I've seen hundreds of them, and this
creature has no tail."

We all rushed again to the edge of the rocks to look at him, with
added wonder.

"Well, we'll take that tad home on a pole, any way," said Nannie
White, who was the cutest girl to say things in the whole crowd. She
immediately ran off to secure a piece of drift that was tumbling about
on the wet sand. But how to get him into a pail was the next problem.
A committee of the whole was called. I thought we could obstruct his
path by putting the mouth of the pail in front of him, and then when
he sailed into it, we could instantly pull him out. This was decided
upon; but how to get it down to him without falling in? A bright idea
struck me. I whipped off my flannel sash, and running it through the
handle, dashed it into the water; but that proceeding only frightened
him--we must move more cautiously. We worked for an hour and had him
in twice, but were so excited both times that he escaped.

First time, Totty Rainsford shouted, "We've got him!" and immediately
rolled off the rocks, head first, into the water. We were all so
scared, with the water splashing, and she screaming at the top of her
voice, "Save me! Save me!" that Jack got away. She scrambled out
pretty lively, and when we got him in again, we were all seized with
another fit of laughing at Totty, who, in her moist predicament, was
jumping round to dry herself, because she didn't want to go home, that
he crawled out as leisurely as possible. But we secured him at last,
safe in the pail; and to prevent his crawling out, I clapped my sailor
hat over the top of it, and the elastic kept it down tight. We put the
pole through the handle and Estella and myself took hold of the ends,
and we came near losing him every few minutes, owing to the
inequalities of the ground. The pail would slide down to either end,
as the pole inclined, and Estella would drop it and scream when she
saw the pail traveling noiselessly toward her, and if it hadn't been
for my happy thought of putting the hat over him, he'd have got away
to his "happy hunting grounds," or rather, waters, in short order.

We arrived at the hotel at last, with Jack all safe, and the rest of
the girls went to dress for dinner, and left me to find the boys, to
help me deposit him in a secure place, for we were sure we should very
greatly astonish the boarders and achieve renown as having discovered
a new species of marine beast.

The boys were in a pe