As they approached the beach they could see the great square of the tablecloth laid out on the sand and Floribel busy piling up sandwiches and hard-boiled eggs; fruit and cake. The Little Six came running to meet them and then it became a problem to keep them out of the way of the turtle’s snapping jaws. They had no difficulty however, with Floribel, who screamed with terror at the sight of the strange creature and would not allow them to bring it onto the beach. They ended by mooring it, by means of a large rock, in one of the pools near the shore. Then, forgetting their prey for a while, they sat down to lunch. They were ready to do full justice to it. “Lord_ee_!” Floribel exclaimed once. “Dey’se salt enough here for an army--shuah! Who put all dat salt in the basket?” The three girls burst into giggles. “I was so sure we’d forget the salt,” Maida said, “that I put in a pair of salt-cellars.” “I put in three,” declared Rosie. “And I put in four,” confessed Laura. After lunch, following the orders which Mrs. Dore had given them, they sat on the beach for an hour before they went in bathing again. This prolonged itself to much more than an hour because they began making the inevitable collections of shells and stones to take home. Floribel said that moon-stones were sometimes found on this beach and there instantly began a frantic search for the small, translucent white stones. Of course everybody found several of what he supposed were invaluable gems. By this time the tide, which had turned just as they left the fish weir, was now galloping up on the beach in great waves. They had to pull the turtle farther and farther in shore. At length they all went in bathing again; the Big Six diving through the waves and occasionally getting “boiled”--which was the local term for being whirled about--for their pains. Floribel permitted the Little Six to play only in the rush of the waves after they broke. After five o’clock, blissfully tired, excitedly happy, they piled the little children into the machine; packed the turtle in the big lunch hamper, tied the cover securely over him and started home. Wild with excitement and the news of their find, they dashed into the Little House. “Oh Granny you’ll never guess what we’ve brought home with us,” Maida exclaimed. “And oh what a wonderful day we’ve had,” Rosie added. “And how tired we are and how hungry,” Laura concluded. The little children were all chattering with excitement; the boys were attending to the turtle in the barn, preparatory to taking it to the Magic Mirror. “I’m glad you’ve had a good time, children,” Granny said gravely. “Your father is here, Maida, and he wants to see you all in the living room.”