“Backward—march!” shouted the Horse-Shoe Crab.
There was nothing for Birdling to do but sit down on an empty oyster shell and wait until the parade was over. They marched backward, and marked time with two feet, three feet, four feet, till they had learned to keep all six of them going, and they did squads right and left and exercised their jaws and joints and pincers. There was nothing they did not do.
At last the Horse-Shoe Crab shouted: “Dismiss!” and all the little Crabs tumbled back into the sea, pinching each other and betting who would be first down the beach. Then the old commander turned his attention to Birdling and Bumble.
“Here!” and Bumble unsheathed his shiny long bayonet.
“That will do,” said the Horse-Shoe Crab quickly, backing away a few steps and pulling in his tail. “You may pass.”
It was night before they reached the Little Dipper. She looked very forlorn, lying a bit sideways, sails furled and decks covered with sand. Worst of all, a whole brotherhood of Shrimps had set up housekeeping in her hold, and not even at the point of Bumble’s bayonet would they move out. They wore little coats of mail that made them quite indifferent to a mere bumble-bee’s sting.
“But you _must_ move out,” pleaded Birdling, standing on the deck and shouting down into the hold. “I want to go to the Fairy Islands, and I simply must have my ship.”
“Going to the Fairy Islands?” echoed the Shrimps. “That’s a long trip, without food or water aboard and without a crew!”
“Oh, we’ll lay in food and water soon enough,” said Bumble, who sat in the rigging. “As for a crew—”
“Let us be the crew,” cried the Shrimps. “We’re not clever, but we’re really very obedient and faithful. We don’t want to spoil your trip, Birdling, but we don’t want to move, either; there are very few houses along the beach, and none as nice as this. Let us be your crew!”
“But then I’ll have to pay you,” said Birdling, “and I have no money. Shall I pay you with music? I’ll whistle one tune for every Shrimp once a week.”
All night long Bumble flew to and fro between the witch-hazel bushes on the hill and the boat upon the beach, carrying fairy-bread and honey-dew for the voyage. The crew packed all these provisions into big barnacles that made splendid kegs and barrels. Birdling was brave enough to go back along the beach by moonlight and pick up the mullen-leaf blankets he had dropped when he fled from the Cat, and at the crack of dawn the Little Dipper was ready to put to sea. They cleared the harbor and with the outgoing tide floated out upon the ocean. Bumble flew above the mast and accompanied them for several miles; two fiddler crabs came to the edge of the beach and fiddled until the good ship was out of sight, and Birdling stood at the bow with the great green sail blowing behind him. At last everybody shouted: “Goodby, goodby, goodluck, thank you, thank-you!,” then the Little Dipper sailed out of sight.