The Curious Lobster

by Richard W. Hatch

  “Did you say something?” asked Mr. Badger pleasantly.

  “I am saying a good deal to myself,” answered Mr. Bear.

  Mr. Badger, who knew very well what the trouble was, eased the tiller a bit, and the boat was again on even keel. The spray stopped flying, and Mr. Bear felt better and safer.

  “Personally,” he said in a most serious manner, “I prefer comfort to speed.”

  “I prefer excitement,” said Mr. Badger.

  “I believe,” said Mr. Lobster, “that speed is for escaping and such emergencies. If you go too fast, you don’t have time to see things and think about them, and I think seeing and thinking are most important, for they lead to wisdom. Also, speed is not very peaceful, and I love peace.”

  When anyone sixty-nine years old and as wise as Mr. Lobster speaks words of advice, of course it is not polite to contradict. So Mr. Badger, who was polite, even if he did love a joke, said nothing; and he did not again make the boat tip.

  The afternoon passed very pleasantly, although Mr. Bear was nearly wearing his eyes out looking for islands and seeing none at all. Mr. Badger didn’t seem to be looking at all, or even caring whether they saw islands or not.

  Finally Mr. Bear asked:

  “Do you see any islands, Mr. Badger?”

  “Not a one,” answered Mr. Badger cheerfully.

  “You don’t seem worried about it.”

  “Oh, no,” replied Mr. Badger. “Exploring wouldn’t be any fun if you discovered what you were searching for too soon.”

  Mr. Bear just kept on looking.

  After a time the ocean began to grow smaller and smaller, and the sky seemed to come closer and closer. The sun, which had been low over the water far behind the boat, was gone. First the darkness was just a great distant shadow on the sea. Then it began to fill the air, and all the sea and sky were dim and veiled and beautiful. Then, without anyone’s being able to see it come or know exactly how it happened, the miracle of night had taken place; and there was no sea, no sky, only a single faint star and great darkness. And then another star, and finally all the company of stars making beauty in the blackness.

  The three friends were silent for some time while this wonder worked about and over them. Then Mr. Bear spoke.

  “It is night, and we are nowhere,” he said.

  “I will let the sail down, and we can float here,” said Mr. Badger.

  “But we have sailed all day and we are nowhere,” insisted Mr. Bear.

  “You are always somewhere as long as you are alive,” said Mr. Badger. “We would not be real explorers if we did not stay out all night. Staying out all night is what makes exploring special.”

  “I see,” said Mr. Bear, who did not like the idea of being out at night at all. “This business is going to be more than I counted on.”

  “It always is,” said Mr. Badger. “That is life.”

  “I am hungry,” said Mr. Bear.

  “We shall fish,” said Mr. Badger.

  Mr. Lobster had been unusually happy. For the first time in his life he had seen the coming of the night when he was not deep under water. He said to himself: “Mr. Bear and Mr. Badger do not mention the coming of night. It must be that they have seen it so often they have forgotten how wonderful it is. Perhaps we forget many wonderful things just because we see them often. If I am ever unhappy or not interested in what is going on around me, I shall remember wonders that happen every day—like tides and sunshine and darkness and clouds and wind.”

  It was a happy and comforting thought. Mr. Lobster was content to say very little until he felt that it was time for him to go into the water for the rest of the night. Then he took hold of the end of the short rope at the stern, and Mr. Badger let him down into the water. There he hung, cool and comfortable.

  Mr. Bear and Mr. Badger decided to wait until morning to fish, even though they were both hungry. Mr. Bear talked more about it than Mr. Badger, probably because he was bigger and so, of course, hungrier. Also, Mr. Bear was one of those persons who mention their discomforts and miseries; so it was impossible for Mr. Badger to keep him silent, no matter what he said.

  Finally Mr. Badger took a drink from the jug and curled up in the cockpit. The gentle rocking of the boat pleased him, and the adventure of sleeping out at night far from his home pleased him, and he was not afraid of anything. So he was soon fast asleep.

