Let us go on now to the beach, or it will be too late for us to do so before dinner." "Come on then, I'm yours obediently," said the Captain with his usual chirpy chuckle.

"By Jove, though, I think I've had pretty nearly walking enough for one day for an old fellow turned sixty." This time they steered clear of the castle, the exciting memories of the previous evening being too vivid in Mrs Gilmour's mind to allow the boys to go near the treacherous footing of the rampart again.
Instead of going thither, they turned their footsteps rather to the eastern portion of the shore; where a shelving, shingly beach sloped gradually down to the water, and thus no danger to be feared of Master Bob or any one else plunging in suddenly without warning, as happened unfortunately before.
Here, everything was new to the young people; the wet pebbles glistening like jewels after a last polish from the receding tide; the masses of many-hued seaweed; the quaint shells; and the rippling waves, laughing in the sunshine, and sportively throwing up in their joyous play little balls of foam or spindrift, which the buoyant south-westerly breeze, equally inclined for fun and frolic, tossed about here and there high in the air, until they were lost to sight in the distance beyond the esplanade.
One or two silver-grey gulls, with white waistcoats on, as if going to some nautical dinner-party, were hovering above and occasionally making dashes down in their swooping curvilinear flight to pick up stray tit- bits from the tideway, to assuage their hunger until the grander repast to which they were invited was ready; while a whole colony of their kindred, the black, brown, and dusky-coloured gulls, not so fortunate in being asked out to the festive banquet, were anon floating about in groups on the water close inshore, anon suddenly taking wing and flying off, only to settle down again on the surface further out.
Even more impressive, however, than all these evidences of moving life around, there was the sea, that touched their feet almost, and yet stretched out in its illimitable expanse away and away--to where?
It was Nellie to whom these thoughts occurred; as for Bob, he was engaged in chasing little green crabs as they scuttled over the shingle, busily collecting as many as he could get hold of in a little pond he had scooped in the sand.
This pond would now be filled as some venturesome wavelet broke over its brink; and then be drained as the tide fell back, leaving the poor little crabs left high and dry ashore to repeat their scrambling attempts at escape, only to tumble over on top of each other as they tried to climb the precipitous sides of Bob's reservoir.
"Isn't it jolly!" cried that young gentleman, looking up at the Captain, who, leaning on his stick, stood near, watching his futile endeavours to restrain the vivacious, side-walking, unwieldy little animals that seemed gifted with such indomitable energy, and equal perseverance to that of Bruce's spider.

"Isn't it jolly, sir ?" "Not very jolly for the crabs, though," observed the old sailor smiling.
"I don't think they would say so if you asked them the question!" "I'm not hurting them," said Bob in excuse.

"I only want to see them closely." "I suppose you think they are all alike and belong to the same species, eh ?" asked the Captain.

"Don't you ?" "Well, I don't see much difference in them," replied Bob hesitatingly.
"Do you, Captain Dresser ?" "Humph! yes.