“What’s the matter?” cried Mr. Brown, running up when he heard George’s cries.  “Are you hurt, Bunny—­Sue?”

“No, it was George,” Bunker explained.  “He thought he could fool the lobster, but the lobster fooled him.”

“I guess I’d better take it home and have mother cook it,” said the children’s father, and home they started, Mr. Brown carrying the big lobster in the basket.

“Oh, what a fine large one!” Aunt Lu cried, when she saw it.  “And what a fine salad it will make.”

“May I have one of the claws—­the big one?” begged Bunny.

“What for?” asked his mother.

“I want to put a string in it and tie it on my face, over my own nose,” the little boy explained.  “Then I’ll look just like Mr. Punch, in Punch and Judy.  May I have the claw?”

“I guess so,” replied Mrs. Brown.

“And when you clean it out, and put it on your nose, I’ll be Mrs. Judy,” said Sue.  “We’ll have fun.”

A lobster’s claw, I might say, is filled with meat that is very good to eat.  When the lobster is boiled and the meat picked out with a fork, the claw is hollow.  It is shaped just like the nose of Mr. Punch, with a sort of hook on the end of it, where the claw curves downward.  Bunny and Sue often played with empty lobster claws.

The children went out in the yard while Mrs. Brown cooked the lobster.  Then, when it was cool, Aunt Lu helped pick out the meat which was to be mixed up into a salad.

“Is my big lobster claw ready now?” asked Bunny, coming up just before the supper bell was to ring.

“Yes, here it is,” his aunt told him.  “I cleaned it out nicely for you.”

Bunny held it over his own nose and went toward the mirror to see how he would look.

“Oh, you’re just exactly like Mr. Punch!” Sue cried, clapping her hands.

“Isn’t he!” agreed Aunt Lu.  And then she gave a sudden cry.

“Oh dear!” she gasped.  “Oh dear!  It’s gone!  I’ve lost it!”

“What?” asked Bunny.

“My ring!  My beautiful diamond ring is lost!” And Aunt Lu’s cheeks turned pale.

CHAPTER III

WANGO, THE MONKEY

Aunt Lu hurried over to the kitchen table, at which she had been helping Mrs. Brown make the lobster salad.  She looked among the dishes, and knives and forks, but shook her head.

“No, it isn’t there,” she said, quite sadly.

“What isn’t?  What is the matter?” asked Mrs. Brown, who came in from the dining room just then.  “Can’t you find the big lobster claw that Bunny wanted?  I laid it——­”

“Oh, I have it, Mother, thank you,” the little boy said.  “But Aunt Lu has lost——­”

“It’s my diamond ring—­Jack’s engagement ring,” said Mrs. Brown’s sister.  “It must have slipped off my finger, and——­”

“Oh dear!  That’s too bad!” said Mrs. Brown.  “But it must be around here somewhere.  We’ll find it!”