"But what is that?" cried William, pointing to the sand - "that round
dark thing?"

"That's what I'm very glad to see, William: it's a turtle. They come up
about this time in the evening to drop their eggs, and then they bury
them in the sand."

"Can't we catch them?"

"Yes, we can catch them if we go about it quietly; but you must take
care not to go behind them, or they will throw such a shower of sand
upon you, with their hind flappers or fins, that they would blind you
and escape at the same time. The way to catch them is to get at their
heads and turn them over on their backs by one of the fore-fins, and
then they cannot turn back again."

"Let us go and catch that one."

"I should think it very foolish to do so, as we could not take it away,
and it would die to-morrow from the heat of the sun."

"I did not think of that, Ready; if we come to live here, I suppose we
shall catch them whenever we want them."

"No, we shall not, for they only come on shore in the breeding-season;
but we will make a turtle pond somewhere which they cannot get out of,
but which the sea flows into; and then when we catch them we will put
them into it, and have them ready for use as we require them."