"Andy, I'm afraid one of the men might tread on me," said Mary, in a frightened voice.
"Well, let him!" said Andy. "I don't advise you to call out and ask him not to walk on you!"
There was a little giggle from the nearby rock. Although the girls were frightened they could still see a joke. They all lay quietly for a time and then Andy heard voices coming near. He cried like a seagull, and the girls then lay so still that not even the tiniest bit of seaweed above them moved at all.
The men slid down to the sandy shore, calling to one another in loud voices. Andy could not understand anything they said. All the children's hearts beat loudly and Jill wondered if hers could possibly be heard. It seemed to her to be thumping as loudly as a hammer.
The men stood on the beach and looked round. One shouted something to the others and began to walk over to the rocks. Andy felt most alarmed.
"I do hope we look like real rocks," he thought "And I hope nobody treads on us—we should be found at once if that happened—to say nothing of being hurt!"
The man came nearer. He stood near Andy and took out a packet of cigarettes. Andy heard him strike a match and knew that he had lighted a cigarette.
The man threw the empty cigarette packet on to the sand, and puffed at his cigarette. A young gull, seeing the man throw the packet away, thought that it might be a piece of bread. It flew down to see, crying "Ee-oo, ee-oo, ee-oo!" very loudly.
The other gulls heard it and soared round in circles, wondering if there was any food to find. The young gull landed on the sand and stood looking at the packet, hardly daring to go nearer to peck it, for it was too close to the man.
The other gulls flew down—and two stood on Andy and one stood on the girls! The children looked so exactly like rocks that the gulls really thought they were!