"Me for a swim, as soon as it gets a little warmer," decided Frank, for the morning was a bit chilly.
"I'm with you!" agreed Bob.
"Can't you boys get a few crabs first?" asked Mrs. Bouncer. "I'd like some to make a salad. The tide is right now; isn't it?"
"Yes, it's coming in, and they always bite best on the incoming tide," replied Bob, who had learned that from an old fisherman. "What do you say, fellows; shall we go crabbing?"
"Sure," agreed his chums. "We can swim later."
Accordingly with crab nets, pieces of meat tied on strings for bait, and a deep basket in which to keep the catch, the boys set off in their boat, for the other side of the cove, since there the larger crabs could be gotten.
They had good luck, and were busy pulling in some large ones, with big blue claws, when Bob suddenly called to his companions:
"Look, there he is now!"
They glanced up, to see, some distance back from the beach, in a clump of scrub evergreen trees, a man digging.
"There's our man of mystery!" exclaimed Sammy. "Let's trail him, fellows!"