"The right hole?" echoed the youth, "are some of them wrong ones?"

"Oh yes, only one of the three will do. One of our crawbs knows that and
has claws that can bore through the husk and shell. We calls him
cocoa-nut crawb."

"Indeed! That is strange; I never heard before of a crab that fed on
cocoa-nuts."

"This one do. He is very big, and also climbs trees. It goes about most
at night. Perhaps you see one before you go away."

The crab to which Kathy referred is indeed a somewhat eccentric
crustacean, besides being unusually large. It makes deep tunnels in the
ground larger than rabbit burrows, which it lines with cocoa-nut fibre.
One of its claws is developed into an organ of extraordinary power with
which it can break a cocoa-nut shell, and even, it is said, a man's
limb! It never takes all the husk off a cocoa-nut--that would be an
unnecessary trouble, but only enough off the end where the three eyelets
are, to enable it to get at the inside. Having pierced the proper eye
with one of its legs it rotates the nut round it until the hole is large
enough to admit the point of its great claw, with which it continues the
work. This remarkable creature also climbs the palm-trees, but not to
gather nuts; that is certain, for its habits have been closely watched
and it has been ascertained that it feeds only on fallen nuts. Possibly
it climbs for exercise, or to obtain a more extended view of its
charming habitat, or simply "for fun." Why not?

All this and a great deal more was told to Nigel by Kathleen, who was a
bit of a naturalist in her tendencies--as they sat there under the