"
They stepped the mast, and as soon as they had pulled the boat clear of
the harbour, set sail, and in less than an hour had rejoined the party
at the house.
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.
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