BIRD PUNCHED HOLES THROUGH HIS HAT"]

A fire was built on the reef, bread and coffee brought from the
_Irene_, and Mr. Barstow and Captain Hull invited to a picnic
supper which they were polite enough to say they enjoyed greatly.
After supper Molly and the boys took a walk on the beach on the
north side of Rodgers River and amused themselves by chasing the
crabs that were skurrying along close to the shore to keep out of
the way of their enemies. They had a lot of fun, but caught no
crabs, until Dick went back to the _Irene_ for a scoop-net and a
bucket, which he soon filled with the crustaceans. Molly had never
before seen shell-fish growing on trees, so Dick cut a few
oyster-bearing branches from a mangrove tree and roasted bunches of
the bivalves on the beach. When the sputtering of the oysters on the
branch told Dick they were cooked, he hauled the limb from the
coals, sat dow