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diff --git a/28425.txt b/28425.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2aea1b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/28425.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2947 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cave Twins, by Lucy Fitch Perkins + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Cave Twins + +Author: Lucy Fitch Perkins + +Illustrator: Lucy Fitch Perkins + +Release Date: March 28, 2009 [EBook #28425] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAVE TWINS *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +The Cave Twins, by Lucy Fitch Perkins. + +________________________________________________________________________ +In this 1916 Twins book, the sixth of the series by Lucy Fitch Perkins +we meet with Firetop and Firefly, and their family. The setting is in an +age where none of the nice things of the civilised world exist at all. +There are no books, no wheels, no firearms to hunt with, and everything +has to be done by sheer cunning, or found out by sheer accident. The +twins' parents set off on a short voyage of exploration, to see what +lies over the horizon, and the twins sneak off to follow them secretly. +Of course they soon have to make a "rescue me" signal when they find +they can't cope, but they are allowed to remain with their parents, +especially as they are quite good at shooting arrows with their bows, +and finding small items of food in other ways. + +One day there is a huge earthquake and tsunami, and they find they are +all marooned on an island, which is what we now know as the Isle of +Wight. The twins' father gets an idea from something the twins do, and +creates the first canoe, with which he goes and fetches old Granny and +other members of the family. A short book, but quite a nice one. +________________________________________________________________________ +THE CAVE TWINS, BY LUCY FITCH PERKINS. + +INTRODUCTION. + +PREHISTORIC MAN. + +_This is a story about things that happened ages and ages ago, before +any of us were born, or our great-great-grandfathers either, for that +matter. It was so very long ago that there were no houses, or farms, or +roads from one place to another, and there was not a single city, or a +town, or even a village in the whole earth_. + +_There was just the great, round world, all fresh and new, and covered +with growing things; and there were wild beasts of all kinds in the +forests, and fishes of all kinds in the seas, and all sorts of birds and +flying creatures in the air_. + +_Besides all these wonderful things in the new, new world, there was +Man_. + +_He was quite new too. He didn't know much of anything about the world. +All that he really knew was that there was a world, and that he was in +it, and that there were fierce wild animals in it too, which would kill +him and eat him if he didn't kill them first. And he knew very well +that he was not as swift as the deer, or as big as the elephant, or as +strong as the lion, or as fierce as the tiger, and it seemed to him as +if he hadn't much chance to stay alive at all in a world so full of +terrible creatures who wanted to eat him up_. + +_But this Prehistoric Man was very brave, and he could do two things +which none of the other creatures could do--he could laugh and he could +think_. + +_One day, he sat down on a rock, and took his head between his hands and +thought and thought, and by and by he lifted up his head and said to his +wife,--for of course he had a wife,--"I have it, my dear. If we are not +as strong as the wild beasts, we must be a great deal more clever_." + +_So he got right up off the rock and set about being clever. And so did +his wife. They were so clever that they hid themselves in trees and +rocks where the wild beasts could not find them. And they found out the +secret of fire_. + +_The other creatures could not find out the secret of fire to save their +lives, and they were dreadfully afraid of it. Then the Man and his wife +made weapons out of stones, and bones, and they made dishes out of mud, +and though these things weren't a bit like our weapons or our dishes, +they got along very well with them for many years_. + +_In the earliest times of all, the Woman hunted and trapped the wild +creatures, and fished, all by herself, but by and by she began to let +the Man do the hunting and bring home the game, while she stayed in the +cave house and kept the hearth-fire bright and took care of the +children. She cooked the food that he brought home, and she made +needles out of bones and sewed skins together for clothes for her +husband and the children and herself. After a long time she began to +plant seeds of the wild things that she found were good to eat, and to +raise food out of the ground_. + +_All these things they did, and many more that had never been done +before,--and because they were so much more clever than all the beasts +of the forest, the Prehistoric Man and his prehistoric wife lived a long +time in a little peace and more happiness than you might at first think +possible_. + +_They taught their children all the clever things they had thought out, +and these children, when they grew up, taught them to their children, +and this went on for hundreds and thousands of years. Each generation +learned new things and taught them to the next, until now we have houses +and churches and villages and cities dotted over the whole earth, and +there are roads going from everywhere to everywhere else. There are +railroads and steam-cars and telegraph and telephone lines, and +printing-presses, so that to-day everybody knows more about the very +ends of the earth than Prehistoric Man could possibly know about what +was happening fifty miles away from him_. + +_And all these things we have to-day because the Prehistoric Man and the +Prehistoric Woman did their part bravely and well when the earth was +young_. + +_This is a story about that far-off time. If you don't believe it's +true, every word of it, just get out your atlas and find the places on +the map. They are every one of them there_. + +CHAPTER ONE. + +GRANNIE AND THE TWINS. + + +One bright morning of early spring, long ages ago, the sun peered +through the trees on the edge of a vast forest, and sent a shaft of +yellow sunlight right into the mouth of a great, dark cave. In front of +the cave a bright fire was burning, and on a rock beside it sat an old +woman. In her lap was a piece of birch-bark, and on the bark was a heap +of acorns. She was roasting them in the ashes and eating them. At her +right hand, within easy reach, there was a pile of broken sticks and +tree-branches, and every now and then the old woman put on fresh wood +and stirred the coals to keep the fire bright. + + +A little path ran from the front of the cave where the old woman sat +down the sloping hillside to a blue river, and the morning sun shining +across it made a bridge of dazzling light from shore to shore. + +Beyond the river there were green fields and forests, and beyond the +forests high hills over which the sun climbed every morning. What lay +beyond those far blue hills neither the old woman nor any of the clan of +the Black Bear had the slightest idea. + +Everything seemed quiet and peaceful on that spring morning so long ago. +The trees were beginning to turn green and little plants were already +pushing their way through the carpet of dead leaves. A robin lit upon +the branches of a tree above the cave and sang his morning song. + +There was no other sound except the sizzling of a wet stick on the fire, +and the snapping noise made by the old woman when she took a roasted +acorn from the fire and cracked it with her teeth. + +The old woman was not pretty to look at. Her face was as brown as +leather and covered with wrinkles, and her hair hung about it in ragged +grey locks. It was no wonder that her hair was rough and ragged, for it +had never been combed her whole life long, and she was quite old--oh, as +old as forty, maybe! But she really couldn't help her hair being like +that any more than she could help being forty, because there was not a +single comb yet made in the whole world! + +It was a mystery how she cracked the nuts so well, because she had only +a few teeth left in her mouth. For clothing she had nothing but the +skin of a deer fastened over her left shoulder by a thorn, and tied +around her waist with a leather thong. + +Although she seemed to be thinking of nothing but her nuts, the little +bright eyes of the old woman kept close watch in every direction, and +her ears were quick to hear every unusual sound. If a twig snapped, or +there was a rustling noise in the underbrush, she was ready in an +instant to fling fresh dry sticks on the fire and make it glow red +against the black opening of the cave. + +She knew that no wild animal, however fierce and hungry, would dare come +near the leaping flames. Yet watchful as she was, she did not see two +children who were creeping stealthily toward her, over the great rocks +which sheltered the mouth of the cave. + +They were a boy and a girl, and from their size they must have been +about eight years old. They both had bright twinkling eyes and flaming +red hair, and were dressed alike in skins of red foxes of almost the +same colour. You could tell at a glance that they were twins, but it +would have puzzled any one to tell whether they were both boys or both +girls, or one of each kind. They came down over the rocks so quietly +that not even the quick ears of the old woman heard the faintest sound. + +When they had almost reached the ground, they stopped, and at the same +instant opened their mouths and howled exactly like two young wolves! + +The noise was so sudden and so near that the old woman never thought of +her fire at all. She simply screamed and fell right over backwards into +the cave. Then she rolled over and scuttled on all fours out of sight +in the darkness as fast as she could go. + +The acorns from her lap flew in every direction and rolled down the +hillside. The boy and girl jumped to the ground, shrieking with +laughter. In a moment the old woman was back again in the door of the +cave. She had a stout stick in her hand and she looked very angry. She +shook the stick at the Twins and scolded them so fast that the sound of +it was like the chattering of an angry squirrel in a tree-top. + +Now, of course, I cannot tell you just the words she used, but, +translated into English, this is what she said:-- + +"You horrid little catamounts, if I catch you, I'll teach you better +manners! I'll give you such a taste of this stick that you'll not need +more till the river runs dry." + +The Twins sprang up, still shrieking with laughter, and danced about the +fire just out of reach of the woman's stick. + +"But you can't catch us," they screamed. + +Their red locks of hair flew about in the wind as they danced, until it +looked almost as if red flames were bursting from their heads. The old +woman glared at them helplessly. + +"Dance away," she cried, "dance away, you red-headed rascals! I shan't +need to put sticks on the fire while you are here. Your red hair would +scare away the sabre-toothed tiger himself! No wonder you are not +afraid to run alone in the forest! With such heads on you, you are as +safe as if you were in the heart of the cave." + + +Just then she saw her acorns all spilled on the ground, and her rage +broke out afresh. + +"Pick them up, you little rats! They are the last of my winter's store, +and it will be four moons yet before they will be ripe again." + +Down went the children on their hands and knees, and began to gather up +the scattered nuts. Young as they were, they knew the value of food. +They also knew the taste of Grannie's stick. In those days food could +be found only at the risk of life itself and was not to be thrown away +while hunger lasted. + +Besides, the hunting had not been good for some time. The reindeer had +gone farther north, and the great herds of bison had not yet come back +from the warmer regions, where they ranged in winter. There were wild +beasts of many other kinds in the forest, but the hunters of the clan +had not brought home meat for several days. This was one reason why the +children had ventured so far into the forest. Most of the time they and +the other children of the clan stayed near the cave under the watchful +eye of the old woman, while their fathers and mothers went hunting. + +"Now, don't be cross, old Grannie-sit-by-the-fire!" cried the girl. At +least, I think it was the girl, but the Twins looked so exactly alike I +can't be quite sure. "We'll pick up your nuts for you. And if you'll +put your stick down, we'll give you something we brought for you." + +The old woman's face softened. You might almost have thought there was +the beginning of a smile in the corners of her mouth, but she only said, +"I know your tricks, worthless ones! You have brought me nothing but a +fright and a tumble in the ashes." + +The girl poured the acorns she had gathered into the piece of birch-bark +which served the old woman as a plate, and danced over to the mouth of +the cave. She saucily took the stick out of Grannie's hand and flung it +on the fire, and then led her back to the stone seat. + +"Go along and get it, Firetop," she called. I know it was the girl who +said this, because it was the boy who was called Firetop, on account of +his red hair. The girl's hair was just as red, but they called her +Firefly. + +Firetop sprang up the rocks down which he had climbed so carefully only +a few moments before, and came down again slowly, carrying something in +each hand. He stood before the old woman with his hands behind him. + +"Guess, Grannie, guess!" cried Firefly. + +By this time, the smile had got out of the corners of Grannie's mouth +and had spread all over her face. + +"Roots," she said. + +"Wrong," shouted the children. "Guess again." + +"Spruce