“I get out before they have a chance to catch me,” said Jimmy.
“Well, you’d better get in again, and do some catching yourself,” said Joe. “Bob and I aren’t going to catch them for the whole bunch. Just make a swipe at them with the net as soon as you see them. Don’t chase along after them first, because then they know you’re after them, and they turn and go for you.”
Herbert was rather doubtful about venturing back into the water. But he knew the others would never get through chaffing him if he did not; so, after nursing his injured foot awhile, he ventured in. Following Joe’s advice, he escaped further accident, and at the end of a couple of hours the boys had enough crabs in their baskets to supply the whole four families.
“It seems to me there must be an especially wicked and scrappy lot of crabs in this neighborhood,” said Bob. “Just look at them in the basket. They’re fighting each other just as though they enjoyed it.”
“Probably they do,” said Jimmy. “A crab is foolish enough to like anything.”
“They remind me of Buck Looker and his gang,” said Herb, laughing. “They’re always on the lookout for trouble, and they usually get the worst of it when trouble comes along.”
“Yes, but these fellows are real scrappers, while Buck is just a big bully,” said Bob. “I wonder if they’ve come to Ocean Point yet. I suppose if they had, we’d have seen something of them.”
“Oh, I suppose they’ll come pestering around as soon as they get here,” said Joe. “But if they do, I guess we’ll be able to take care of them.”
“We’ll do our best, anyway,” said Bob. “They’re still sore about the way we broke into their shack after they’d stolen Jimmy’s wireless outfit.”
“It only served them right,” said Jimmy. “I think we let them off pretty easily that time. Next time we’d better rub it in a little harder.”