[Illustration: 9049]
OOD gracious! whatever am I to do now?” thought Boy, for the tide
was rising higher and higher every moment, and there seemed to be no
possible way of getting back to the shore again. He had just decided to
return to Sand Castle and see if he could not find something to make a
raft of when he noticed a very large Crab in a white waistcoat and dark
blue coat carrying a goldheaded cane in one claw, and walking rapidly
towards him.
As soon as he perceived Boy he exclaimed in a delighted voice,--
“Why! Bless me, what a charming little human creature! How do you do, my
dear sir?”
Boy, staring at him in great surprise, replied that he was “quite well,
thank you,” and was just going to ask the Crab if he could suggest a way
back to the shore, when a great wave rolled up unexpectedly and carried
Boy and the Crab off their feet, destroying about half of Sand Castle,
and washing away most of the toy trees which were in the garden.
“Very refreshing, sir, isn’t it?” remarked the Crab, smoothing down his
coat as the wave receded, leaving them on the wet sand.
Boy, drenched to the skin, was spluttering and gasping for breath, and
could not reply for a moment or two, but at last he managed to say, “I
think it is horrid, and I am sure I shall be drowned soon if this sort
of thing goes on much longer. Do you know how I can get back to the
shore?” he panted.
“You can’t get back,” said the Crab decidedly.
“Oh dear me! then I shall certainly be drowned!” cried Boy in alarm.
“What nonsense!” remarked the Crab. “That’s what all the human creatures
say directly they get a little wet. It’s all affectation, my dear sir, I
assure you. Why, look at me. I’m just as comfortable in the water as out
of it, and so would you be if you would only try it. Here comes another
wave. Now don’t be frightened and don’t let yourself be carried away;
just stop on the sand and let the water go over you--give me your claw;”
and grasping Boy’s hand He held him, down while the wave passed over
their heads. For a moment Boy could not breathe, but presently having
swallowed a great mouthful of salt water, he found to his great surprise
that he could breathe just as well under the water as out of it.
“There, what did I tell you?” remarked the Crab pleasantly, when Boy had
partially recovered from his fright; for there is no disguising the fact
that he had been frightened, although he was a brave little fellow, too.
“Come along,” continued the Crab, “you had better come and see my school
now you have got so far.”
“Your school!” exclaimed Boy. “Do you keep a school?”
“Yes,” replied the Crab, “I am the Head Master of Drinkon College.”
“What a funny name!” said Boy smilingly.
“Not at all,” replied the Crab; “no funnier than Eaton--Eaton on land
and Drinkon under the sea, you know.”
Boy thought about this as they proceeded along the hard sand under the
water, and then he noticed to his great surprise a number of fishes
about his own size, in short jackets and deep collars, and wearing
College caps, swimming in their direction.
[Illustration: 0053]
“These are some of my scholars,” remarked the Crab as they came in
sight--the fishes, swimming in a perfectly upright position, raised
their caps when they saw the Crab, and one of them said very politely,--
“Good-morning, Professor.”
“Good-morning,” replied the Crab as they swam past. Just then a
curious-looking little creature covered all over with little prickly
spikes called out rudely,--“Yah! old Professor Crab--who caned the
Oyster?” and scuttled away behind some seaweed.
“That,” said the Crab, “is one of the Sea Urchins; they are very rude
and ill behaved. I do not allow my scholars to associate with them.”
“Are you really a Professor?” asked Boy, who felt greatly impressed with
the Crab’s importance.
“I’m afraid I am,” said the Crab. “All schoolmasters are, you
know--whether they admit it or not.”
“What do you mean?” exclaimed Boy. “I don’t think my schoolmaster is a
Professor; at any rate he does not call himself one.”
“Ah, that’s his artfulness,” said the Crab. “A professor,” he explained,
“is one who professes to know more than he really does, and all
schoolmasters do that more or less, whether they admit it or not--they
are obliged to; however, let’s change the subject; it is a painful one.”
