"Why doesn't our boat sink?" asked Violet.
"'Cause it's wood, and that floats," said Russ.
"Well, once you made a little wooden boat, and it sunk when we put a lot of stones on it," said Vi. "And my doll—a little one—was on the boat, and she got all wet."
"Well, if a boat is made of wood, an' it's big enough, it won't sink, will it, Daddy?" asked Russ.
"No, I don't believe it will, if it doesn't get a hole through it so the water can get in. But sit still now, children. I think we are at the place where Cousin Tom is going to let us catch crabs. Aren't we, Tom?" asked Mr. Bunker of his nephew.
"Yes," said Cousin Tom, "this is a good place. There is plenty of seaweed on the bottom of the inlet here, and the crabs like to hide in that—especially the soft-shelled crabs."
"Are there two kinds?" Russ inquired.
"Yes, hard and soft," was his cousin's answer.
"Like eggs," said Russ with a laugh. "There are hard and soft boiled eggs. Isn't that so, Cousin Tom?
"Yes," said Cousin Tom with a smile. "But the funny part of it is that sometimes the same crab is soft-shelled, and again it is hard-shelled. An egg can't be that way. Once it is boiled hard it never can be boiled soft again."