"I like birds and things, and I've watched them a good deal, and then I like to be round out of doors. But I don't care much to read about them; I'd rather just look at pictures, and then see for myself."
"But a good naturalist must study and read, as well as watch."
As Bess spoke they stepped out on the smooth, dry sand of the beach that stretched beyond them to the right and left in the form of a crescent, one of whose horns bore the white lighthouse, while the other ended in a pine grove. Before them, the little waves danced up and down in the sun, that was turning their green water to a living, moving gold, while here and there the white gulls rode smoothly on the water, or whirled above it in their flight. Across the harbor lay the crowded, fantastic cottages and the large hotel of the summer colony, now deserted and forlorn; while close at hand rose three or four rough, jagged rocks, with a narrow strip of sand connecting them with the beach.
"Let's go out to the Black Rocks," suggested Rob. "Maybe we can find some starfish. I want to get a live one and watch him crawl with his little sucker feet."
Bess followed the boy's lead, and soon they were scrambling over the rough, slippery surface of the rocks, that, at high tide, were nearly covered with water. Fuzz dashed through all the little pools left by the last tide, and was soon absorbed in worrying a large snail that had injudiciously poked its head out of its shell.
Rob had vanished from sight, but he soon reappeared with scratched hands, and triumphantly asked,—
"Like raw oysters, cousin Bess?" as he threw half a dozen shells at her feet.
"What fun, Robin! Where did you get them?" asked Bess, as, unmindful of her years and dignity, she sat down on the slimy rock, and with a small stone tried to pry open the shells.
"You'll have to smash them," said Rob, as with one scientific blow he crushed the shell, removed the fragments, and offered the oyster to his cousin.
"What an original idea!" she said, laughing, as she took it. "I didn't know we were going to have an oyster supper, Rob."