if you catch any," she said with a
smile, as Cousin Tom and Daddy Bunker rowed the boat out into the
inlet.

"Oh, we'll get some!" cried Russ.

"Crabs bite, don't they?" asked Violet, who seemed started on her
questioning tricks.

"Well, they don't exactly bite; it's more of a pinch," said Cousin Tom.
"But it hurts, I can tell you."

"Then I'm not going to catch any," declared Violet. "I'll just watch
you."

"Oh, a crab won't pinch you if you catch him in a net; and that's what
I'll do," said her cousin. "We'll soon be at the place where there are
lots of them, I hope."

As Cousin Tom rowed along, he told the six little Bunkers that the crabs
swam up the inlet from the sea to get things to eat, and also for the
mother crab to lay eggs, so little crabs would hatch out.

"And when the big crabs swim up, which they do whenever the tide runs
into the inlet, twice a day," said Cousin Tom, "we go out and catch
them. Of course you can catch them at other times, but the crabbing is
best when the tide is coming in."

"But I don't see any hooks on the lines," remarked Laddie, who was
looking at the strings in the bottom of the boat. On one end of each
string was a short piece of wood, and on the other end a piece of meat,
while on a few were some fish heads.

"You don't need hooks to catch crabs," explained Cousin Tom. "All you
need to do is to tie a piece of meat on the string."

"And does the crab bite that?" asked Russ.

"No, but he takes it in his strong claws, to hold it so he can tear off
little pieces with his smaller claws and put them into his mouth," said
Cousin Tom. "A crab's mouth is small, and he has to tear his food into
little bits before he can swallow it. He uses his big front claws for
grabbing hold of what he wants to eat and holding on to it, and he likes
old meat or fish heads best of all.

"So, when we get to the place where I think some crabs are, we'll let
down the pieces of meat. The crabs, swimming along, or crawling sideways
on the bottom of the inlet, as they more often do, will smell the chunk
of meat. They will take hold of it in their claws, and then one of us
can reach down the net and scoop it under Mr. Crab. That's how we catch
them."

"But how do you know when one has hold of the piece of meat on the
string?" asked Rose.

"You can feel him giving it little jerks and tugs," said Cousin Tom.
"Or, if the water is clear, you can see him as he takes hold of the
chunk of meat. Then