lay, herself going back to Cousin Tom's
bungalow.

Margy and Mun Bun, who had been gathering shells and stones down on the
sand, had come up to play in front of the house, on a bit of green lawn.
Laddie and Vi, who had walked up and down the beach, looking for some
starfish, which they did not find, came to where Russ and Rose were
getting ready to play.

"What are you making?" asked Laddie.

"A pirate bungalow," answered Russ. "Want to help?"

"Yep," answered Laddie.

"And I will, too," said Vi. "What are you going to put in it? Will it be
big enough for all of us, and what makes so much wood here, Russ?"

"Now if you're going to ask a lot of questions you can't play!" said
Rose. "You just help pick up the wood, Vi."

"Can't I ask just one more question?"

"What is it?" asked Russ, smiling.

"What makes the ocean so salty?" Vi asked this time. "I got some water
on my hands and then I put my finger in my mouth and it tasted just like
I'd put too much salt on my potatoes. What makes the ocean so salty?"

"I don't know," said Russ. "We'll ask Daddy when we go up. But come on,
and let's build the bungalow. I'll be a pirate, and we'll play shipwreck
and everything."

"I'll be a pirate, too," added Laddie. "I know a good riddle about a
pirate, but I can't think of it now. Maybe I will after I've been a
pirate for a while."

"We'll be pirates, too," said Vi.

"No, girls can't be," said Russ. "You can be our prisoners. Pirates
always have prisoners."

"Prisoners? What's them?" asked Vi.

"They're what pirates have," explained Laddie. "I know, 'cause I saw
some pictures of 'em in a book. Pirates always keep their prisoners
shut up in a cave."

"I'm not going to be in a cave," said Rose. "I was in the sand house
when it caved in, and I don't like it."

"But you get good things to eat," explained Russ. "Pirates always have
to feed their prisoners good things to eat."

"Then I'll be one, 'cause I'm hungry," said Vi.

"So'll I," added Laddie. "I'll be a prisoner. I guess I'd rather be a
prisoner than a pirate, Russ. You can be the pirate and get us all good
things to eat."

"All right, I will. Now come on, we've got to get a lot more wood to
make this pirate bungalow. Get all the wood you can."

"Why don't you get some?" asked Laddie, as he saw his brother sitting
down on a pile of drift pieces that had already been gathered.

CHAPTER XI

GOING CRABBING

Russ Bunker looked up at his brother