  Mr. Bear was nervous and restless. All day he had stayed in the cockpit. Now that the sail was down and the boat was gently drifting, he began to walk back and forth. He muttered to himself at first, making quite a little noise, but when he saw that Mr. Badger was asleep he stopped. He decided that it was no pleasure to mutter unless there was someone to hear him. Mr. Bear would never admit that he was afraid because he knew that if he did Mr. Badger would say he wasn’t a hero; but now he was badly worried. When everyone else is asleep it is just as lonesome as if they were not there, and Mr. Bear felt that he was all alone now. And he worried about islands. He wondered if there were any islands in that ocean.

  After a time he decided to walk on the deck, just to get out of the small cockpit. It was very dark, and Mr. Bear was clumsy, and the further he went along the deck the narrower it became. The first thing he knew he was on the very bow of the boat, with water all around him—black, deep water, as all water looks at night; and the deck was so narrow he didn’t dare try to turn around for fear he would fall overboard. So he started to go backward. He couldn’t see where he was going, and he didn’t go straight, so that soon he was on the very edge of the boat. The boat began to tip. Mr. Bear was really frightened then, and he gave a backward and sidewise jump and tried to turn around.

  There came a horrible rattle and a scraping noise in the darkness. The boat tipped further and further. And then there was a tremendous splash. Water flew all over Mr. Bear. But the boat was level again.

  Mr. Bear gave a fearful growl and jumped into the cockpit so heavily that the whole boat shook.

  When the boat tipped so far, Mr. Badger was rolled right out of the corner where he was sleeping. His head hit the floor with a crash, waking him up in a most unpleasant manner. And just as he awoke he heard the great splash. Then Mr. Bear came tumbling down into the cockpit. All in all, it was enough to frighten anyone.

  “What is it?” he cried out. “What is happening?”

  “Disaster!” cried Mr. Bear. “We are lost! Things are falling from the skies! Another one and we are gone! Haul in Mr. Lobster!”

  Mr. Badger hauled in Mr. Lobster.

  “What is the matter?” asked Mr. Lobster at once. “I heard a fearful splash. Did Mr. Bear fall overboard?” It was so dark now that Mr. Lobster could see scarcely a thing.

  “I’m here,” said Mr. Bear from the darkness, “and I wish I were home. Someone is dropping things from the sky. One more and we are lost.”

  “I don’t hear anything now,” said Mr. Lobster. “Perhaps there won’t be another one.”

  “There always is,” groaned Mr. Bear. “I feel it in my bones that something is wrong. That’s why we haven’t seen any islands.”

  “We must wait,” said Mr. Badger.

  “Do you call this exploring pleasure?” demanded Mr. Bear. “I haven’t slept a wink tonight, and now we are waiting for things to fall on us.”

  “We are waiting to see whether this is an adventure,” said Mr. Badger. “Think of it—here we are in the black night miles and miles from home, miles and miles from land. Isn’t it exciting?”

  “Please don’t remind me,” begged Mr. Bear. “Please don’t say another thing about home and land.”

  “Well, I don’t hear any signs of danger,” said Mr. Badger. “I guess all danger is past.” He sighed as though he were a little disappointed.

  Everything was still and dark. No one knew what had made the mysterious splash. But after waiting and listening for some time longer, the three explorers decided to go to sleep again. So Mr. Lobster was let down into the water once more, Mr. Badger curled up
in his corner, and Mr. Bear settled himself as well as possible, knowing that he would stay awake all the rest of the night listening for another splash.

  But all the rest of the night there was not a sound but the gentle lapping of the water at the sides of the boat.

  Mr. Lobster Saves the Day

  AT LAST the darkness began to go away from the ocean, and Mr. Bear could see over the water. And the water grew wider and wider. The black sky became gray, then white. At last the edge of the sky seemed to burn and glow, and the sun rose.

  Mr. Badger woke up and hauled in Mr. Lobster.

  “Well, it was a safe night after all,” said Mr. Lobster cheerfully as he looked around and saw that the boat and Mr. Badger and Mr. Bear were still there.

  “Perfectly safe,” said Mr. Badger. “Evidently one of the stars just went out and fell in the sea, and we heard the splash.”