gum." + +"Wrong again," laughed the Twins. + +Grannie thought a while this time. Then she said, "Snails." + +"No, no, no," the Twins said both together; and then Firetop slowly +brought his hands round in front of him and showed the old woman four +large bird's eggs. + +You should have seen Grannie's face then! It was all wreathed in +smiles, and when she smiled she wasn't so bad to look at after all. +Almost nobody is for that matter. + +She took the eggs from Firetop's hands and covered them carefully in the +ashes. + +"We'll roast them," she said. "I've had nothing to eat but acorns for +three days past. Now, tell me where you have been, and how you found +the eggs." + +"We were hungry," explained Firetop, "and all the big people had gone +off hunting, and we thought we'd go too. We thought we knew where we +could find some roots. So we hid ourselves and waited until Robin and +Blackbird and Squaretoes had gone down to the river to hunt frogs, and +then we ran back into the woods." Robin and Blackbird and Squaretoes +were the other children of the clan. + +Firefly could never stay quiet for very long and now she broke into the +story. + +"Yes, and we found some roots, too," she said. "We were just eating +them when from a hazel bush right in front of us we heard a loud snort! +We didn't wait to dig any more roots, I tell you! There was a chestnut +tree nearby, and we grabbed a limb and swung ourselves up just in time. +It wasn't only one, it was _three_ wild boars that rushed out of the +bushes, and the biggest boar had tusks as long as this." Firefly held +up a stick about eight inches long, as she spoke. + +"It's lucky we were up in the tree, for they were all hungry too, and +they looked as if they thought Firetop and I would taste very good," she +laughed. "Then Firetop teased them. He hung down from the limb and +tickled their noses with a long stick. My, but they were mad!" + +"Yes," said Firetop, "they looked just as mad as you did, when we scared +you, Grannie." + +"I wonder one look at you didn't scare them to death," said Grannie, +"because animals are so afraid of fire! I am used to the flames on your +heads, but if I were to come upon you for the first time I think I'd +climb a tree myself! Or else I should think the woods were on fire and +run away." + +Grannie poked Firefly in the ribs and laughed at her own joke. + +"Maybe our red hair helped some," said Firefly, "for pretty soon they +all three turned and ran grunting off through the woods." + + +"And then," said Firetop, "we thought we'd come back by the tree path. +We went out on the limb of the chestnut as far as we could go, and swung +into the big oak tree that stood next. There are a lot of oak trees +together there and we were going along from one to the other, when there +was a loud whirring noise and a big bird flew out of the top branches +right over our heads! We looked up and saw the nest. It was made of +sticks. I got the eggs and handed them down to Firefly, and then we +came home." + +"You didn't come all the way by the tree path and carry the eggs, did +you?" cried Grannie admiringly. + +"Oh, no," said Firefly. "The eggs were too big to carry in our mouths. +So Firetop dropped to the ground and I handed the eggs down to him. +Then we ran back home as fast as we could." + +"You will be as great hunters as your father and mother one of these +days if you keep on," said Grannie. "And no one in the whole clan can +do better than they can. My, my, I can remember when your father was a +boy, how he used to hunt eggs! That's how he got the name of Hawk-Eye. +He could find eggs, and other things too, where nobody else could find +anything at all. How he could swing along through the trees! No wild +creatures could ever get the start of him. And then your mother! She +could run faster than the wind could blow. She wasn't easily scared, I +can tell you. She had always her legs to depend upon! I've seen her +run from a mad buck so fast that she made just a streak of light through +the forest. And when the buck got too near, she swung herself into a +tree and then hung by her legs safe above his head and teased the buck +crazy because he could not reach her. Ah! She was a wild one in those +days, and well she earned her name of Limberleg!" + +"I'm sure the eggs must be done by this time," said Firetop. + +Grannie reached down and poked the ashes away from the eggs. They were +very hot, but her hands were so tough and horny that she could even +handle live coals. She gave one egg to Firefly. Firefly took it in her +hand, but her hands were not quite so tough as Grannie's and it burned +her like everything! She dropped it on the ground, squealing with pain. +It was cooked so hard that it did not spill, though the shell was +broken. Grannie laughed. + +"Aha," she said, "I'm even with you now for giving me such a scare." + +"Ho," boasted Firetop, "that's nothing. Watch me! I guess if you can +handle them I can." He reached down and picked up an egg and held it in +his hand. It was just as hot as a coal of fire, but he pretended it +didn't hurt him. He cracked and ate it in two bites, and though I'm +sure it must have burned a red path all the way to his stomach, he never +said a word. But when Firefly wasn't looking he did suck the air into +his mouth to cool his tongue! + +"Grannie can have the other egg, can't she, Firetop, because we scared +her so," said Firefly, when they had each eaten one. + +"You may scare me every day that you bring me bird's eggs," said +Grannie. + +Grannie took the last egg from the ashes and was just cracking it when +suddenly there was a shout which made them all jump. Those were pretty +jumpy times, I can tell you, for a new sound might mean almost any kind +of danger. There were so many wild beasts in the forest that no one +could feel safe a single minute unless he was deep in a cave. Even then +the cave had to have an entrance so narrow that no man-hunting animal +could get into it, or else a fire must be kept burning before it to +frighten them away. + +The moment they heard the sound, Grannie dropped her egg and sprang to +her feet. Firetop and Firefly popped into the cave and were out of +sight in an instant. Grannie threw fresh sticks on the fire, and as it +blazed up, she looked fearfully about in every direction. Now she heard +another sound besides the shouts and screams of children's voices. From +far away down the river came a long low roar and the tramp, tramp of +many feet. A group of children came tearing up the path toward the +cave, shouting at the top of their lungs, "The bison are coming, the +bison are coming!" + +Grannie took up the cry. "The bison are coming, the bison are coming!" +she shouted into the cave, and out tumbled Firetop and Firefly in the +twinkling of an eye. + +"Where, where?" they screamed. + +"There, there, in the river bottom," panted Squaretoes, the biggest of +the boys. "We were hunting for frogs and all of a sudden there was a +roar,--at first so faint we could hardly hear it,--then far down the +river we saw them coming! Run, run to the big rock, and you can see +them too." + +Grannie threw a great heap of dry wood upon the fire and ran with the +children to the big rock, which lay part way down the path toward the +river. From the top of this rock the whole valley was spread out before +them like a map. + +Squaretoes pointed toward the south, and there in the green marshy land +bordering the river were hundreds and hundreds of great dark hairy +beasts. They were running, and as they ran, they made a low roaring +sound that was frightful to hear. + +"We shall have fresh meat to-night," said Grannie to the children. "The +herd has been frightened. I could not see the leaders. Some of our +hunters have surely found them." + +They stood on the rock until the great herd had thundered by and was out +of sight around a bend in the bluff. Then Grannie said, "Come, let us +go back to the fire and gather plenty of fuel, so we can cook the meat +when it comes, and have a great feast." + +The Cave Twins--by Lucy Fitch Perkins + +CHAPTER TWO. + +THE BISON FEAST. + +For hours Grannie and the children worked together to get a huge pile of +fuel ready for a feast which they hoped to have at night. It was +something like getting ready for Thanksgiving. + +"It is likely that old Sabre-tooth will be having a feast too," said +Grannie. "He is as glad as any of us to see the bison come back. Maybe +now he won't catch any bad children who stray too far into the wood." + +You see, the fierce sabre-toothed tiger was the beast they feared most +of all, but they always had to be on the watch for wolves and hyenas, +and for the dreadful cave bear as well. There were wild horses, too, +and elephants, and mammoths, and lions. Grannie had to keep telling the +children about these dangers, just as our mothers tell us to-day to keep +out of the way of trolley-cars and steam-engines and automobiles. Only +trolley-cars and steam-engines don't run after us and stick their heads +right into our front doors and try to eat us up, as the wild creatures +did in those days. + +It seems to us now that no one could possibly have had any happiness in +a world so full of dangers, but you see Grannie and all the rest of the +clan did not know that life could be any different. Just because there +were so many dangers, they grew brave to meet them, and a brave man +among dangers is far happier than a coward in a safe place. So perhaps +they had just as good a time living as we do, after all. + +By the time the children had gathered a heap of wood large enough to +cook the biggest kind of a feast, it was afternoon. There was nothing +in the cave to eat, and they grew hungrier and hungrier, but there were +no signs of any hunters. Shadows began to gather in the woods. Now and +then there was a cry of some night bird, or of a distant wolf. These +were lonely sounds. Firefly began to be discouraged. + +"Suppose they shouldn't bring home any meat after all," she said. + +"Then we'll just have to go hungry," said Grannie. + +Firetop laid his hand on his stomach and groaned. + +"_Men_ never complain of such things," said Grannie. + +Firetop took his hand off his stomach at once and made believe he had +just coughed a little. You see the cave people taught their children to +bear hunger and pain without making any fuss about it. + +"I tell you what we could do," said Grannie. "If we had some water, we +could have a place to boil the meat all ready when the hunters come +back. Who'll go for water?" + +"I'll go," said Firetop. + +"So will I," said Blackbird. + +"And I," said Squaretoes. + +They were all boys. Robin and Firefly were the only little girls in the +clan. + +"Get the gourds and the pig-skin and run along, then," said Grannie. +"Keep a sharp lookout, for you know the wild beasts will soon be out for +their night hunting." + +Firetop ran for the skin of the wild boar which was in the cave. It was +their water-cask. The other boys got gourds with holes cut in them to +make dippers, and then they were ready to start. + +Grannie took three sticks of pine and laid the ends in the fire. When +they were burning well, she gave one of them to each of the boys for a +torch. + +"It isn't dark yet, but you will be safer with these, anyway," she said. + +As soon as the three boys had gone skipping and whooping down the path +to the river, Grannie and the girls set about getting a kettle ready. +They hollowed out a hole in the ground, not far from the fire. When it +was deep enough they lined it with a heavy piece of hide. They put +stones around the edge of it to keep it in place. Then they gathered +piles of small stones and threw them in the fire to get hot. By the +time all this was done the boys were back with the pig-skin full of +water. Grannie poured it into the hollow dish in the ground. + +It was almost dark, and it seemed to the children that they could not +wait another minute, when they heard a welcome sound. It was the noise +of voices, talking and laughing together. + + +They sprang to their feet and gave a whoop of joy. It was answered by a +shout from the path. + +"They are coming slowly and they are laughing. They have meat," cried +Grannie. She threw more wood on the fire. Up flew the flames, lighting +the forest with a red glare. Sparks floated away over the very +tree-tops. By its light they saw Hawk-Eye and Limberleg and all the +other men and women of the clan toiling up the path. The bigger boys +were with them, too, and they were all loaded down with great chunks of +bison meat! + +The weary hunters dropped the bison-skins in one place to be stretched +and cured the next day. The meat they threw down on the ground at the +mouth of the cave, and Grannie and the other women began at once to cook +it. + +Some of it they put in the fire to roast and some of it they put in the +leather kettle in the ground. Then they poked the hot stones out of the +fire into the water. They kept taking the stones out of the water with +sticks as they grew cool and putting them back into the fire to get hot +again. In this way they soon got the water to boil. + +The smell of the roasting and boiling meat was too much for Firetop. It +made him so hungry that he couldn't wait. He just snatched a piece of +meat from the ground and ate it raw! But he was ready to eat again when +the meat was cooked and the real feast began. + +Then the great fire blazed and crackled outside the entrance and filled +the cave with a warm red glow. The whole clan gathered in the front of +the cave near the fire. + +Hawk-Eye was the leader of the clan, because he was the strongest man +and the best hunter. He was a large man with little sharp eyes and red +hair which covered his breast and legs as well as his head. Around his +neck was a string of bear's teeth. + +There were four other men. They were called Eagle-Nose, Grey Wolf, Big +Ear, and Long Arm. There were three other women besides Limberleg and +Grannie. They were the wives of the