And yet that inlet had a name and reputation of its own for crabs. There
was a wide reach of shallow water, inside the southerly point at the
mouth, where, over several hundred acres of muddy flats, the depth
varied from three and a half to eight feet, with the ebb and flow of the
tides. That was a sort of perpetual crab-pasture; and there it was that
Dick Lee determined to expend his energies that Saturday.

Very likely there would be other crabbers on the flats; but Dick was not
the boy to object to that, provided none of them should notice the
change in his raiment. At an early hour, therefore, Dab and Ford were
preceded by their young colored friend, they themselves waiting for
later breakfasts than Mrs. Lee was in the habit of preparing.

Dick's ill fortune did not leave him when he got out of sight of his
mother. It followed him down to the shore of the inlet, and compelled
him to give up, for that day, all idea of borrowing a respectable boat.

There were several, belonging to the neighbors, from among which Dick
was accustomed to take his pick, in return for errands run and other
services rendered to their owners; but on this particular morning not
one of them all was available. Some were fastened with ugly chains and
padlocks. Two were hauled away above even high-water mark, and so Dick
could not have got either of them into the water even if he had dared to
try; and as for the rest, as Dick said,--

"Guess dar owners must hab come and borrered 'em."

The consequence was, that the dark-skinned young fisherman was for once
compelled to put up with his own boat, or rather his father's.