William had brought up the crayfish, which had only one claw, and Juno put on another pot of water to boil it, as an addition to the dinner, which was nearly ready. Tommy at first went with his sister Caroline to look at the animal, and as soon as he had left off admiring it, he began, as usual, to tease it; first he poked its eyes with a stick, then he tried to unfold his tail, but the animal flapped, and he ran away. At last he was trying to put his stick into the creature's mouth, when it raised its large claw, and caught him by the wrist, squeezing him so tight that Tommy screamed and danced about as the crayfish held on. Fortunately for him, the animal had been so long out of water, and had been so much hurt by the iron spike of the boat-hook, that it was more than half-dead, or he would have been severely hurt. Ready ran to him, and disengaged the crayfish; but Tommy was so frightened, that he took to his heels, and did not leave off running until he was one hundred yards from the house, while Juno and Ready were laughing at him till the tears came into their eyes. When he saw the crayfish on the table, he appeared to be afraid of it, although it was dead. "Well, Tommy," said Mr. Seagrave, "I suppose you won't eat any of the crayfish?" "Won't I?" replied Tommy. "I'll eat him, for he tried to eat me." "Why did you not leave the animal alone, Tommy?" said Mr. Seagrave; "if you had not tormented it, it would not have bitten you; I don't know whether you ought to have any." "I don't like it; I won't have any," replied Tommy. "I like salt pork better." "Well, then, if you don't like it, you shall not have it forced upon you, Tommy," replied Mr. Seagrave; "so now we'll divide it among the rest of us." Tommy was not very well pleased at this decision, for he really did wish to have some of it, so he turned very sulky for the rest of the dinner-time, especially when old Ready told him that he had had his share of the crayfish before dinner. Chapter XLVII As soon as the meal was over, Mr. Seagrave and Juno assisted them in carrying down the canvas and poles for the tent, with shovels to clear away, and the pegs to fix the tents up properly. Before they started, William observed, "I think it would be a good thing, if Ready and I were to take our bedding with us, and then we could fix up one tent this evening, and sleep there; to-morrow morning we might set up the other, and get a good deal of work over before we come back." "You are right, William," replied Ready; "let us see what Juno can give us to eat, and then we will do as you say, for the sooner we are all there the better." As Mr. Seagrave was of the same opinion, Juno packed up a piece of salt pork and some flour-cakes, which, with three or four bottles of water, they took down to the boat. Ready having thrown in a piece of rope to moor the boat with, they shoved off and were soon through the reef, and, after a smart pull, they arrived again at the small harbour.