men. There were four big boys, who +were already hunting with the men, and there were Blackbird, Robin, and +Squaretoes, besides Firetop and Firefly. These were all there were in +the clan of the Bear. + +When the feast began, the people all sat down in a circle, all but +Grannie. Grannie stood up and handed out great chunks of meat to the +others and kept the fire bright. But she had a bone in her hand all the +time, and whenever she had a chance, she gnawed it. There were no +knives or forks or plates, of course. They all took their meat in their +hands and just gnawed and gobbled as fast as they could! Nobody had any +manners, and not a single mother said, "Have you washed your hands?" or +"Don't take such large mouthfuls or you will choke yourself," or +anything like that. There were some things about those days that must +have been very pleasant, after all. + +For a long time they ate and said nothing. You see, food had been +scarce for so many days that they had to make up for lost time. But by +and by, when they were all stuffed full, Firetop rolled over on to the +skin of a bear which was lying on the cave floor, and said to his +father: "Tell us about the hunting. Who killed the meat, and how was it +you all came back together? Did you hunt in a pack, like the wolves?" + +"Not just like the wolves," said Hawk-Eye, laughing. "There were five +of us after the bison. The women went off to set snares for rabbits, +and the boys to hunt eggs along the bluffs up the river. I felt in my +bones that we should see the bison to-day. So the men and I took our +way toward the lowlands. We knew they would come from that direction. +We followed the bluffs for a long way, but found nothing. We were +beginning to think we should come home empty-handed, when far away I +heard bellowing. Then I saw a little black speck moving along the green +valley. Two black specks moved beside it. They were the leader and his +two sentinels, and behind them came the herd." + +"We saw the herd, too," cried Firetop. "I saw them first," said +Squaretoes. "I saw them just as quick as you," shouted Blackbird. + +"Shut up," said his mother, and Blackbird did. Fathers and mothers in +those days used just such language as that, and if the children didn't +mind at once, they were likely to get something worse than just +language. It wasn't a polite age at all. + +"We crept down the bluffs as quietly as snakes," went on Hawk-Eye, when +everybody was still again. "I was in front. When the leader of the +herd got to our hiding-place, I sprang from the bushes and threw my +spear with all my strength. He gave a mighty roar. He stood on his +hind legs and thundered. Then Big Ear sprang forward and threw his +spear. The leader fell. The herd broke and ran. The sentinels could +not control them. Then we ran toward them. We killed two young cows +with our axes. The rest of the herd rushed past. The leader and the +two cows were left behind. The leader was old and tough. We pulled out +our spears and left him to the jackals and hyenas. The two cows were +small. We skinned them and cut them into pieces and started for the +cave. At the foot of the path we met the other people. They were weary +and had caught nothing. When they saw us they laughed for joy." + +"We heard them," cried Firefly. "Grannie said you would bring meat. +She said so when we heard the laughing. She said so when the herd +passed by. She saw that they had been frightened. That is why we had +the kettle ready." + +"Grannie is a wise old woman," said Hawk-Eye. "Now, get to bed, every +one of you." + +The children scuttled away and threw themselves down on heaps of skins +which lay about the cave, and were soon sound asleep. At least the +others were asleep, but for some reason Firetop and Firefly stayed +awake. Maybe they had eaten too much. At any rate they lay in their +corner, on their own heap of skins and watched Hawk-Eye and Limberleg +and Grannie and the others as they sat about in the cheerful glow of the +fire. Nobody had said anything for a long time, and the Twins were +beginning to feel quite sleepy, when Hawk-Eye spoke. What he said made +them sit up and listen with all their ears. Of course neither Hawk-Eye +nor Limberleg thought for a moment that the Twins were awake or +listening. Grown people are often very stupid about such things! +Anyway, they were awake, and they did listen, and this is what they +heard. + +Hawk-Eye said, "I am going across the river to-morrow." + +"Why are you going?" asked Big Ear. + +"I want to see what lies beyond the blue hills that the sun climbs +over," Hawk-Eye answered. + +"But no one of our clan has ever gone across the river. Our +hunting-grounds have always been on this side," said Long Arm. + +"It's time some one did go, then," said Hawk-Eye. "Game will be +plentiful now everywhere, but after the reindeer go, there is a long +time that we have little food. We need to find new hunting-grounds. I +am going to seek them." + + +"Then I am going, too." It was Limberleg who spoke. "I can hunt. I +can trap as well as anybody. And I can throw a spear as straight. I am +not afraid. Grannie will look after the children while we are gone." + +When he heard that, Firetop poked Firefly in the ribs. + +"I am going with them," he whispered. + +"They'll never let you," Firefly whispered back. + +"I'm going anyway," Firetop answered. "Don't you tell." + +"If you go, I'm going," said Firefly. "I can go as well as you can." + +"Sh-sh-sh--" said Firetop, for Grannie was speaking. + +"The river is wide and dangerous," she said. "The current is swift, and +who knows what monsters may be in it? I myself saw a rhinoceros +wallowing in the mud only a few days ago. Some say they have seen a +serpent as large as the trunk of a tree." + +"We can go up the river until we find a shallower place to cross," said +Hawk-Eye. "I have killed a tiger and a rhinoceros and a cave bear in my +time. We can take care of ourselves." + +When Limberleg heard him say "We" she knew that she was going, and she +was glad. She was as brave as Hawk-Eye and almost as good a hunter. + +When they saw that Hawk-Eye had really made up his mind to go, nobody +else said anything. They knew it would be a waste of words; and in +those days there were fewer words to waste than we have now. + +"We must start early," Hawk-Eye said to Limberleg. "We will take one +extra skin apiece and our axes and spears." + +Limberleg rose at once and went over to the corner of the cave where the +Twins were. The Twins shut their eyes tight and pretended to be sound +asleep. Firetop even snored a little. Limberleg spread the skins of +two bears upon the cave floor and threw herself on one of them. +Hawk-Eye went to the cave-mouth, took a look at the stars, yawned, +warmed himself at the fire, and then he too went to bed. The rest of +the men and women found their own places in other shadowy corners of the +cave, and soon the whole clan of the Bear was sound asleep. + +The Cave Twins--by Lucy Fitch Perkins + +CHAPTER THREE. + +THE RUNAWAYS. + +Next morning Firetop awoke before the dawn. He sat up at once and +looked about him. Not another soul was stirring, and from the different +corners of the cave came the sound of snores. The fire was burning +brightly, for Grannie had been up four times in the night to put on +fresh fuel. Now she too was fast asleep. Firetop crawled quietly out +of the warm wolf-skins of his bed. He took one of the wolf-skins and +tied it over his shoulder with a leather thong. The rest he bunched up +to look as if he were still in bed and asleep. + +Hawk-Eye had made a small spear for each of the Twins. They were not +playthings. They were real spears, for children of that day had to +learn to use such weapons while they were still very young. + +Firetop took his spear in his hand and poked Firefly gently in the ribs +with it. She woke instantly and would have poked back if Firetop hadn't +shaken his head at her and laid his finger on his lips. She nodded, +crawled out of her bed, and bunched it up like Firetop's. Then she tied +a wolf-skin over her shoulder and took her own spear, and together the +two children crept silently past the sleepers and out of the cave. They +snatched chunks of meat from the remains of the feast as they passed. + +It was not yet daylight, though the sky was pink above the hills across +the river and all the birds were singing as the Twins came out of the +cave and ran down the river path. Neither one of them spoke until they +were far enough from the cave so that no one could hear them. Then +Firetop whispered: "We'll climb a tree. We can watch from the tree and +see when they start. Then we'll slide down and follow them. They won't +know we are with them until it's too far to send us back." + + +"They won't like it," said Firefly. "What do you think they will do to +us?" + +"They'll wallop us," said Firetop, "but I don't care. It won't hurt +when it is over, and I've just got to go. We shall see all kinds of +things that we've never seen before." + +"Well," sighed Firefly, "I do hate that part of it, but I guess it's +worth it. Come on. Let's climb this tree." + +The children could climb like monkeys, but they had their weapons and +the meat and that made it a little difficult. They leaned their spears +against the trunk of the tree, took the meat in their teeth, and up they +went as easily as you could go upstairs. Then they hid themselves in a +fork of the tree and ate their breakfast. + +The thick branches made a screen around them so they could see without +being seen. They watched the cave. It was not long before they saw +Grannie come out and take a look at the weather. Then she put more fuel +on the fire and sat down on a rock to gnaw a bone for her breakfast. + +Soon Hawk-Eye and Limberleg appeared. They each had their weapons, and +a reindeer-skin strapped by leather thongs across their shoulders. +Limberleg had a gourd tied to her belt. They were each gnawing bones, +too. They stopped to speak to Grannie. The Twins leaned forward and +listened with all their ears. They heard Hawk-Eye say, "The children +are still asleep. You can tell them when they wake up." + + +Then they came along the path, eating as they came. They passed almost +under the tree where the Twins were hiding. This seemed to the Twins so +funny that they stuffed their mouths full of meat and then clapped their +hands over them to keep from laughing aloud. As it was, a little +snicker ran out between Firefly's fingers. Hawk-Eye heard it. + +"What's that?" he said sharply. He and Limberleg stopped a moment and +listened. + +"Nothing but a squirrel," said Limberleg. "There he is on that log over +there." + +The Twins nearly smothered themselves then, to keep the laughs in. + +Hawk-Eye and Limberleg passed on down the path to the very edge of the +forest. There they turned and walked along the bluffs, where they could +swing themselves into a tree at a moment's notice. This was safer than +walking in the green meadows beside the river where there were no trees +to climb. + +Firetop and Firefly waited until they were out of sight around the turn. +Then they crawled down from the tree, took their spears in their hands, +and ran after them. They stayed back far enough so they could hide +behind trees if Hawk-Eye or Limberleg should turn round, yet near enough +to keep them in sight. + +For miles and miles they walked and ran. It was hard with their short +legs to keep the pace set by their father and mother, but they knew very +well they had to do it. There was no turning back then. + +On and on walked Hawk-Eye and Limberleg. The sun climbed higher and +higher. The children were thirsty, but they did not dare to run down to +the river for a drink. They were hungry, but they had nothing to eat. +They snatched little green leaves from the bushes as they passed, but +this was hardly enough to fill their empty stomachs. + +"We'll just have to call them," said Firefly at last. "I'm so hungry +I've simply got to have something to eat, and if we stop to hunt for +roots, we'll never catch up with them again." + +"They'll be as mad as mad bulls when they see us," said Firetop. + +"Yes, of course. We'll get a good beating," answered Firefly. "We +expected that. But it won't hurt after it is over; you told me so +yourself." + +"Jimminy!" said Firetop,--or if it wasn't "Jimminy" it was something +that meant the same thing,--"I just hate to think of it. Can't you go +on a little longer?" + +"What's the difference?" moaned Firefly. "It's got to come some time. +We might as well have it over. I'm not going another step." And she +sat plump down on a fallen tree. + +Firetop put his hands to his mouth and gave a long sharp cry. It was +the distress signal of the Bear Clan. Hawk-Eye and Limberleg stopped +instantly. They looked up the river; they looked down the river. Then +they caught a glimpse of two red heads and two very scared faces, far +back on the bluff. They came tearing back through the underbrush to the +two small figures on the log. + +They could hardly believe their eyes. + +"Where did you come from, you naughty little weasels?" cried Limberleg +angrily. + +"From the cave," said Firefly. "We followed you because we want to see +what lies beyond the blue hills across the river, too. And if you are +going to spank us, please do it right away, because we are awfully +hungry." + +"Oh, no," cried Firetop. "You needn't do it now if you'd rather not! +Couldn't you put it off until we get home again? We're willing to wait, +and you'd have more time then." + +Limberleg and Hawk-Eye didn't discuss the matter. They sat right down +on the log and began. Limberleg took Firefly and Hawk-Eye took Firetop, +and they spanked and spanked. + +"Now, can we have something to eat?" sniffled Firetop when it was over. +Limberleg looked at Hawk-Eye. "We can't send them back alone," she +said. Firetop saw that they were going to give in. + +"The hyenas would surely get us," he said plaintively. "We're pretty +small to go back alone," sobbed Firefly. "And besides, we want to see +what lies beyond the blue hills across the river." + +It may be that Hawk-Eye was a little pleased at their courage in +following them. Anyway, he said: "Well, you can climb like squirrels. +We shall not be gone many days. Come along." Firetop sprang up and +whooped for joy. Firefly turned a somersault. Hawk-Eye and Limberleg +laughed. They couldn't help it. You see, even in those early times +parents were fond of their children, although they didn't know any +better punishment for them than spankings. There are some parents like +that yet. + +"Now, what shall we have to eat?" said Firefly, when everybody was happy +again. + +"We'll have to find something," said Hawk-Eye to Limberleg. "You take +the children down into the meadow. I see carrots growing down there. +I'll hunt in the woods. Listen for my call, and when you hear it, come +to that big oak tree as fast as you can." + +Limberleg and the Twins started at once down the bluff toward the river. +The bushes grew thick along the slope, and as they scrambled through +them they made a crashing noise. Firetop was ahead, then came Firefly, +and last of all Limberleg. + +Suddenly there was a loud whirring sound, and out of the bushes in front +of them flew a great wood grouse! + +Instantly Firetop braced himself and flung his spear, and before +Limberleg or Firefly could catch up with him, he was far beyond them +down the slope, struggling with the wounded bird. When they reached +him, he had killed it. Limberleg was delighted. She patted Firetop and +called him a great hunter, and said she was glad he had come with them +after all. + +Maybe you think Firetop wasn't a proud boy then! He waggled his red +head and swaggered up the slope toward the big oak tree with the huge +bird on his shoulder. Limberleg and Firefly stayed behind to hunt in +the bushes for the grouse's nest. Firefly found it, and there were +seven eggs in it! Then Limberleg patted Firefly. "Your father and I +will not need to get any food for you," she said. "Maybe you will hunt +for us." They went up the slope after Firetop, carrying the eggs. + +When they reached the big oak tree on the bluff, Limberleg took the +feathers off the grouse and cut it into chunks with her flint knife. +They had no fire, so they ate it raw. They ate five of the eggs and +left two for Hawk-Eye. They saved the legs of the grouse for him, too. +They waited and waited, but still Hawk-Eye did not come. They began to +get a little frightened, he was gone so long. At last there was a call, +"Hoo, hoo, hoooooo," like the hooting of an owl, and he appeared +crashing through the bushes. He had a rabbit hanging from his shoulder. +Then Firefly played a trick on him. + +"We aren't hungry," she said. Hawk-Eye was astonished. + +"I thought you were starved by the way you acted," he said. + +"We aren't any of us hungry now," said Firetop. + +"Did you fill yourselves with carrots?" asked Hawk-Eye. + +"Oh, no. We had fresh meat," said Firetop, with his nose in the air. + +"Fresh meat?" cried Hawk-Eye. + +"What did you kill?" he said to Limberleg. + +"Nothing," said Limberleg. + +"But I did," shouted Firetop. + +He told all about killing the grouse. You should have seen Hawk-Eye +then! He was just as pleased as our fathers are when we get A in +arithmetic! + +"I guess you can take care of yourselves," he said, when he had heard +the story. "You don't need me." Then he laughed and made his face look +scared. "Will you let me go with you to the land where the sun rises?" +he said. "I am very small, but I can climb trees! I am afraid to go +alone. I need you to kill bison and mammoths for me to eat!" + + +Firetop, Firefly, and Limberleg laughed at this until they nearly +choked. Then Firetop wagged his head at his father. + +"You shouldn't have followed me," he said. "I shall have to spank you. +But you are too small to send alone to the cave, so I'll have to let you +come with me." + +The Cave Twins--by Lucy Fitch Perkins + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +THE JOURNEY. + +One. + +All the rest of the day they followed the river, looking for a place +where it was shallow enough for them to cross without serious danger of +drowning. They did not know how to swim. For their supper they had +only the rabbit. They ate it sitting on the bluff, with their backs to +each other so they could watch in every direction for signs of danger. +When the shadow of the bluff grew long across the meadows, Limberleg +said:-- + +"Darkness will soon be upon us. Where are we going to sleep?" + +"We won't sleep in a cave anyway," said Hawk-Eye, "even if we could find +one. We might find the cave bear at home in it. In that case, we +should probably spend the night in his stomach, and I am sure that would +be too crowded to be comfortable." + +"We can't spend the night on the ground surely," said Limberleg. "Or we +might wake up in the stomach of old Sabre-tooth instead." This was just +their way of joking, because I never heard of any one waking up after +being swallowed, except Jonah and Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother. +And of course, this story happened long before either Jonah or Red +Riding Hood or her grandmother did. + +Hawk-Eye took out his flint knife. I almost said he took it out of his +pocket, because it seems queer to think of a man without pockets. Of +course, he didn't really have any, though. The flint knife was fastened +to his belt by a thong. + +"Go and find all the grape-vines you can," he said. Limberleg and the +Twins flew back into the forest to search for vines. There were plenty +of them, and they pulled up a great heap of long, tough stems, and +brought them back to Hawk-Eye. Hawk-Eye had another bunch which he had +cut. On the bluff overlooking the valley there was a great oak tree +with giant branches spreading in every direction. + +"We'll sleep here," said Hawk-Eye. "Nothing can harm us unless a +wildcat or some such climbing creature should visit us, and I think I +could make him wish he hadn't come. I shall have my spear beside me and +shall sleep on the lower limbs." + +"Shall we roost like the birds?" asked Firefly anxiously. + +Limberleg laughed, and took a leap into the air, and caught one of the +branches. She swung herself into the tree and ran along the branch to +the great thick trunk. + +"Hand up the vines," she called down, "and I will show you how we will +roost." Hawk-Eye tossed them up to her. She climbed higher in the tree +and found a place where two limbs came together like those shown in the +picture: She wove the vines back and forth over the two branches until +she had made a rough net-work like a very coarse hammock. + +"Now, up you come," she called to Firefly, "and I will put you to bed." + +Firefly climbed the tree. This was the way she went upstairs to bed. + +Limberleg took off the wolf-skin which was still tied over her +shoulders, and spread it over the vine hammock. Then Firefly crawled +into her bed. Her mother took the leather thong which had been around +the wolf-skin and tied her securely to one of the limbs with it. That +was her way of tucking her in so that she would not fall out of bed. +She didn't hear her say her prayers, because in those days they didn't +know there was anything to pray to, unless it was to giants, or the +spirits of water or of fire, or of thunder and lightning. They prayed +to them sometimes when they were frightened. I don't believe she kissed +her good night, either. There was not much kissing in those days. + +When Firefly was safely stowed away, Limberleg climbed farther up the +tree to find a place for Firetop. But he had already found one for +himself and was beginning to make his bed. When he was swung from his +branches like a big cocoon, Hawk-Eye and Limberleg made themselves as +comfortable as they could on the lower limbs of the tree. The western +sky was all aflame with yellow and red, as they settled themselves for +the night, and the birds sang them to sleep. + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Two. + +When Firetop opened his eyes the next morning, he couldn't think where +he was. He tried to flop over, as he could so easily do when sleeping +on his wolf-skins in the cave. But he found himself securely tied. He +lifted his head and looked out. The sun was just rising over the blue +hills across the river. He looked down through the tree-branches to see +his father and mother. + +They were not there! For a moment he thought perhaps he had dreamed it +all. "I often go to all sorts of strange places when I am asleep," he +said to himself. "Pretty soon I'll wake up in the cave." He waited to +wake up, but he didn't wake up. He kept right on being out of doors and +up a tree, and his parents kept on being gone. Then he remembered all +about everything. + +He called to Firefly, "Are you there?" + +She answered in a sleepy voice, "Yes." + +"Are you sure?" Firetop called back; "because Father and Mother +aren't." + +"Aren't what?" said Firefly, getting wider awake. + +"Aren't there," Firetop answered. + +Firefly lifted her head and tried to roll over. If she had not been +tied she would have rolled out of bed. She looked down, too. The +branches were certainly empty. + +What would you do if you were to wake up in the morning and find +yourself tied in bed and your father and mother gone and no breakfast +ready? Well, they did just the same thing! They simply yelled. They +had good strong lungs and they made a great deal of noise. When they +stopped, they heard a distant shout that sounded like their own. "Ow, +ow, ow." It came back to them from two different directions. + +"That's not Father's voice," said Firetop. + +"Nor Mother's," said Firefly. + +"It's somebody's. It must be theirs. Let's call again," said Firetop. + +They nearly split their throats that time. "Ow, ow, ow," they screamed, +and "Ow, ow, ow," came back from the forest and the river. + +"It must be the spirits of the water and the trees, mocking us," said +Firetop. "It sounded just like us." + +You see, they did not know what an echo was. + +"I'm scared," said Firefly. + +"I am too, a little," Firetop admitted. + +"Let's not call any more. If we keep still, maybe the spirits won't +find us," whispered Firefly. + + +They snuggled down in the wolf-skins and kept very still. By and by +they heard a crashing sound in the underbrush not far away. They were +stiff with fright. They didn't dare even to breathe. Then came a loud +cry, "Hoo, hoo, hooooooo," and the crashing noise came nearer. It came +right under their tree. Then somebody's voice called, "Are you awake, +little red foxes, up in the tree?" + +Two red heads instantly popped over the edge of the tree beds, and two +voices cried out something that meant, "Oh, we're so glad that you've +come back." + +Limberleg climbed the tree and untied the children. It took them about +two seconds to get to the ground, and they didn't fall down either. +There under the tree they found Hawk-Eye. He was preparing breakfast. +He and Limberleg had gone down to the river-bank very early and had +found a whole colony of turtles. They had brought home four turtle-eggs +apiece. If I were an arithmetic, I should ask how many eggs there were! +It would have been of no use to ask the Twins. Neither they nor their +father and mother could have told you. They hadn't any of them learned +to count that far. Nobody could in those days. + +They made short work of the eggs, even if they couldn't add or multiply +or divide. When they had finished eating them, they strapped their +skins on their shoulders once more and started up the river. All the +morning they tramped steadily along, looking for a good place to ford +it. The sun was already in the west, when suddenly Limberleg stopped at +a turn in the bluff. + +"See, see," she cried. "Two rivers." They all stopped and looked. The +river forked at that point, or rather two smaller streams came together +making one big one. + +There was a high V-shaped point of land between the two streams. + +"Now we can cross," cried Limberleg, joyfully. She led the way, running +and leaping down the bluffs to the river's edge. The banks at this +point were sandy and the river full of stones. The current was swift, +but the water was clear and not very deep. Limberleg ran out on the +stones. + +"Come," she called to the Twins. "Follow close after me." She leaped +lightly over the stones to the middle of the stream, where the river was +deepest. The children followed part way; then Firetop stood still on +one of the stones and looked at the swirling water. Firefly was on the +next stone behind him. The stone in front looked a long way off to +Firetop. + +"I can't jump so far," he squealed. + +"I can't either," wailed Firefly. "My legs aren't long enough." + +"Jump," cried Limberleg, impatiently. + +"We can't," shouted the Twins, beginning to cry. + +You see, they were afraid of water, and it really wasn't much wonder, +for they had never even had a real bath in their whole lives. I've +known children to feel just the same way about water in these days. +They can't bear it, even on a wash-cloth. + +Hawk-Eye was on the stone behind them. "Jump," he shouted, "or I'll +give you something to cry for." And that was the very first time that +any parent ever said that about giving them something to cry for, and +they've been saying it ever since, to my personal knowledge. + +You see that, with Limberleg in front calling "Jump" and Hawk-Eye behind +saying such alarming things, the Twins were in a tight place. There was +nothing to do but jump. So Firetop took a flying leap, and Firefly +followed him. Unluckily she came just a little too soon. She jumped on +to Firetop. His feet flew out from under him, he lost his footing on +the stone, and they both rolled into the cold water. + +The crying they had done before wasn't anything to what they did then, I +can tell you. That is, as soon as their heads