Hawk-Eye laughed. "I"ll see if I can"t find a better way," he said.
He crept cautiously down the steep slope, and when he reached the cave, he held his torch above his head so as to light the inside of it, and with his other hand he held his spear, ready to kill any wild animal that might be living in it. It was just the sort of cave where one might expect to find wolves at least.
The owls came hooting out again just as they had when Firetop visited them, but nothing else stirred, and Hawk-Eye went boldly in. The cave was quite large, and as it was in a chalk cliff, it was white and clean except where the owls had made their nests.
Hawk-Eye didn"t like the looks of owls. He didn"t like their staring ways. So he tore up their nests and threw them down the bluff.
Then he came out of the cave and began to climb about on the slope, as if he were searching for something. It was not long before he gave a shout of joy and beckoned to Limberleg and the Twins, who were watching him eagerly.
They came bounding down the hillside at once. Hawk-Eye met them at the cave-entrance. "Here"s our home," he said, pointing to the cave.
"Nothing could be better. I have found a spring of fresh water near by!
It is safer than any place we have ever found. Go in and see!"
Limberleg went in and looked all about. She was just as pleased with it as Hawk-Eye was. She didn"t even say, "Let"s see if we can"t find another cave that suits us better."
She just threw her deer-skin down on the floor of the cave and laid her spear on one of the shelving rocks and began to live there right away.
They always had their weapons with them, all of them. So there was nothing more to do but start a fire at the cave-mouth and begin to get supper. It was just as easy as moving into a furnished flat.
Hawk-Eye went back to the top of the hill and brought down the deer. He also brought some live fire-brands from the fire he had kindled. With these he started a new fire at the cave-mouth.
While Limberleg cut up the meat and the Twins broiled great pieces of it over the coals, Hawk-Eye took his stone axe and cut a rough path through the underbrush from the cave-entrance to the spring, and another to the hill-top. The paths were so hidden by tall weeds and bushes that they could run through them without being seen.
When at last they sat down beside the fire at the cave-entrance to eat their first dinner of roast venison in their new home, they felt as rich as--well it"s really quite impossible to tell you just how rich they did feel.
The Cave Twins--by Lucy Fitch Perkins
CHAPTER EIGHT.
THE RAFT.
When Limberleg woke the next morning, the bright sunshine was pouring into the cave, lighting up the very farthest corner of it. The vines which overhung the entrance were waving in the breeze, and their shadows were dancing gayly on the chalk floor.
Limberleg sat up and looked out. From the door she could see miles and miles of open water. To the north were the sh.o.r.es of England. Below was a beautiful sandy beach, and a little way from the sh.o.r.e there were rocks sticking out of the water. Gulls were wheeling and screaming about the rocks.
Limberleg took the gourd and went down the little green path to the spring for water. When she came back, the others were still sleeping.
So she crept out through the path to the hill-top and gathered sticks to replenish the fire.
She was already broiling the venison when the others woke.
At breakfast, she said to Hawk-Eye, "I believe I will stay in the cave to-day, it is such a lot of work to start a new fire every day, and I can keep this one burning. Besides, the Twins must have new skins pretty soon. Those fox-furs they are now wearing are getting shabby. I will cure the deer-skin we brought home last night for them."
"We must get more skins," said Hawk-Eye. "We shall need them when cold weather comes. I will get the meat, and you can cook, and cure the skins, and tend the fire."
Then Hawk-Eye went off hunting, to be gone all day. The Twins ran down to the beach and went in wading. They were not so afraid of the water as they had been, but they stayed near sh.o.r.e because they could see great fish tumbling about in the waves, and they didn"t know whether they ate children or not. Probably the fish didn"t know, either. They had never had any to try. Anyway, the Twins thought they would not find out what their tastes were in the matter, and so they stayed near the sh.o.r.e,--or at least they meant to.
Ever since the great storm there had been logs and broken tree-branches floating about in the water, and on this morning, the Twins found two of them bobbing about near the beach-line. They were not very large, and the Twins thought it would be fun to play with them. They waded out and pulled them in toward sh.o.r.e.
"Let"s ride on these the way we rode that log in the river," said Firetop.