  “I say it was a close call,” said Mr. Bear. “It was so close that I got wet. And now I am good and hungry.”

  “I was afraid you would remember that,” said Mr. Badger, sighing.

  “As if anyone could forget anything so important as eating,” said Mr. Bear, shocked at Mr. Badger’s words. “Sometimes, Mr. Badger, you are positively foolish.”

  “It would be better if you could forget eating for a time,” said Mr. Badger. “For the sad fact is that you will have to go hungry until we discover an island.”

  “You said we could fish!” exclaimed Mr. Bear with a growl. “There’s got to be some limit to this exploring. It may be necessary to skip supper and stay out on the water all night, but I’m not going to skip all my meals. That wouldn’t be exploring; it would be starvation.”

  Mr. Lobster was hungry, too, but hunger did not upset him.

  Mr. Badger looked very serious.

  “I was not joking,” he said. “I remembered after I lay down to sleep last night that although we brought our lines with us we have no bait. And we are out so far on the ocean I suppose there are no small clams here.”

  “No, there aren’t,” said Mr. Lobster, “and I am afraid I can’t catch fish big enough for you.”

  “I knew it,” said Mr. Bear miserably. “There is always something wrong, and this is just about the wrongest thing possible. We must start for home.”

  “We can’t turn back,” said Mr. Badger. “No explorer ever turns back until he discovers something.”

  “I resign from being an explorer,” growled Mr. Bear. “I am going home, and this is my boat. I have discovered that I am hungry, and that’s enough for me.”

  “We may be quite near an island by now,” said Mr. Lobster at this point, “and we know we are a long way from home. Why don’t we hoist the sail and go ahead full speed?”

  Everyone realized that it was a dangerous situation to be out on the ocean without any land in sight and not a bit of food to eat.

  Mr. Badger didn’t say a word, but he sprang to the halyards, hoisted the sail, pulled his sheet tight, and gripped the tiller. The little boat started.

  Mr. Badger, being clever, was an excellent helmsman, and all the day before he had steered the boat on a straight course. Today, however, a strange thing happened. When the boat felt the morning breeze gently pushing like an invisible hand, and started, it went straight for only a short distance. Then it began to turn to the left. Mr. Badger tried to steer to the right, but the boat wouldn’t go there. It just sailed around to the left until the sail began to shake and flap. Then the sail swung over to the other side and filled with wind again, and it seemed as if everything were all right again. But again the boat went straight for only a short distance, and then the same thing happened. Something was wrong.

  Mr. Badger could not understand it, and he thought he understood almost everything. He was deeply worried.

  Mr. Bear was annoyed by the flapping of the sail and all the fuss Mr. Badger was making over the sheet and the tiller.

  Mr. Lobster thought it best not to mention things he was worried about; so, although he observed that all was not as it should be, he kept silent, watching the water.

  Up in the bow Mr. Bear was looking everywhere for islands and thinking a good deal about food. He thought of fried fish, and then he looked all the harder. He thought of honey, a whole tree filled with honey. And he wanted to be the first one to see an island so that he could shout the news of his discovery, which he knew would make him important. But as he saw nothing but water, no matter which way he looked, there was nothing to shout about.

  They were all silent for a long time, and poor Mr. Badger was as busy as could be. Almost all the morning passed that way, and no one was really happy.

  At last Mr. Bear, growing irritable because he saw no islands and was very hungry, spoke up.

  “It seems to me you are a pretty bad boat steerer,” he said to Mr. Badger.

  “The wind is tricky this morning,” said Mr. Badger. “It must have changed since yesterday.”

  Mr. Bear growled and muttered something about starvation and why anyone with a good home should ever want to be an explorer.

  Just then Mr. Lobster, who was still watching the water, saw something. It was a block of wood with a piece of seaweed on it, and it was floating past the boat. He was sure that they had just passed the very same block of wood a few minutes before. He said nothing, but he kept watching the water with the greatest care, and in a few minutes he saw the same block of wood for the third time.

  “Look!” he exclaimed. “Do you see that piece of wood? Do you see the seaweed on it?”

