scaled down over the very roughest part, it seemed to the girls.

"Oh, mercy!" called Nan, as a rock slipped from under her foot and she
promptly slipped after it. "Nellie, give me your hand or I'll slide
into the ocean!"

Nellie tried to cross over to Nan, but in doing so she lost her
footing and fell, then turned over twice, and only stopped as she came
in contact with Uncle William's heels.

"Are you hurt?" everybody asked at once, but Nellie promptly jumped
up, showing the toss had not injured her in the least.

"I thought I was going to get an unexpected bath that time," she said,
laughing, "only for Mr. Minturn interfering. I saw a star in each
heel of his shoe," she declared' "and I was never before glad to bump
my nose."

Without further accident the party reached the sands, and saw Dorothy
and the little ones a short distance away. Freddie had already filled
his cap with little shells, and Flossie was busy selecting some of the
finest from a collection she had made.

"Let's dig," said Hal to Bert. "There are all sorts of mussels,
crabs, clams, and oysters around here. The fisheries are just above
that point."

So the boys began searching in the wet sand, now and then bringing up
a "fairy crab" or a baby clam.