were out of the water +again. + +They might have been carried away by the current, if Hawk-Eye hadn't +instantly thrown his spear across to the farther shore and jumped in +after them. He seized one of them with each hand and waded with them to +land. Then he picked up his spear again from the ground where it had +fallen. + +If you will believe me, the Twins held tight to their own little spears +all the time, even when they were under the water! It was all they had +to hold to, to be sure, and besides, they loved those spears more than +we love dolls and roller skates and marbles and baseball, all put +together. + +Limberleg laughed at the dripping little figures. + +"You look like a pair of water-rats," she cried. The Twins could not +see anything funny in that. Little streams of water trickled down their +backs, and they didn't like it. The rock that was on the point of land +between the two rivers was not far away from the place where they +landed. + +"Let's go to the top," said Limberleg to the Twins. "That will warm you +up." + +It was quite a steep climb, and I wish you could see what they saw from +that summit. They could look a long way up each of the two rivers and a +long way down the big one. There were deep, silent woods along the +shores. They looked back on the land between the two streams. They +were all beginning to be hungry again by this time, and they hoped that +they might see their supper wandering about somewhere over the rocks. + +"We'll see who has the sharpest eyes," said Limberleg. + +"I see something white right now, way down there in the bushes," said +Firefly. "It's bouncing around." + +"I see it, too," said Hawk-Eye. "It's the tail of a deer. There's a +herd down there!" Hawk-Eye started down the rocks in a hurry. "I'll +not be gone long," he called back to Limberleg. "Get a fire started +before I come back." + +Limberleg and the Twins watched Hawk-Eye until he disappeared in the +underbrush. Then she and the children began to gather wood for the +fire. Firetop found a piece of hard wood that was round. Limberleg +pointed the end of it with her flint knife. Then they hunted for a +piece of soft wood. In the soft wood Limberleg made a little hollow +place that would fit the end of the stick. + +"Now, Firefly, you stay with me," said she. "I want you to gather +little tendrils of dry moss and watch beside me while I twirl the stick. +The moment I tell you to, you must drop little pieces of dry moss into +the hollow place in the wood. Firetop, you gather a great heap of +sticks here on top of the rock." Limberleg knelt on the edge of the +rock and began to twirl the stick between her hands. As she twirled she +mumbled a prayer to the fire god. + +Firefly held the soft wood firmly in place while Limberleg worked. She +twirled and twirled until a tiny thread of smoke began to curl from the +hollow. "Drop in the moss," cried Limberleg. The smoke grew thicker. +Limberleg worked faster and faster. Soon a tiny flame burst forth. +Firefly fed the flame with the dried moss until it was big enough to +burn little twigs and dead leaves. Soon a brisk fire was burning. +Firetop had brought a great pile of wood to the rock, and had also found +some long willow branches to use in broiling meat. + +"The fire is ready, but where is the food?" said Firefly. It was not +long in coming. Hawk-Eye soon appeared climbing up the rock with a +young doe on his shoulder. He and Limberleg skinned it and cut up the +meat, and they had all the broiled venison they could possibly eat for +supper. + +"We shall have to spend the night here," said Hawk-Eye, when they +couldn't eat any more. "We couldn't find a better place anyway. There +is water around the rock except on the land side. We'll keep the fire +bright, and we shall be just as safe as if we were in the cave." + +Hawk-Eye spread the fire in a long line across the land side of the +rock. He built a sort of wall of sticks and branches to feed it, and +all night long it blazed and smouldered. They spread their skins on the +rock and slept peacefully in its warm glow. + +The next morning dawned bright and clear, and the whole family got up +with the birds. They had more venison for breakfast, and when that was +out of the way, Hawk-Eye said: "We'd better get across the other river +early. There's no telling how far we may have to go to-day, or what we +may find on the way." + +"I hate to leave this place," cried Firefly, "it's so beautiful, and I +am sure there is lots of game here." + +"I hate to leave the doe-skin behind," said Limberleg, "but of course I +can't dry and stretch and cure it while we are travelling." + +"We can carry enough meat to last us all day," said Hawk-Eye, "and that +will save lots of time. We won't have to stop to hunt for our dinner." + +He tied a great piece of meat over the shoulders of Firetop and Firefly +and Limberleg, and took the biggest piece on his own back, and off they +started. + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Three. + +It would take too long to tell you all about what a time they had +getting across the river. It was deeper than the first one they +crossed, and if it hadn't been for a lucky accident, they might never +have got across at all. When they came to the water's edge, Firetop saw +some turtles sunning themselves on a log a little way down the stream. +The log had floated down the river and had caught against a dead branch +that stuck out of the water. They were not so afraid of the water now +they had really been in it. + +Firetop thought it would be great fun to catch a turtle. He pointed +them out to Firefly. "Come on," was all he said, but she knew what it +meant, and at once the two children waded quietly out toward the log. +Wading in was altogether different from having to tumble in, anyway. +The turtles saw them coming, and just as the Twins reached the log, they +slid off into the water. One of them found one of Firetop's big toes in +the mud, and bit it. + +Firetop screamed and tried to get away. Firefly didn't know what was +the matter, but she screamed too on general principles, and they both +grabbed at the log and tried to climb on to it. The log rolled over and +got loose from the branch that held it and started down-stream, with +both children clinging to it and yelling. They couldn't get up on it +because it kept turning over, but they held on because it was the only +thing there was to hold on to, and Firetop kept kicking with all his +might to get away from the turtle. Firefly did some kicking, too, +because she was trying to find the bottom with her feet and there wasn't +any bottom there. The current was not very swift at this point, and +though they didn't know it, the children were really swimming with their +legs, and they made the log go toward the other shore. + +While all of this was happening, where do you suppose Hawk-Eye and +Limberleg were? They were chasing after them as fast as they could go, +but the children had quite a start and got farther away every minute. +The water was almost over Limberleg's head, and you know how hard it is +to walk in deep water. Besides, they had the meat. The meat that the +Twins were carrying got loose in their struggles and fell off in the +water. Perhaps the turtle saw it and decided that it was better eating +than Firetop's toe, or maybe he got homesick. I can't tell about that, +but anyway he let go. The Twins kept on reaching for the bottom and +kicking with all their might and screaming, too, and before long the log +ran its nose into the farther bank and they seized the branches of a +willow tree that hung over the water and pulled themselves up on the +shore. + +In a moment Hawk-Eye and Limberleg came tearing up the river-bank to +them. They had come straight across the river, while the children had +been carried some distance by the current. You can just think how glad +they all were when they found that they were across and not a single one +of them had been drowned. + + +When Firetop told about the turtle, Hawk-Eye laughed and laughed. +Limberleg laughed a little, too. Firetop felt pretty sorry for himself, +but he wasn't really hurt, and in half an hour he had forgotten to limp. + +The Cave Twins--by Lucy Fitch Perkins + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +THE TREE CLAN. + +They walked a little way along the bank, looking for a good place to +cross the flat, green meadow that lay between the river and the forest. +Soon they came to a sort of path which led back into the woods. +Hawk-Eye looked at it very carefully. He even got down and examined the +wet ground at the water's edge. In the mud there were foot-prints. + +"Isn't it a drinking-place for the wild creatures?" asked Limberleg. + +Hawk-Eye grunted. "Like ourselves," he answered briefly. "There are +people living in these woods. That's the print of a man's foot." + +Limberleg looked just as she would have looked if he had said, "There's +a pack of hyenas living in those woods." There was reason for it in +those days. The different groups of people in the forests had nothing +to do with one another, and when they met, they were much more likely to +fight than to be friendly. + +"Can't we go up the river-bank and not go into the woods at all?" asked +Limberleg. For answer Hawk-Eye pointed down the river. Far away in the +green meadow they saw two mammoths feeding. Even at that distance they +looked like giant rocks looming out of the grass. Their long ivory +tusks gleamed in the sun. + +"We can't go that way," said Limberleg, "and it's no use to go back." + +"We'll go up the path to the edge of the wood, then follow the river," +said Hawk-Eye. "Maybe no one will see us. It's the best we can do. Be +quiet and be quick." + +He set off at a swift trot, his spear in his hand. The two children +followed with their mother. + +"I see shadows moving in the trees," said Firefly. Both twins wished +very much that they were at home with Grannie just at that moment. + +"They are following us, higher up on the bluff," Limberleg answered in a +low voice. + +Hawk-Eye had seen all that they had seen, and more, but he said nothing. + +He trotted on. Just then a chunk of mud and dirt came flying through +the air and struck Hawk-Eye on the head. Stones, sticks, and all sorts +of missiles followed. + +"Keep on running," said Hawk-Eye. + +They were terribly frightened, but they did as they were told. If they +had looked up, they would have seen a terrifying sight. On the edge of +the bluff there was a strange group of people. At least we must call +them "people," though they looked more like monkeys than like human +beings. They were grinning horribly and dancing about and chattering to +each other. Their bodies were covered with dark hair. Their arms were +long and strong, their legs short. They had little eyes set near +together, and almost no forehead at all. Every one of them had +something in his hand to throw at the travellers. + +Hawk-Eye kept straight on. "Run," he cried. "We can't fight; they are +too many." + +On, on they ran, panting and breathless. A little way ahead there were +some large rocks on the edge of the wood. There they might find a +momentary shelter. They had almost reached the rocks, when suddenly a +woman of the wild tribe let herself down out of a tree on the edge of +the bluff and made a bold dash down the slope. Before they could stop +her, she had seized Firefly and dragged her away. She got as far as the +first oak tree on the slope and had actually snatched a limb, intending +to swing herself and Firefly into it, when Limberleg, screaming with +fury, reached the spot. Limberleg seized Firefly by one arm. The wild +woman had hold of the other. + +They pulled in opposite directions and screamed, and if it had not been +for Hawk-Eye, there's no telling what might have become of poor Firefly. +She might have been pulled in two, or she might have been carried off +and adopted into the wild clan. But Hawk-Eye was there in almost no +time, and though the people on the bluff rained down sticks and stones +upon them, Hawk-Eye drove his spear into the woman's arm. With a shriek +of pain she let go of Firefly and dashed away into the forest. + +"Run for your lives," cried Hawk-Eye, and they started again at top +speed for the rocks. They reached them none too soon, for the people on +the bluff, infuriated by the injury to the woman, came dashing down the +slope after them. Once in the shelter of the rocks, Hawk-Eye turned and +faced his pursuers. When they had almost reached his hiding-place he +gave a fierce yell and threw his spear. It was a very well made spear +with a bone barb on the end, and it struck the leader of the wild tribe +in the thigh. With a shriek of pain he fell to the ground. Then he +seized the spear and pulled it out of his flesh. + +The wild tribe had no weapons but sticks and stones. They were +tree-dwellers. They did not even know the secret of fire. They lived +upon roots and berries and nuts, and such small game as they could catch +with their hands or in snares. Their homes were rude shelters in the +trees. When they saw what had happened to their leader, they were +terribly frightened. They turned and ran for the trees, leaving the +wounded man on the ground. + +Hawk-Eye ran out from behind the rock, picked up his spear, and sent it +flying after the enemy. It struck another man. Howling with pain and +fear, he too dropped in his tracks. His companions ran faster than +ever, and when they reached the trees, instantly swung themselves up by +the branches and disappeared. Only now and then one could be seen +swinging from tree to tree, back into the deep forest, like great +monkeys. Hawk-Eye again ran after his spear. This time he pulled it +out of the wounded man's flesh himself, and left him rolling on the +ground, too much hurt to attack him or defend himself. Then Hawk-Eye +ran back to the little group hidden behind the rock. + +Everything was now as quiet as if no one lived in the forest at all. +There