Boy was greatly surprised at this admission on the part of the Crab,
but he was too much interested in his strange surroundings to think much
about it.
They were walking along a roadway with great seaweeds planted at regular
intervals on either side, and in the distance Boy could see the outlines
of some great buildings.
“Why, there are some houses!” he exclaimed in surprise.
“Of course,” replied Professor Crab. “What did you suppose we lived in?”
“I had no idea that fishes built houses before,” said Boy, “except
sticklebacks; I know they build a kind of nest with sticks and things,
because I have seen pictures of them in my Natural History book.”
“My dear sir,” remarked the Professor, “those were in the old days,
before fishes became civilised: you might as well refer to the time when
human creatures dwelt in caves and huts. No, my dear sir, the spread of
education has extended to us also, and we have now as fine cities under
the sea as any on land.”
Boy was just going to reply when his attention was attracted by a party
of Lobsters on bicycles rushing past them, all dressed alike in dark
green and yellow. One dear little one riding along gallantly at the end
of the procession amused Boy very much indeed, and he was still watching
him when he heard a voice exclaiming, “Cab, sir?” and, turning around,
beheld the most curious vehicle you can possibly imagine: two sea-horses
were attached to a kind of carriage made out of a large shell mounted on
two wheels, and were driven by a small crayfish, wearing a top hat, who
was perched up behind.
[Illustration: 0055]
“Yes, I think we will ride,” said Professor Crab, mounting the steps of
this strange conveyance, and beckoning Boy to follow. Boy was delighted
to do so, and was charmed with the curious little carriage as the
coachman cracked his whip and they bowled quickly along. Presently they
passed a large building looking like a Station, and Professor Crab told
him that it was the Terminus of the Submarine Steam Navigation Company,
and told the cabman to stop a moment so that Boy might watch one of the
boats which was just starting out of the Station. A very curious
affair it turned out to be: shaped like an enormous Cigar, with a screw
propeller at one end of it a deck on top with rails around it, on which
a number of various kinds of fishes were sitting about on deck-chairs,
chatting and reading, while through the large plate-glass windows, of
which, there was one on either side of this curiously-shaped boat, Boy
could see a number of other fishes making themselves comfortable in the
luxuriously furnished saloon. As soon as it floated away out of sight
the cabman whipped up his horses again, and off they started once more,
and did not stop until they reached some large gates with a board over
them, on which was painted in gold letters:=
````DRINKON COLLEGE,
```Principal: Professor Crab.=
The Professor paid the cabman, who touched his hat, and then, followed
by Boy, entered a large building just through the gates. A long corridor
ran right through the building, and through the glass doors at the end
Boy could see a number of the scholars at play.
“Would you like to join them while I give the First Class in Molluscs
their singing lesson?” asked the Professor.
Boy said that he should, and passing out into the playground, was soon
surrounded by a number of young fishes, all dressed in College suits
similar to those Boy had seen before.
“What’s your name?” asked one, as soon as he came up to Boy, and before
he could answer another one had asked, “What’s your father? and how much
pocket money do you have a week?” while a third demanded, “Where did you
go for your holiday last year?”
Boy thought he had better answer one question at a time, so he replied,
“Oh, I went to Broadstairs and had such a jolly time, and one day I went
out in a boat and caught such a lot of------” (Fortunately he remembered
just in time to prevent himself from saying “such a lot of fish” as he
had at first intended.)
“Such a lot of what?” asked one of the little fishes curiously.
“Oh--er--er--such a lot of--er--er--things, shells, you know, and
er--er--seaweed,” stammered Boy, feeling very confused.
“Rather funny to go out in a boat to catch seaweed, wasn’t it?” remarked
one of the fishes suspiciously. “What did you catch really?”
Boy could not think what to say, but at last he thought that he could
see a way out of the difficulty, and said, “Oh, I caught a crab.”
The fishes looked horrified.
