Then the shells that had been washed up in the hard storms of the winter before, how beautiful they were, and how exciting it was to pick them out of the line of seaweed in which they were entangled! Billy had never dreamed of such pleasures, and they were as good as new to Sam, now that he had a companion to enjoy them with him. Thus the two happy boys spent the forenoon, while Jack wandered about the beach, sniffing into holes and examining the skeletons of the horse-shoes and crabs that had been thrown up by the winter storms. They found many delicate skeletons of baby horse-shoes, some not much larger than a silver quarter of a dollar, and perfect in shape.
“We must make a collection of curiosities,” Billy said,—“shells and horse-shoes and all such things.”
“I can show you where there are beautiful stones,” said Sam. “I have got a little bookcase where we can keep them, and we can label them just as they do in the Museum.”
As Sam spoke, the clear notes of a horn were heard from the direction of the house. “That’s for me,” said Sam. “They always blow that horn when they want me, and I guess it’s about time for lunch.”
So the two boys went toward the house, carrying as many of their “curiosities” as they could take, and Jack followed.
The fresh sea air had sharpened the appetites of the boys, and of Jack, too, but they spent as little time at the table as possible, they were in such a hurry to go back to their play on the beach.
In these pleasures the days passed so rapidly that Sam’s birthday came around before he had thought it was anywhere near the time for it. Jack appeared every day with great regularity, and never let them out of his sight. Even while they were eating their meals, he lay under the dining-room windows, in order that he might be on hand if they required his services.
“What should you like to do to celebrate your birthday, Sam?” asked his grandpapa one morning at the breakfast table.
“I know what I should like to do,” replied Sam, who usually knew just what he wanted, “but I don’t suppose there is any chance of my doing it.”
“What is it, Sam?”