was not a single tree-dweller in sight except the first wounded +man, and he was already crawling as fast as he could up the bluff. + +In spite of everything, Hawk-Eye and Limberleg had held on to their +meat, and now they felt the need of food. They cut Limberleg's load +into four great chunks, and each took one. They ate as they walked. +They ran along past the place where the mammoths were feeding and then +turned their backs on the river and plunged into the deep forest toward +the east. The ground began to rise a little, and Hawk-Eye said, "If we +keep on climbing in the direction of the rising sun, we are bound to +reach the blue hills at last." + + +All that day they journeyed, and that night they spent in a tree. The +next morning found them still climbing. At last, about noon of the +second day, they reached the crest of the range and climbed out upon the +high, bald summit of the highest hill. + +No one of their clan had ever been so far from the cave, and no one of +them had ever seen what Hawk-Eye and Limberleg and the Twins now saw. +There was the world spread out before them! They looked back far away +in the blue distance toward the west, and there they saw a little silver +thread. That silver thread was their river. They looked toward the +south, and far, far away they saw more water than they had ever dreamed +there was in the whole earth. They didn't know what it was. They were +not even sure that it was water. They had never heard of the sea. They +stood silent and breathless with wonder and gazed at it. At last +Hawk-Eye said in an awestruck tone, "It's the end of the world." + +"Let's go to the very edge and look over it," said Limberleg. "Maybe we +can find out where the sun hides during the darkness." + +You see what a brave woman she was. + +"Then are these the blue hills?" asked Firetop. "They don't look blue a +bit." + + +"The blueness is all around us, though," cried Firefly, pointing down +into the valley. "And beyond the end of the world, it's all blue too, +with sparkles on it! And the sky is blue. The only place that isn't +blue is right around us." + +"We will surely go through the blue country to get to the end of the +world then," said Firetop. + +All this time Hawk-Eye had been standing on the highest point, studying +the view and choosing landmarks. He knew how to find his way through +forests as well as we know the way to the post-office. When he had the +route all planned out, he called the children and Limberleg to his side. +He pointed to the south. "Do you see far away that little neck of land +which leads out to the very end of the world?" he said. "We will keep +the sun on this side of us the first half of the day and on the other +side the other half of the day and we shall surely reach it. Then we +shall see what lies beyond." + +Hawk-Eye led the way over the crest of the hill and down into the forest +below, the Twins and Limberleg close behind him. All day they pressed +on, over hills, through dense woods, and across little streams, keeping +always to the south. At last they found the narrow neck of land which +they had seen from the hill-top. They camped that night in a tree, near +the water's edge, and, at night-fall of the second day after, they +climbed the last weary mile and stood upon the great rocks at the end of +the world. + +A stream of fresh water poured through a deep gorge beside them. + +Toward the east and toward the west, farther than their eyes could see, +stretched the dark blue waters. Toward the north they could look clear +across the island to the distant shore of the mainland. We know now +that they stood on the southern coast of the Isle of Wight, and that the +faint blue line across the water would some day be called France. But +the Twins and their father and mother thought that they stood on the +very edge of the earth and looked out into mysterious regions which lay +beyond. + +As they stood gazing, the western sky flamed with red and gold and the +sun sank out of sight behind a distant point of land. High up in the +east the pale round disk of the moon hung in the deep blue of the sky. +It was more wonderful than they had dreamed. + +"To-morrow, if we wake early, we shall see where the sun comes from," +said Limberleg. + +They sat on the rocks and watched the stars come out and saw the moon +sail away to the west, and then, when they were too weary to stay awake +longer, they spread their skins on the rocks and slept under the open +sky, with the boom of the surf for a lullaby. + +The Cave Twins--by Lucy Fitch Perkins + +CHAPTER SIX. + +THE EARTHQUAKE. + +One. + +They slept so soundly that they did not hear low rolling sounds of +thunder or see the moon go out of sight behind a black cloud. Even +lightning did not rouse them, but when at last the rain came splashing +down over their bare skins they woke up. There was no shelter for them, +so they huddled together in a wet heap and waited for the rain to be +over and for the morning to come. It was no gentle spring shower. + +The water poured down like a deluge. They were very wretched, and +Firefly began to cry. + +"Now, see here," Limberleg said to her, "there's water enough already! +You needn't add your tears, or we shall all be drowned! The rain will +be over some time. It won't hurt you." + +When the lightning flashed, they could see the trees waving and bending +in the wind and great breakers rolling up over the sandy beach. + +But the rain wasn't the worst that was to happen. After a while there +came a strange shivering feeling in the rocks beneath them. It grew +stronger and stronger till the whole earth shook and trembled. + +Hawk-Eye and Limberleg had felt earthquakes before, but never one like +this. It seemed as if the world were shaking itself to pieces. They +huddled closer together and clasped their arms around the Twins. + +"Oh," shrieked Limberleg, "the water gods are angry because we tried to +find out the secret of the sun!" She and Hawk-Eye prayed to them at the +top of their lungs. "Spare us, oh, spare us," they cried. + +As they prayed, there came a long, fearful cracking noise, and the sound +of falling rocks. It was as if the thunder had fallen to the earth and +were rumbling round over it. A gigantic wave came roaring against the +rocks as if it would dash them to pieces. + +The Twins burrowed their heads in their mother's lap, and shook almost +as if they were having little earthquakes of their own. + +The great wave marked the crest of the storm. After that the winds grew +gradually less violent, the rain ceased, and the waves crept farther and +farther away down the beach. + +The earth ceased its trembling. The clouds rolled away like great +curtains, and the thunder went grumbling off toward the west. + +When the grey dawn came stealing over the wet earth and the birds began +to sing, Limberleg raised her head. + +"Look," she said, "and listen! The birds are singing! I thought the +world had come to an end, but it is still here, and so are we." + +Then they all opened their eyes, which they had kept shut for terror. A +wonderful sight met them! Over the water toward the east the sky was +blushing like a rose. Little pink clouds were hurrying away to lose +themselves in the blue sky. Then the great fiery red disk of the sun +rose slowly out of the water! + +They watched it in awed silence as it climbed higher and higher into the +blue. Then, trembling again with fear, the little group of watchers +prostrated themselves before it in a blind impulse of worship. + +When the sun was out of the water and up again in its regular place in +the sky, all nature seemed so gay and joyous that the Twins and their +father and mother forgot the fears of the night, and began to think +about breakfast. They found it in the hollow of a rock far down the +gorge. + +The giant wave which had so frightened them, had left a fish flapping +about in a little pool of water. When she saw it, Limberleg shouted: +"The water gods aren't angry, after all! See, they have sent us a fine +fish for our breakfast!" + +Hawk-Eye quickly climbed down the steep rocks to the pool, caught the +fish with his hands, killed it, and brought it back to Limberleg and the +Twins. + +While they were eating it, Limberleg seemed to be thinking hard. She +wasn't used to thinking, and she screwed up her face almost as if it +hurt her. At last she said: "Listen to me! We now know what no one +else in the world knows. We have found out what lies beyond the blue +hills. We have gone to the end of the world and have looked over the +edge, and have discovered the secret of the sun! We alone know that it +hides beneath the waters during the darkness. There is no more for us +to learn. Perhaps it would not be safe to know more, even if there were +more to know! Let us go home." + +"There is more to be learned about the hunting," said Hawk-Eye. + +"We can find that out on our way back," said Limberleg. + +"If there are going to be any more earthquakes, I'd rather be in the +cave anyway," said Firefly. "Besides, I don't like the rain pouring +over me. It's as bad as falling in the river." + +Firetop said: "I'd like to get back to tell Squaretoes what I've seen. +He's all the time telling about the wonderful things he can do. He's +never seen the tree-people nor had an earthquake in his whole life. I +guess I can make his eyes stick out." + +Hawk-Eye said nothing, but he picked up the wet skins, shook them, bound +them with thongs, and tied them to the shoulders of the others. Then +each took his own weapons and they were ready to start. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Two. + +From the point where they had spent the night, a chain of hills ran back +inland. They followed these hills to the north for some miles and then, +still keeping to the hill-tops, turned toward the west. In the late +afternoon, under Hawk-Eye's skillful leadership, they came again to the +place where they had crossed the isthmus that connected them with the +mainland. + +Hawk-Eye was some distance ahead of the others when he came out upon the +high bluff that overlooked the channel and the isthmus. Suddenly he +stopped with a cry of astonishment and stood still, his eyes staring. + +Limberleg and the Twins rushed to his side. + +"What is the matter?" they cried. For answer Hawk-Eye only pointed. +Before them there was nothing but open water! A whole section of the +neck of land which they had crossed only the day before had been +swallowed up by the sea! + +Where it had been, a mile of blue water now sparkled in the sun! They +were completely shut off from the main land. When she realised what had +happened, Limberleg sat heavily down on a log. + +"The world isn't the same after all," she cried. "It's broken! Part of +it has sunk beneath the waters!" + + +"Won't it ever get mended?" asked Firefly anxiously. + +"Shan't we ever get back to the cave, then?" cried Firetop. + +"No," sobbed Limberleg. "We'll have to stay here till we die." + +Firefly whimpered a little and crept close to her mother on the log, but +Firetop noticed that his father wasn't crying, so he swallowed several +large lumps in his throat and sat up straight. For some time they +stayed on the bluff and looked down the steep banks of broken earth and +rocks into the deep water below. + +Great logs were floating about and huge trees, uprooted from the banks, +were lying with their tops in the water. + +At last Limberleg said in a discouraged voice, "Well, what shall we do?" + +"The first thing to do," said Hawk-Eye, "is to go down to the beach and +see what we can find to eat." + +Beyond the steep cliffs on which they stood there was a bay with a wide +beach. Beyond the bay great rocks extended in a chain out into the +water. If you have been to England, you may have passed those very +rocks. They are called "The Needles." + +Hawk-Eye and Limberleg and the Twins climbed down to the beach. They +were so hungry that they were almost ready to eat sand and pebbles, like +chickens, if they could find nothing else. + +But there was plenty of seaweed on the beach and they found little +mussels clinging to it. They ate both the seaweed and the mussels, as +they walked along. + +"See all the little holes in the sand," cried Firetop, when they were +quite far out on the beach. "Water spurts out of them every time I +step." + +"Let's dig down and see what does it," said Firefly. "Maybe it's +something good to eat." + +They took a large shell and scraped away the sand. They had never seen +clams before, and Firefly got her finger pinched. Hawk-Eye opened a +shell and ate one. He smacked his lips, and then he said, "Dig as many +as you can, while I make a fire. Our supper is right here." + +The Twins worked like beavers, while Hawk-Eye and Limberleg made a +drift-wood fire far back on the beach in a sheltered place near the +cliffs. + +Then Limberleg made a bed of seaweed in the coals and put in the clams +as fast as the children brought them up from the sand. They must have +steamed at least half a bushel! They ate every one, and I am quite sure +this was the very first clam-bake that any one ever had in this world. + +As they rested beside the fire after supper, warmed and fed, they began +to feel more cheerful. Hawk-Eye said: "Anyway, we shall never be hungry +while we stay here. Perhaps we shall like it just as well as we liked +our forest cave." + + +Then Limberleg had a happy thought. "Do you know," she said, "I believe +the water gods were lonesome and are glad that we came! They don't want +us to go away again, and so they made the piece of land fall into the +water to keep us here! You remember about that fish! I'm not afraid. +I think they mean to take care of us." + +And that was such a comforting thought that they went to sleep and slept +soundly all night beside their drift-wood fire. + +The Cave Twins--by Lucy Fitch Perkins + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +THE ISLAND. + +One. + +If I were to tell you all the things that the Twins and their father and +mother did on that island, it would make a book as big as the +dictionary; so I can only tell you a very little about the wonderful +days that followed. In the first place, they soon found out that it was +a wonderful island. Small as it was, it had the most astonishing things +in it. + +There were great cliffs and jagged rocks along its coast in some places, +and there were beautiful broad sandy beaches right next to them. The +waves had washed holes clear through some of these great rocks and left +them standing there like huge ruins. + +The beaches were covered with star-fish and beautiful shells and seaweed +and crabs and jelly-fish and stones of all colours. The Twins found +something new every time they played there. + +Inland there were hills and valleys with sparkling streams of clear +water running through them. There were sunny open meadows where bison +grazed. In the woods there were deer and small game of all kinds, but +though Hawk-Eye went everywhere in the days that followed the +earthquake, he never saw a sign of a cave bear or of tigers or lions, or +any of the more savage beasts which made life in their old home so full +of terror. + +Neither did he find a trace of any other human beings. + +The season was early on the warm southern side of the island. The wild +fruit trees were already in blossom, making the air sweet with +fragrance, and giving promise of fruit later on. + +There were all sorts of wild flowers and all kinds of trees in the +woods, and everything was so beautiful and seemed so safe that it was +easy to believe, as Limberleg said, that the water gods did mean to take +care of them. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Two. + +One day when Hawk-Eye and Limberleg had gone deer-hunting, Firetop and +Firefly climbed a high cliff on the east coast to hunt for pigeons' +eggs. From the top of the hill, they could see for miles and miles in +every direction. The cliffs were on a long point of land, and behind +the point was a deep bay, where all sorts of things could be picked up, +when the tide was low. In a cleft of the rock Firetop found a nest with +four eggs in it. He and Firefly were sitting on top of the hill eating +them, when Firefly saw a queer black spot part way down the cliff, +toward the east. + +"What's that?" she said, pointing. + +"Let's go and find out," said Firetop. + +They climbed cautiously down to a lower level and worked their way +through the bushes and vines which covered the sloping side of the +bluff. + +"It must be somewhere near here," said Firetop, "but I can't see it. +It's hidden behind the bushes, whatever it is." + +"Maybe it was a bear and he has moved," said Firefly, looking fearfully +over her shoulder. + +Of course they could not be quite sure there were no such creatures on +the island. + +"Pooh," said Firetop, "I'm not afraid. Come along." + +They hunted up and down and sideways for some distance along the bluff, +and were almost ready to give up, when a branch that Firetop was holding +broke and he fell backward down the slope. He rolled over two or three +times, and when he stopped rolling and sat up he was looking directly +into the mouth of a great dark cave. A lot of stones and dirt came +tumbling down with him, and, with that and some noise that Firetop made +himself, there was quite a disturbance. + +The cave was full of owls, and when the stones and dirt and a boy +dropped in on them suddenly, they were very much surprised. No fewer +than six of them flew out of the cave, and as they were blinded by the +light, they bumped right into Firetop. + +Those still in the cave flew about and beat their wings against the +rocks. This made a terrible sound in the hollow cave, and besides that, +they hooted. Firetop had never met an owl at such short range before, +and his red hair stood straight up on his head, he was so scared. He +beat the owls off with his arms and yelled at the top of his lungs. + +Firefly heard him and came plunging through the bushes after him. In +another minute she too had fallen through the same place and landed +beside Firetop. By the time they had picked themselves up, the owls had +flown to a shelf on the rock, and there they roosted in a row, staring +solemnly at the Twins. + +They neither moved nor spoke. Somehow the Twins expected them to speak +and say something very reproving. They looked just that way. The Twins +didn't wait to find out what it would be, however. They went crashing +through the bushes and back to the top of the rock as fast as they could +go. + +That afternoon, when Hawk-Eye and Limberleg came home, bringing a young +deer on their shoulders, the children told them about the cave and +pointed it out from the top of the rock. Hawk-Eye at once threw down +the deer and made a fire. Then he took a flaming torch in one hand and +his spear in the other and started down the bluff. + +"How did you get to the cave?" he asked Firetop. + +"We went part way down the bluff and fell in," said Firetop. + +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 shores of England. Below +was a beautiful sandy beach, and a little way from the shore 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 shore 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 +shore,--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 shore. + +"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 shore 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 shore, when suddenly Limberleg came +right out of the bushes and looked at them! When they saw her, the +Twins were very much embarrassed. They thought perhaps they had better +stay off shore 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 passing 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. + +"You can see it down thereon the beach," she said. "I really think it +was very clever of them to make such a thing, but of course I didn't +tell them so." + +"_Of_ course not," said Hawk-Eye. + +Now, wasn't that just like parents? + +Pretty soon, while Limberleg was cooking supper, Hawk-Eye slipped down +to the beach by himself and took a look at the raft. Then he dragged it +down to the water and tried it himself. He tried it several times. He +didn't say anything about it when he got back to the cave, but the Twins +saw how very clean his skin looked. And they nodded knowingly at each +other. They had their suspicions. + +The Cave Twins--by Lucy Fitch Perkins + +CHAPTER NINE. + +THE SURPRISE. + +What with fish and clams and crabs and periwinkles and roots and game +and berries and wild plums and all sorts of other good things to eat, as +the summer came on, the Twins and their father and mother began to grow +fat. + +Limberleg didn't go hunting as she used to. There was no need of it +now, for Hawk-Eye could bring home more game than they needed. So she +stayed by the cave and kept the hearth fire bright and cooked the food +and cured the skins and looked after the children. + +The Twins kept the rabbits and fed them every day with fresh leaves and +roots, and by and by there were six baby rabbits in the cage too. + +"We might make the cage larger and have more rabbits," said Hawk-Eye, +"and then in winter, we should always have plenty of fresh meat right at +hand." + +"What a good idea!" said Limberleg. "The children can feed them." + +"Yes," said Hawk-Eye, "if they don't forget it." + +"I'll see that they don't forget it," said Limberleg. + +The Twins heard her say it. + +"I think probably she will," said Firetop. He had great confidence in +his mother. + +"Will what?" said Firefly. + +"Will see that we don't forget it," said Firetop, and they guessed +right. She did. + +By July they had a large enclosure fenced off and ever so many rabbits +in it. For cave people they were now very rich. They had a fine cave +home, plenty of skins, and plenty of food. + +Limberleg had made herself a good needle out of bone and had sewed nice +soft deer-skins into clothes for them, all ready for cold weather. She +had even made beautiful necklaces of shells for Firefly and herself. + +One summer evening, as they sat looking at the moon, Limberleg said: +"You see I was right about the water gods. There haven't been any more +earthquakes, and we have everything we want to eat, and plenty of warm +skins and a fine cave to live in. There is just one thing more I want. +I don't care much for society, but I should like more people to talk +to." + +"I wish Grannie and the rest were here," said Firetop. "I should like +to show Squaretoes our rabbits." + +"And I should like to show Robin my necklace," said Firefly. + +"It's no use wishing," said Firetop. "There's all that water." + +Hawk-Eye, as usual, said nothing, but all the time he was thinking hard +about the floating log that the Twins had crossed the river on, and the +raft they had made of the two floating trees. + +It was not long after this that Limberleg began to notice that though he +was gone all day every day, Hawk-Eye often came home without game. One +day she heard the sound of his stone axe, as if he were cutting down a +tree, but she thought nothing more about it. + +After that she heard the sound of the axe every day for many days. It +seemed to come from the bay behind the point of land. At last she said +to him: "What in the world are you doing with your axe? I hear such a +pounding everyday." Hawk-Eye did not tell her what he was making. He +only said, "Maybe some day, when I get it done, you will see." + +The Twins heard the axe too, and they made up their minds they were +going to find out what was going on. The next day, as they were playing +in their cave back of their bluff at low tide, Firefly saw a little +column of smoke rising out of the woods near the place where a small +stream flowed into the bay. She also heard the axe. The sound seemed +to come from somewhere near the smoke. She pointed the smoke out to +Firetop, and the two children ran swiftly around the beach and up the +little stream for a short distance. + +There they found Hawk-Eye. He was working away at the log of a +good-sized tree which he had cut down. He had made the log almost flat +on one side by chipping off pieces with his axe, and he had shaped the +ends a little. Now he was hollowing out the inside. He was doing this +partly with his axe and partly by burning it. + +Hawk-Eye was working so busily he did not know that any one was near him +until Firetop called out, "What are you making, Father?" + +Hawk-Eye stopped chopping. "It's a secret," he said. "If I tell you, +you'll tell." + +"No, we won't. Anyway, there's no one to tell but Mother," said +Firefly. + +"She's just the one I want to keep it from," said Hawk-Eye. "It's a +surprise." + +"Oh, well, if it is a surprise, of course we won't tell," said Firetop. + +"Do you know what it is, or is it a surprise to you too?" asked Firefly. + +"Maybe it is," said Hawk-Eye. "I'm not sure yet. When I get the inside +of this log all cut out, I'm going to see if it will float without +rolling over. Maybe I can get in it and make it go where I want it to. +If I can, then all sorts of things may happen, but you must _not_ tell +Mother." + +"Why?" asked Firefly. "Wouldn't she let you play with it?" + +"Maybe not," said Hawk-Eye. + +"You'd better be careful," said Firefly, shaking her head, "or you know +what will happen!" + +Hawk-Eye laughed and went on chopping. Every day after that the Twins +followed their father to the little cove and watched him work. Every +evening they nearly burst trying not to tell. One day when they went +down to the cove, they found their father taking out the last chips from +the inside of the log. + +"When the tide comes in, it backs up into the stream," said Hawk-Eye, +"and the next time it does it, I'm going to push the log into the water +and then out into the bay. If it floats right side up, I am going for a +ride." + +"How will you push it?" asked Firetop. "Are you going to let your legs +hang over and hitch yourself along that way?" + +"I shan't need any turtles to bite me to make me go anyway," said +Hawk-Eye. "I'm going to push it with a pole." + +The pole was already in the log. The tide began to flow in. As soon as +the water was deep enough Hawk-Eye pushed the log into the water. It +floated, of course. Hawk-Eye waded along beside it into deeper water. +Then he undertook to get aboard, but he put his weight too much on one +side. It rolled over, and he rolled with it, and went splash on his +stomach right into the water! Firetop and Firefly danced on the beach +with glee. + +Hawk-Eye got up all dripping wet and tried again. This time he stepped +into the middle of the boat. He got safely in, but it was still very +tippy, so he put sand in the bottom of it and made it heavier. Then he +tried again. + +It was a proud moment when at last he took his pole and pushed off. + +"I'm going to keep close to shore and go around the point if I can," he +said. + +The children tore up the bank and over the hill to get back to the cave +in time to see him coming. Limberleg was weaving a berry basket out of +strips of bark, when the children came racing into the cave. They were +so excited they couldn't keep still. + +"What in the world is the matter with you?" cried Limberleg, at last. +"You've been running to the edge of the bluff and back again ever since +you came in. What are you looking at?" + +"At that! at that!" shrieked Firetop, pointing down to the water. + +There, coming close to the shore around the bend, was Hawk-Eye in the +very first boat that was ever made--in that part of the world at least. + +Limberleg was so astonished that she couldn't speak. She dashed down +the side of the bluff without stopping for the path, and the Twins came +tumbling after her. Of course, Limberleg got there first. She always +did. And when the Twins reached the water's edge, she was already in +the boat with Hawk-Eye. She was certainly a brave woman! + +The Cave Twins--by Lucy Fitch Perkins + +CHAPTER TEN. + +THE VOYAGE. + +After