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.
