any lovely things
she wanted to keep, and yet it would not hold them all She wandered from
rock to rock finding something fresh and curious every minute, and
calling out to Sophia Jane to ask what it was. Sometimes she knew,
sometimes she did not, but she always gave some sort of name to it which
satisfied her companion. So the time went by, and Susan's little basket
had been full and empty over and over again, but she had at last firmly
determined to keep the treasures that were now in it, and not to be
tempted to change them for anything new; she sat down on a comfortable
flat rock, and spread them all out beside her to examine them. At a
short distance was the witch-like form of Sophia Jane, bent nearly
double in her efforts to peer into the dwelling-place of some
sea-creature amongst the rocky crevices; she was very successful in
these sharp-eyed inquiries, a match even for the little scurrying crabs,
whose only chance of escape was to bury themselves hurriedly deep in the
wet sand. All at once she gave a short shriek of surprise and rapture
which was evidently wrung from her by some startling discovery. Susan
hastened to join her, tumbling over the slippery rocks, and leaving all
her possessions behind. It was indeed a very strange and a very
beautiful thing that Sophia had found sticking on to the ledge of a
rock. Something like a jelly, something like a flower, with crimson
petals which stirred faintly about as if moved by the wind.

"Oh, _what_ is it?" said Susan in great excitement, "is it a sea-weed?"

"Of _course_ not," answered Sophia Jane. "I've found 'em before, often.
It's a `Seen Enemy.'"

"I've heard of a _flower_ with a name something like that," said Susan.

"That's a `Wooden Enemy,'" replied Sophia Jane with scorn; "this isn't a
plant, it's an animal."

"Is it alive, then?" asked Susan.

"I should just think it is! It can eat like anything."

"What does it eat?"

"Little tiny crabs and shrimps. Now, I'm going to drop a pebble into
it, and you'll see it will think it's something to eat, and shut its
mouth. Look!"

Susan thought it rather cruel to deceive the Enemy in this manner, but
she could not help watching curiously to see what it would do, as Sophia
Jane popped a little stone into the midst of its soft waving petals. It
happened just as she had said. The Enemy tucked them all in, and
suddenly became nothing but a mould of smooth red jelly.

The two little girls bent over