Limberleg had had a ride, the Twins took a turn, while their +mother watched them from the shore. + +"It's almost more fun than our logs," said Firetop, when he took his +first ride. + +They played with the boat and tried all sorts of experiments with it, +and were so happy and excited that it grew dark and the moon came out +before one of them so much as thought of anything to eat. + +For days and days after that, Hawk-Eye worked on his boat. He found out +all its tricks. He even found out that he could go in deep water if he +paddled. He found it out first by using his hands for oars. Then he +chopped out a clumsy flat paddle. + +All this took him some time, but by midsummer he had become quite expert +with his clumsy craft. He could keep it right side up and make it go +where he wanted it to at any rate. + +Sometimes he ventured out into the deep water around the gulls' rocks. +One day he even rowed all round them. He could look down into the water +and see shoals of fish swimming about, but he could not catch them. + +When he went back to the cave that day, he said to Limberleg: "I have an +idea. Why can't you weave a kind of net out of leather thongs? I can +fasten it in the water out by the rocks and catch fish in it. The water +gods may like us very much, as you say, but they haven't been throwing +any fish up on land for us since the earthquake, so I'm going to try to +catch some." + +"To be sure," said Limberleg. "We snare rabbits, why shouldn't we snare +fish?" + +They had made hooks out of bone and had caught river fish sometimes when +they lived back in the forest, but they had not brought any hooks with +them on their journey. They had always been more used to hunting game +than to fishing, anyway. Now with a sea full of fish right at hand, +waiting to be caught, they began to think more about it. + +"If we could catch fish, we should have more food right at hand than we +could possibly eat, without ever hunting at all, if we didn't want to," +said Hawk-Eye. + +After that Limberleg spent days and days tying leather thongs together +in a coarse net, while Hawk-Eye made bone fish-hooks for himself and +Limberleg and the Twins, and fastened them to long fine strings of +leather. + +By August, Hawk-Eye had taught the Twins how to fish the streams for +trout, and he himself had learned how to fasten his net between two of +the gull rocks and catch the fish that swam in deep water. + +There was nothing Hawk-Eye liked so much as going out in his boat. He +went up and down the coast for miles, and it was not long before he knew +every little creek and inlet and bay on the eastern end of the island. + +At last, one day in August, he said to Limberleg: "I am going to load +the boat with food to last a few days and see if I can't get over to the +mainland. It is only a short distance across to the nearest point. +I've been farther than that in my boat already." + +"But I am afraid you'll be drowned," cried Limberleg, "and then what +shall we do?" + +"You can take care of yourselves," said Hawk-Eye. "The children can +already fish in the streams, and there are the rabbits and the clams. +You will not want for anything while I am away." + +"But we shall be lonesome," cried Limberleg; "and suppose you should +never come back!" + +"But I shall come back," said Hawk-Eye. "You'll see." + +Limberleg knew it was useless to say any more, and the very next day she +and the Twins helped him load his boat with deer-meat and wild plums and +acorns, and then Hawk-Eye put in his spear and his stone axe and hooks +and line, and got in himself. + +The three of them stood on the beach and watched him push off from their +island and start across the channel toward the main land. They watched +him until the boat was a mere black speck in the distance. Then they +trudged slowly back to their lonely cave. + +There followed many anxious days and nights. Limberleg went back to +hunting again. She took the Twins with her, and began to teach them to +hunt like men. + +"If anything should happen to me, you could take care of yourselves if +you knew how to hunt and trap as well as fish," she said. + +Beside getting food for their daily needs, they began to store it for +the winter. They gathered nuts by the bushel and piled them in heaps in +the corner of the cave. Whenever they were not sleeping or doing +anything else, they were always gathering wood for the fire. + + +In this way four long weeks went by. At last came a day when the wind +was sharp, and it seemed as if summer were nearly over. + +Limberleg and the Twins had gone down to the cave behind their bluff to +get clams for supper. They had one of Limberleg's baskets with them, +and had nearly filled it with clams. They were out some distance from +the beach-line, for the tide was low. + +Suddenly the water began to rise. The returning tide came in such a +flood that they had to run as fast as their legs could carry them to get +safely ashore. They had reached the bank and were just beginning to +climb slowly up the bluff, when they heard a shout behind them. +Limberleg was so startled that her knees gave way under her and she sat +right down in the basket of clams! + +They looked across the cove, and there, coming in with the tide, was +their own boat, with brave Hawk-Eye in it waving his hand to them. They +could see three other heads beside Hawk-Eye's, but neither Limberleg nor +the Twins could tell whose heads they were. They left the basket of +clams on the side of the bluff and tore down to the water's edge. + +As the boat came near the shore, they saw Grannie, looking scared to +death, sitting in the bottom of the boat, and holding on to each side +with all her might. Behind her were Blackbird and Squaretoes! + +The moment the boat came near shore, the two boys tumbled out of the +back end of it, nearly upsetting Grannie, and splashed through the +shallow water to the shore. They butted Firetop in the stomach and +knocked him flat, and spun Firefly around in the sand to show how glad +they were to see them. + +When at last the prow of the boat grated on the sand, and Grannie and +Hawk-Eye got out, the four children ran round them in circles like +puppies, screaming with joy. Even Limberleg danced. Grannie clapped +her hands over her ears. + +When the noise had calmed down a little, she seized Firetop and Firefly +and shook them soundly. + +"You little red-headed wretches," she cried. "Here you are alive and +well, and fat as rabbits, and all this time I've worried the heart +nearly out of me wondering what had become of you!" + +It had been such a long time since the spring morning when the Twins had +stolen away out of the cave that at first they did not know what Grannie +was talking about. They had never thought how she must have felt when +she found that they were gone. + +Hawk-Eye laughed. "I've brought Grannie back with me on purpose to give +you what you deserve," he said. "She told me she was going to take a +stick to you as soon as she saw you, for playing such a trick on her." + +"Just you wait until I get a stick," cried Grannie. She looked fierce +as she said it, but the Twins knew very well she was just as glad to see +them as they were to see her. They seized her hands, one on each side, +and began to pull her up the hill. Blackbird and Squaretoes pushed from +behind. + +"Go along with you," screamed Grannie, holding back with all her might. +"I can't run so fast; I am all out of breath." + +"We'll run you, then," screamed the children, and they pulled and pushed +until they got her panting and breathless to the top of the hill. +Hawk-Eye had drawn his precious boat high up on the beach out of reach +of the tide, and he and Limberleg followed more slowly with the basket +of clams. + +At the top of the hill, the Twins, with Blackbird and Squaretoes, ducked +into the hidden path that led to the cave, just like mice diving down a +mouse-hole. + +Grannie was left standing alone on the hill-top. She couldn't see what +had become of the children. She could hear their voices, and down the +bluff she could see a thin column of smoke rising. She knew the cave +must be there, but she didn't know how to get to it. + +When Hawk-Eye and Limberleg came up, they took her with them through the +little green alley that led to the cave. When they reached it the +children had flung a great pile of dry sticks on the fire, and the +flames were leaping high in the air to welcome them. + +"See," cried Limberleg, "even the fire dances with joy at your coming." + +She took Grannie into the cave and showed her the piles of warm skins, +and the heaps of nuts: then she showed Grannie how to cook clams. + +The Twins had taken Blackbird and Squaretoes the very first thing to see +the rabbits. Then they came back for Grannie and made her go and see +them too, and when every one had seen everything there was to see, it +was dark, and Limberleg had a real feast ready for them to eat. + +She had killed a deer the day before, and so they had broiled venison, +seasoned with sea salt. They had clams steamed with seaweed, and they +had nuts and wild plums. + +When they had all stuffed themselves full, Limberleg said to Hawk-Eye: +"Now tell us all about your journey. When you went away, we watched you +from the hill-top until you were a mere speck on the water. We knew +nothing more of you until we heard your shout to-day. There were many +weary days between." + +"They were not weary to me," said Hawk-Eye. "I reached the other shore +in safety, and then turned my boat toward the sunset. I kept in the +shallow water near the shore, and followed the coast around the end of +the point of land which we crossed when we came here. + +"I knew our river must empty into the big water not far away, and so I +paddled up the first stream I found. I slept in the boat at night. The +first night I was awakened by the howling of wolves. But I had only to +push my boat out into the stream. They would not follow me there. + +"For two days I paddled up-stream. The second day I began to see things +that I knew, and on the morning of the third I reached the river path +just as Grannie was coming down for water." + +"Yes, yes," cried Grannie. "I thought I was dreaming! The boat +frightened me. I thought Hawk-Eye was dead and that I saw his spirit. +I started to run to the cave." + +"Did you think we were all dead?" asked Limberleg. + +"Yes," said Grannie. "I thought some cave bear or tiger had got you. +You were always so bold and venturesome. And as for these worthless +ones," she added, patting Firetop on the head, "I didn't know whether +they had gone with you, or had stolen away into the woods and been eaten +by old Sabre-tooth." + +"Well, you see," cried Limberleg, laughing, "it pays to be bold and +brave." When she said "bold and brave," she looked right at Hawk-Eye. +She thought he was the boldest and bravest man in the world. + +"There aren't any sabre-toothed tigers on this island, and there's +plenty to eat every day. Didn't the others want to come too when you +told them about it?" she said to Hawk-Eye. + +"They all wanted to come," Hawk-Eye answered, "but the boat would not +hold so many. So I stayed to show them how to make boats for +themselves. Long Arm and Big Ear and Grey Wolf are all at work on them +now, and they will come in the spring or summer if they get them done." + +"How will they know the way?" asked Firetop. + +"I told them just how to follow the river and the coast, and where to +cross," said Hawk-Eye. "They can't help finding the island, and if they +find the island, they can't help finding us. I told them we were on the +side where the sun rises out of the water." + +It had grown very dark as they talked. There was only firelight in the +cave, but just then Limberleg saw a bright streak on the edge of the +water toward the east. + +"Look, Grannie, look," she cried, pointing to it. "We have discovered +the secret of the sun and the moon! They both sleep in the water!" + +The children and Grannie and Hawk-Eye and Limberleg all watched together +until the white streak grew brighter and stretched in a silver path +across the water to the beach below. They saw the pale disk of the moon +slowly rise into the deep blue of the night sky, and the stars wink down +at them. + +"I suppose no one else in the whole world knows the secret," said +Limberleg solemnly. "You see this is the end of the world. You can't +go any farther." + + +"Except in my boat," said Hawk-Eye. + +"The spirits of the water have been good to us," said Limberleg. "We +will not tempt them too far. If there are more secrets, we will not try +to find them out." + +"Some day," said Hawk-Eye, "someday I mean to go,"--but Limberleg would +not let him finish. + +"No," she said, putting her hand over his mouth, "no, you are not going +any where at all, ever again! You are going to stay right here with us +and be happy." + +POSTSCRIPT. + + _L'envoi_. + + _Long, long ago, when the Earth was young + And Time was not yet old, + Ere all the stars in the sky were hung, + Or the silver moon grown cold_; + + _When the clouds that sail between the worlds + Were fanned with fluttering wings, + And over all the land there curled + The fronds of growing things_; + + _When fishes swarmed in all the seas, + And on the wooded shore + There roamed among the forest trees + A million beasts or more_; + + _Then in the early morn of Time, + Called from the formless clod, + Came Man, to start the weary climb + From wild beast up to God_,-- + + _Oh, bravely did he dare and do, + And bravely fight and die, + Or you to-day could not be you + And I could not be I_. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cave Twins, by Lucy Fitch Perkins + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAVE TWINS *** + +***** This file should be named 28425.txt or 28425.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/4/2/28425/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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