"Why, this certainly is very strange," thought the rabbit. "I wonder where they can all be going? Perhaps it is to a circus parade. I must go see, for I might meet my friend the elephant there. Oh, this will be some fun! Is it a circus parade?" he called aloud.
"No, it isn't a circus parade," said a voice at Uncle Wiggily's side, and, looking down, the old gentleman rabbit saw the kind grasshopper who had once given him some molasses.
"If it isn't a circus parade, what is it?" asked the rabbit.
"These children are going to the seashore to bathe and paddle in the salty ocean waves," went on the grasshopper, "and some of them will build sand houses, or dig wells for the water to fill up. Why don't you go, Uncle Wiggily? Perhaps you may find your fortune there."
"I believe I will," said the rabbit. "Won't you come along?" Well, the grasshopper said he would, so off they hopped together, the hoppergrass--I beg your pardon,--I mean the grasshopper--and the rabbit.
Pretty soon they heard the noise of the waves pounding on the sandy shores, and they could smell the salt breeze and it made them hungry for clam chowder and lobsters and crabs and things like that. Then they saw ever so many more children running along and in a little while they were at the seashore.
"Well, now to look for my fortune," said the rabbit, as he watched the waves rush up on the sand with a big noise and lots of foam, and then they would tumble out to the sea again. "How do you think I had better go about it, Mr. Grasshopper?"
"If I were you I would dig in the sand," said the grasshopper. "Sometimes men, who were called pirates, used to bury gold in the sand, and perhaps there is some of their money left. You dig and I will watch you."
"But I have nothing with which to dig," said the rabbit.
"Oh, you may take my shovel," said a little girl with her dress tucked up high so that it would not get wet. "I am going in wading, so I won't need it."