Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue | Page 6

"Oh, look at that big lobster!" exclaimed Bunny, pointing to a dark
green fellow, with big claws, and a tail curled up underneath.
"Isn't he big!" Sue said. She and her brother often saw many strange
fish, but they never failed to be interested in them, and this lobster was
a fine one.
"Yes," said a fisherman, "he was in our nets, and we brought him in
with us. Your father, the other day, said he'd like to have one, and
maybe he will want this."

"I'll go and ask him," said the little chap.
"And maybe Aunt Lu likes lobsters, too," Sue said. Neither she nor
Bunny cared for lobster, as they did for other fish. But grown folks are
very fond of the big, clawy creatures.
Perhaps some of you children have never seen a lobster. They are a sort
of fish, though they have no scales. They live inside a shell that is dark
green when the lobster is alive. But when he is cooked it turns a bright
red.
Lobsters have two big claws, and a number of little ones, and with
these claws they walk around, backward, on the bottom of the ocean or
bay, and pick up things to eat. In some inland rivers and streams there
are what are called crayfish, or crabs. They are very much like lobsters,
only, of course, a lobster is much larger.
Mr. Brown came out of his office when the fish were being unloaded
from the boat, into barrels of ice. He saw the big lobster and said he
would buy it, to take home to cook for supper.
"We'll have a fine salad from him," said Bunny's father to the
fisherman.
The lobster was still alive and the fisherman picked it up just back of
the big, pinching claws, so he would not get nipped, and put the lobster
in a basket for Mr. Brown to carry. Bunny and Sue leaned over, looking
at the green shellfish, when a voice behind them asked:
"What is it?"
The children turned to see George Watson, a boy older than Bunny,
who lived near him. George often played little tricks on Bunny and
Sue.
"What is it?" he asked again. "A whale?"
"A big lobster," Bunny answered.

"I guess he could almost pinch your nose off in one of his claws," Sue
said, not going too close to the basket.
"Pooh! I'm not afraid of him," George declared. "I'll let him pinch this
stick," he went on, picking up one, and holding it out toward the lobster,
which was slowly waving its "feelers" to and fro, and moving its big
eyes, that looked like shoe buttons sticking out from its head.
"Better look out!" was Bunker's warning, seeing what George was
doing. "He'll nip you!"
"I'm not afraid!" boasted George. "I can----"
And just then something happened. George got his finger too near the
lobster's claw and was at once caught.
"Ouch!" cried George. "Oh dear! He's got me! Make him let go, Bunker!
Oh, dear!"
Bunker did not stop to say: "I told you so!" He took out his big knife,
and put the blade between the teeth of the lobster's claw, forcing it open
so George could pull out his finger. Then, with a howl of pain and
fright, the boy ran home. He was not much hurt, as a lobster can not
shut his claws very tightly when out of water. Just as does a fish, a
lobster soon dies when taken from the ocean.
"What's the matter?" cried Mr. Brown, running up when he heard
George's cries. "Are you hurt, Bunny--Sue?"
"No, it was George," Bunker explained. "He thought he could fool the
lobster, but the lobster fooled him."
"I guess I'd better take it home and have mother cook it," said the
children's father, and home they started, Mr. Brown carrying the big
lobster in the basket.
"Oh, what a fine large one!" Aunt Lu cried, when she saw it. "And
what a fine salad it will make."

"May I have one of the claws--the big one?" begged Bunny.
"What for?" asked his mother.
"I want to put a string in it and tie it on my face, over my own nose,"
the little boy explained. "Then I'll look just like Mr. Punch, in Punch
and Judy. May I have the claw?"
"I guess so," replied Mrs. Brown.
"And when you clean it out, and put it on your nose, I'll be Mrs. Judy,"
said Sue. "We'll have fun."
A lobster's claw, I might say, is filled with meat that is very good to eat.
When the lobster is boiled and the meat picked out with a fork, the
claw is hollow. It is shaped just like the nose of Mr. Punch, with a sort
of hook