But Grandfather, scorning artificial allurements, caught the first crab. The crab was scurrying away over the pebbles and shells at the bottom of the transparent water when Grandfather's inexorable implement caught him in mid-career, and he was imprisoned in the covered basket they had brought for the purpose.
"I didn't know that you could catch them so near the shore," Elizabeth said, looking down at her bare toes in some dismay, "do they hurt when they bite you?"
"The game is not to let them bite you," Peggy said. "Hooray! One for me—us, I mean."
"Three," said Grandfather, landing another.
"I've got the father and mother of all crabs here," Bill Dean said, as he dragged at the handle of his net. "Look at old Grandfather Crab."
"He isn't very pretty," Elizabeth said, "but I prefer him to a raw lobster. I never saw a green lobster till the other day."
"She was just making Judidy throw it out when I caught her at it," Grandfather laughed, "she said it was sick, and would give us all ptomaine poisoning, and the lobster was so mad when he heard it that he tried to claw poor Judidy's hand off."
"It is strange that they turn bright red after being bright green," Elizabeth said. "I think I prefer crabs."
"Come with me, and we'll get some," Tom said, taking possession of her.
"I guess we can rest now," he said a little later, "we got more than any of them."