“You ought to say what are the three sleepiest letters in the alphabet,” declared Russ, “’cause there are three letters in bed.”

“Oh, well, one is enough for a riddle,” said Laddie, and I think so myself.

One day the children saw Daddy Bunker and Cousin Tom putting on long rubber boots, and taking down heavy fishing-poles and some baskets.

“Where are you going?” asked Russ.

“Down to fish in the surf,” answered his father.  “Want to come?”

Russ and Laddie did.  Rose and Violet were already trying to catch crabs further up the inlet.  Margy and Mun Bun had gone to take their afternoon nap.

Laddie and Russ played about on the beach while their father and Cousin Tom began to fish, throwing the heavy sinkers and big hooks far out in the surf, trying to catch a bass.  The men had to stand where the waves broke, and that is why they wore rubber boots.

Suddenly Laddie, who had run down the beach to watch a big piece of driftwood come floating in, called: 

“Oh, Russ!  Come here, quick!  Here is a fish that’s got legs!  It’s a fish that can walk!  It’s worse than a Sallie Growler!  Come and look at it!”

CHAPTER XXI

THE QUEER BOX AGAIN

Russ at first thought his smaller brother was playing a joke.

“You can’t fool me,” cried Russ.  “I don’t want to guess any of your riddles!”

“This isn’t a riddle!” declared Laddie.  “It’s a real fish, and it’s got real legs.  Come and look at it!”

He was pointing to something on the beach, which seemed to have been washed in by the tide.

“Come on!” cried Laddie again.  “It isn’t a riddle—­honest!  It’s a fish with legs.  I didn’t see him walk, but it sort of—­sort of stands up!”

Still Russ was afraid of being fooled.  So he called over to his father and Cousin Tom, who were fishing in the surf not far away.

“Daddy, is there a fish with legs?  Laddie says he’s found one on the beach.”

“Well, you might call ’em legs,” answered Cousin Tom, as he flung his hook and sinker as far as he could out into the ocean.  “I guess what Laddie has found is a skate.”

“But he says it’s a fish!” exclaimed Russ.  “Now you call it a skate!  I guess you’re both trying to make up riddles.”

“No, Russ,” said his father, as he reeled in his line.  “The fish Laddie sees, and I can see it from where I stand, really has some long, thin fins, which are like legs.  And the name of the fish is ‘skate,’ so you see they are both right.  Come, we’ll go and look at it.”

And when Russ got to where Laddie was standing over the queer creature on the beach he had to laugh, for surely the fish was a very queer one.

“Isn’t it funny?” asked Laddie.

“I should say so!” cried Russ.  “It’s as funny as some of your riddles.”

And if any of you have ever seen a skate at the seashore I think you will agree with Russ.  Imagine, if you have never seen one, a fish as flat as a flounder, with a flat, pointed nose sticking out in front.  Away back, under this nose, and out of sight from the top, or the back of the fish, is its mouth.  And the mouth is rather large and has sharp teeth.