Firefly was always ready to do whatever Firetop did, so she got astride one, and Firetop mounted the other, and they went bouncing along through the water, half floating and half walking on the sandy bottom.
It was great fun, but the long branches stuck in the sand and scratched their legs, so they drew the logs nearer sh.o.r.e and tried to pull off the branches. But some of them were too tough.
"We can twist them together," said Firetop. "That will keep them out of the way and maybe the logs won"t roll so much."
They twisted the branches of the two logs roughly together, so they could not stick down into the water and then mounted their sea horses again and rode away. They were delighted to find that now the logs behaved much better, and they grew so bold that they ventured out into deeper water. They had made a wonderful plaything.
All the morning they rode the logs, and when the tide began to come in, they had the best time of all. It picked up the little raft and floated the children, screaming with joy, far up the beach on a long, low, rolling wave.
Limberleg had been so busy making a frame of sticks to stretch the deer-skin on that she had paid no attention to the Twins. But when she heard their screams, she came to the door of the cave and looked out on the beach. When she saw what they were doing, she came running down the bluff. She ran so fast she was all out of breath, but she gasped out: "You naughty, careless children! You must not do that any more--ever!
You will certainly be eaten up by a big fish--or get drowned--or maybe both--if you do!" The Twins thought that their mother was very foolish, and, being cave twins, and not knowing any better, they said: "Aw, mother, we have been doing it all the morning, and never got drowned or eaten up once! Try it yourself and just see how easy it is."
But Limberleg was very unreasonable. She only said, "If you do it again, you know what will happen," and started back up the bluff. When she was out of sight, Firetop said: "Let"s do it once more. She won"t see us!" This shows just how wicked and disobedient cave children could be!
They pushed their raft out into the water and got on board. They were at the very farthest point from sh.o.r.e, when suddenly Limberleg came right out of the bushes and looked at them! When they saw her, the Twins were very much embarra.s.sed. They thought perhaps they had better stay off sh.o.r.e a while.
They reached their feet down and dug their toes in the sand, but the tide was still coming in, and in spite of all they could do, it lifted them up and carried them right to where Limberleg stood. She looked at them very sternly. She had a switch in her hand. She said: "I told you what would happen! I shall have to punish you, but it hurts me worse than it hurts you." I suppose that was the first time any parent ever said that. Then she began to use the switch on their bare legs.
Perhaps you never have been switched on your wet bare legs, so I"ll explain that it hurts. Firetop and Firefly didn"t understand how it could hurt her more than it did them. However, they didn"t say so.
They just ran for the cave as fast as they could go. But I have already told you that Limberleg could run faster than anybody and she kept right up with them all the way.
When they were in the cave again, any one pa.s.sing by would certainly have thought from the sounds that a pack of wildcats lived there. At last Limberleg said to them, "Now, you see, I will be minded," and then she made them sit still in the corner of the cave until she had finished the wooden frame and stretched the deer-skin over it.
I suppose that if she had been a reasonable and kind mother she would have let them go on and get drowned or eaten up by a shark. But she wasn"t, and so they weren"t, or else you can very well see that this story would have had to end right here.
When Hawk-Eye came home that afternoon with two live rabbits which he had snared, the Twins were so delighted with them that they forgot all about their troubles of the morning.
"Can"t we keep the rabbits alive?" they begged.
"How can you keep them?" said Hawk-Eye. "They"ll run away."
"We can tie them by their legs," said Firetop.
"We can cut sticks and drive them down in the ground, and keep the rabbits inside the sticks," cried Firefly.
"What will you cut them with?" asked Hawk-Eye.
"With your stone axe," Firefly answered as quick as a wink.
Hawk-Eye looked very solemn. "Will you be sure to bring it back to the cave, if I let you take my axe?" he said.
"Of course," cried the Twins. They took the axe at once and rushed out to begin the fence of sticks, while Hawk-Eye tied the rabbits by their hind legs to a little tree near the cave.
When they finished the fence the next day, I regret to say the stone axe was nowhere to be found, and it was three days before it turned up under a bush where they had cut sticks.
While the children were busy fencing in the rabbits, Limberleg told Hawk-Eye about the raft.