Chapter VI: A Donkey Ride

"WHO wants a ride on a donkey to-day?" asked Mr. Gray one morning, about a week after their journey to the sea-side.

"Oh papa!" "Oh papa!" cried Willie and Lucy at once.

"What, both of you? How are we to find so many donkeys, do you think?"

"Oh papa, may we really have a ride?" asked Willie. "How kind of you!"

"Would you like it better than digging in the sand? Because you know you can't dig when you are perched up on the donkey's back," said papa, looking very funny.

And Willie and Lucy laughed.

"Oh, we'll leave our spades behind, papa," said Willie. "Won't it be nice, Lucy? But will Lucy be able to ride?"

"Yes, we must find her a donkey with a nice high saddle—a saddle with sides and a back, so that she cannot well fall off."

Lucy was soon dressed, and she and Willie went down to the beach with Mr. Gray.

A great many donkeys stood there, and a great many boys were taking care of them. Each seemed very eager for 'his' donkeys to be taken, and they called out so loud, and crowded round so close, that Willie was half afraid, and Lucy clung closely to papa's hand.

But Mr. Gray soon fixed on two nice clean-looking donkeys, lifted up Lucy, helped Willie to mount, and in a minute more they were off.

Lucy looked grave, and held her papa's hand, as he walked by her side, but Willie was not a bit afraid. He jogged up and down, trying to make his donkey go faster.

"Papa, mayn't I have a real gallop?" he asked. "The donkey won't go fast."

"Gallop, my boy! I don't think you would keep your seat long, if you tried a gallop. This is the first ride you have ever had, you know."

"Oh, papa, I should keep my seat I am quite sure. I saw a little boy just now, hardly bigger than Lucy, and he was going quite fast."

"I daresay he had often been out riding before, Willie."

Willie's face looked rather cloudy, and he said, half to himself—

"I'm sure I shouldn't fall off."

"Willie," said Mr. Gray in a quiet tone, "did you ever hear of a little boy who was quite certain he could jump upon a sand mound that he had made, when his nurse told him not."

Willie grew rather red.

"Well, papa, I won't say, I'm 'sure,'" he said, after a pause. "But won't you let me go a little faster, and I'll try not to fall off."

"That is right, Willie," said Mr. Gray, with a smile. "I like to see a little boy who can allow that he has been in the wrong or made a mistake. Yes, you may go faster if you like, but hold on tight."

A stroke from the donkey-boy's stick made the donkey start off at a trot. Willie soon felt that he was not quite so sure of his seat as he had fancied, and he was glad he had not tried to gallop. Soon the donkey went more slowly again, and then Mr. Gray and Lucy came up. Willie asked his papa where they were going.

"Do you see those rocks, Willie, on the shore-low dark rocks, down to the water's edge?"

"I see, papa. Are they pretty rocks?"

"Not very. That dark colour is from the sea-weeds which grow over them. But I want to find some 'sea-anemones' to show you."

"An-em-o-nes," said Willie slowly. "I don't know what they are, papa. Are they alive, and do they live on the rocks?"

"Both. They are living creatures, and they fasten themselves to rocks, where they stay and catch food with what you would call their 'feelers.'"

"Like the feelers of a butterfly?" asked Willie.

"No, the feelers of a sea-anemone are soft and fleshy, and there are a great many of them. Sometimes they are of lovely colours, and when they are opened out, the anemone looks like a bright flower in the water."

"Oh, how pretty, papa! I hope we shall see one."

"I am afraid we shall not find any here with very bright colours, Willie, and now the tide is low, they will very likely be all shut up. But we will do our best."

Soon the rocks were reached, and Mr. Gray lifted Lucy and Willie to the ground. Mr. Gray held Lucy's hand, and led her on the rocks, while he told Willie to take care that he did not slip on the wet slimy sea-weeds. He soon found a small anemone, and called Willie to see it, but it was shut up, and Willie thought it very ugly.

Then Willie found a crab, and he took hold of it, but it pinched his fingers, and he let it fall, with a cry.

"What is the matter, Willie?" asked Mr. Gray.

"Only a nasty crab, papa," said Willie, squeezing his finger. "He gave me a pinch when I took him up."

"Ah, you must take care how you handle crabs. See, here is a fine large one. Look how he runs."

"He goes sideways," said Willie. "I've seen the little wee crabs do that on the sand. I'm glad I didn't take up that one. He is so big that he would have pinched me very hard. Oh, papa, what is this? May I take it up, or will it hurt me? Is it alive?"

"Yes, but it will not hurt you. It is called a star-fish."

Willie and Lucy both felt the rough pink skin, which was as hard and stiff as leather, and Willie asked how it could walk, with "five legs sticking out all round."

"Those are not legs," said Mr. Gray. "They are called rays. The legs, or rather the feet, are on the rays, and are very small indeed."

"What a funny thing it is," said Willie.

"There are many strange creatures found in the sea, Willie. God has made as many wonderful things in the sea as on land. Do you know there is one kind of star-fish, which, when you touch it, seems to go into a passion and throws off its rays."

Willie and Lucy both laughed at the idea of the little star-fish throwing off his rays, and Willie said—

"It would be very funny, I think, if Lucy and I were to throw off our arms and legs when we are angry."

"Worse than funny, Willie, for it would be very wrong if such a thing could be," said Mr. Gray. "It is always wrong for little boys and girls to be angry. But the star-fish does not know any better, and cannot learn. Now look into this pool, and tell me what you can see."

"Fish, papa—oh! What dear little fishes!" cried Willie. "And what are those?—Are they fish too?"

"No, they are prawns," said Mr. Gray. "Did you never hear of prawns?"

"Oh yes, I've seen them in the shops," said Willie, "and they are like big shrimps. But I thought they were red."

"When they are cooked," said Mr. Gray, laughing. "And so are crabs and lobsters. But you don't find them ready cooked on the sea-shore."

Willie grew as red as the boiled prawns, at his own mistake.

"Never mind, Willie," said his papa kindly. "A little boy who has never been to the sea before, cannot of course know such things. You will be wiser now. I think it is time to return to the donkeys, and to go home. Perhaps some day we will come here again, and stay longer."

"I am glad we have been," said Willie. "I shan't forget what we have seen. Some crabs, and some prawns, and some fishes, and a star-fish, and a sea-anemone."