rly as he neared the
fire.

"Mussels!" he muttered ecstatically. "Mussels! And ain't that a crab,
Hoo-Hoo? Ain't that a crab? My, my, you boys are good to your old
grandsire."

Hoo-Hoo, who was apparently of the same age as Edwin, grinned.

"All you want, Granser. I got four."

The old man's palsied eagerness was pitiful. Sitting down in the sand as
quickly as his stiff limbs would let him, he poked a large rock-mussel
from out of the coals. The heat had forced its shells apart, and
the meat, salmon-colored, was thoroughly cooked. Between thumb and
forefinger, in trembling haste, he caught the morsel and carried it
to his mouth. But it was too hot, and the next moment was violently
ejected. The old man spluttered with the pain, and tears ran out of his
eyes and down his cheeks.

The boys were true savages, possessing only the cruel humor of the
savage. To them the incident was excruciatingly funny, and they burst
into loud laughter. Hoo-Hoo danced up and down, while Edwin rolled
gleefully on the ground. The boy with the goats came running to join in
the fun.

"Set 'em to cool, Edwin, set 'em to cool," the old man besought, in the
midst of his grief, making no attempt to wipe away the tears that
still flowed from his eyes. "And cool a crab, Edwin, too. You know your
grandsire likes crabs."

From the coals arose a great sizzling, which proceeded from the many
mussels bursting open their shells and exuding their moisture. They were
large shellfish, running from three to six inches in length. The boys
raked them out with sticks and placed them on a large piece of driftwood
to cool.

"When I was a boy, we did not laugh at our elders; we respected them."

The boys took no notice, and Granser continued to babble an incoherent
flow of complaint and censure. But this time he was more careful, and
did not burn his mouth. All began to eat, using nothing but their hands
and making loud mouth-noises and lip-smackings. The third boy, who was
called Hare-Lip, slyly deposited a pinch of sand on a mussel the ancient
was carrying to his mouth; and when the grit of it bit into the old
fellow's mucous membrane and gums, the laughter was again uproarious. He
was unaware that a joke had been played on him, and spluttered and spat
until Edwin, relenting, gave him a gourd of fresh water with which to
wash out his mouth.

"Where's them crabs, Hoo-Hoo?" Edwin demanded. "Granser's set upon
having a snack."

Again Granser's eyes bu