“You may cheer your favorite,” he said, “but no one must frighten a turtle.”
Now a turtle race was much slower than the Brownies had expected. The entries did not start off very fast. Some of the turtles didn’t seem to know they were in a race. A few failed to move.
“Come on Clover!” shouted Connie.
The snapper started to crawl very fast toward the sea.
At the same time, several other turtles moved in other directions toward the chalk line. A turtle with the name “Elmer” painted on its shell, crawled even faster than Clover.
“Look at him go,” said Jane anxiously. “He’s going to win!”
“Come on, Clover!” pleaded Vevi. “Come on!”
In her excitement she jumped up and down, clapping her hands. So much noise seemed to frighten Clover. He halted and twisted his long neck, looking at the crowd.
“Oh, he’s stopped,” groaned Connie. “Now we’ll never win!”
“I’ll give him a push!” cried Jane.