  Mr. Badger and Mr. Bear looked, and both of them saw it. The block of wood went past the boat and out of sight in the waves.

  “Now wait,” said Mr. Lobster.

  They all waited several minutes. Then Mr. Bear cried out:

  “There it is!”

  Sure enough, the same block of wood came floating along.

  “It is a mystery,” said Mr. Lobster.

  “Something is terribly wrong, I’m sure of that,” said Mr. Bear.

  “We are sailing around in a circle,” said Mr. Badger. “That is why the boat acts so strangely. After all my work this morning, we are going no-where.”

  Then Mr. Bear growled.

  “You said yesterday that we couldn’t be nowhere as long as we were alive,” he said. “And now we are going nowhere. Does that mean we’re not going to be alive?”

  “I don’t know. I really don’t know,” said Mr. Badger. For once in his life, he was baffled.

  “Starvation!” growled Mr. Bear. “That’s what it is. And you called it exploring and adventure. I don’t believe there are any islands! They have all sunk!”

  “We must be brave,” said Mr. Badger.

  It was a desperate situation. Mr. Bear had drunk almost all the water in the jug. And they were going nowhere.

  “I have such bad luck,” groaned Mr. Bear.

  Then there followed the unhappiest silence the three friends had ever known.

  Mr. Lobster was thinking hard. In all his life in the ocean he had never known any tides or currents that went round and round in circles. And he had never known the wind to blow in circles when he had been ashore. Therefore he was sure that something must be wrong with the boat. And somebody would have to do something at once or all would be lost.

  So he spoke up.

  “Sometimes just being brave is not enough,” he said. “You have to be wise, too. And I think it would be wise if we examined everything carefully. Does anyone see anything wrong with Mr. Bear’s boat?”

  They all looked but everything seemed all right.

  “I see nothing,” said Mr. Lobster finally. “So if you will let the sail down, Mr. Badger, and let me go overboard I will swim under the boat and all around and make an examination there.”

  Mr. Badger let Mr. Lobster into the water by the short rope, and Mr. Lobster began swimming. When he got around by the bow of the boat he was surprised to see another rope going down into the water. He decided to investigate that at once;
so he followed it, sinking deeper and deeper under the water. Finally he was on the bottom of the ocean, and there was the rope, and it was tied to a big anchor.

  “There,” he said to himself. “That was the splash we heard last night. Mr. Bear knocked the anchor overboard. No wonder we have been sailing in circles. I have solved the mystery, and now it is only a fact.”

  He hurried back to the boat, and Mr. Badger pulled him in.

  “We are anchored,” he said. He was tremendously pleased with himself. “It explains the splash. As soon as we pull the anchor in, we can sail on.”

  They all looked at the forward deck of the boat. The anchor was gone and its rope was tied to a cleat on the deck. No one had noticed it before.

  “You are wonderful,” said Mr. Badger. “You have saved us.”

  They all got hold of the anchor rope and pulled as hard as they could. The anchor would not budge. They tried and tried, but it was no use.

  Mr. Badger tried to untie the knot in the end of the rope, but it was too tight.

  Mr. Bear groaned unhappily. He knew who had knocked the anchor overboard, and he was too wretched and ashamed to growl or say a word.

  “I will cut the rope,” said Mr. Lobster.

  “A boat is not complete without an anchor,” said Mr. Badger, “but I suppose we must cut the rope. I hope you don’t mind losing your anchor, Mr. Bear.”

  “Not at all,” said Mr. Bear meekly. “I never use anchors anyway.”

  So Mr. Lobster dropped overboard and went down to the bottom of the ocean again. There he went to work with his big claws and soon cut the rope. Then he returned to his friends.

  Mr. Badger then hoisted sail and took the tiller. The boat started once more, and this time the three explorers were really on their way.

  “Mr. Lobster has proved himself a hero again,” said Mr. Badger. “And he is the wisest one of us all.”

  “Yes, indeed,” agreed Mr. Bear, who was still very meek, and who seemed to be so busy looking for islands that he did not turn around.