“Oh! I don’t mean a really truly crab,” Boy hastened to say. “I mean
when your oars stick in the water and you can’t draw them out again;
that’s called ‘catching a crab,’ you know, and that’s the kind I mean,
of course.”
The fishes did not seem quite satisfied though, and stood staring at
him suspiciously for some time, till at last one of them said,--“Can you
play cricket?”
“Yes, rather,” said Boy proudly. “I’m going to be captain of our eleven
next term if Traddles doesn’t come back again.”
“Who’s Traddles?” demanded one of the fishes.
“Oh! a fellow at our school,” said Boy. “He’s eleven and ever so much
taller than me; but I can bowl better than him any day.”
“Come on then, let’s have a game,” said one of the fishes, leading the
way to the end of the playground where a single wicket was pitched.
“Your innings,” he cried, handing Boy a bat.
Boy thought this was a very curious way of beginning a game, and he was
more surprised still when, without the slightest warning, all the rest
of the fishes began throwing balls at him as hard as they could, hitting
him pretty sharply in several places, and of course knocking the bails
off the stumps at once.
“How’s that, Umpire?” they shouted all together.
The fish who had handed Boy the bat promptly replied “Out,” and the
others threw their caps up into the air excitedly and called out that
they had won the game.
“That’s not the way to play cricket,” cried Boy, throwing down his bat
in disgust.
“Who says it isn’t?” demanded one of the fishes, coming up to him.
“I say so,” maintained Boy stoutly.
“Very well, then I’ll fight you for it,” declared the fish, throwing off
his coat.
“I’m sure you won’t,” said Boy, laughing at the very idea.
“Yah! cowardy, cowardy custard,” cried the fishes, dancing around him.
“Afraid to fight; dear little mammy’s baby.”
Boy very wisely determined not to heed their taunts and walked back to
the College, leaving the quarrelsome little fishes to themselves.
The sound of music from one of the class-rooms told him where he
should find the Professor, and looking in at the window he saw the Crab
standing beside a blackboard with notes on it waving a _bâton_, while a
number of Oysters in rows were singing with their shells wide open.
“Come in,” he cried, when he saw Boy, and Boy went round to the door and
entered the room.
“We have nearly finished,” said Professor Crab. “Perhaps you would like
to hear the Molluscs sing.”
“Very much indeed,” said Boy, taking a seat on one of the forms.
[Illustration: 0063]
The Crab counted “One, two, three,” beating time with his _bâton_, and
the Oysters started singing the following song:--
“THE DEAR LITTLE OYSTER.”
`"There was once a little Oyster, living underneath the sea,
`Who was good as gold and, consequently, happy as could be;
`She kept the house as tidy and as clean as a new’ pin,
`And helped her Ma to make the beds they tuck the Oysters in.=
`"We soon discovered she possessed a most uncommon voice,
`And Operatic singing then became her ardent choice;
`So diligently practised she her lessons and her scales,
`That she quickly gained the medal given by the Prince of
```Whales.=
`"Of course she now was far too good to waste her life down
```here,
`So reluctantly we gave her up to grace another sphere:
`She, in a barrel nicely packed, was sent to Mr. Gatti,
`And under his most skilful care became an Oyster Patti."=
Boy was very pleased indeed with this song, which the First Class in
Molluscs sang very well, and clapped vigorously.
“I’m glad you like their singing,” said the Professor, looking pleased
at Boy’s approval.
“That will do for to-day,” he added, dismissing the class, and the
Oysters went out of the room in single file, each one making a little
bow as he passed the Professor. .
“Now what shall we do with ourselves for the rest of the day?” said the
Crab, when they had all gone, for there is a half-holiday, you know.
Would you like to go for a trip to Zum?” he asked.
“Oh yes, please,” answered Boy, who remembered that that was where
One-and-Nine said that they should meet again.
So Professor Crab put his hat on, and after locking the class-room door
set out with Boy for the Station of the Submarine Navigation Company.