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.