The Cave had never been a roomy chamber, and now it reminded Marian of a nest that is filled to overflowing with nestlings which are ready to fly. Neither of the little girls could stand up in it now, not even in the widest part, and Davie, fast growing up into a big, strong boy, had to be very careful.
The first day dragged, the second crawled, and in the afternoon Marian delivered herself of the emphatic remark, “We are not going to live in this Cave through another rainy season; we will build us a house!”
The children were all struck dumb for a second and then fired volleys of comments and questions.
“You see,” said Marian when quiet reigned again, “this Cave was all right in the first place. You were all little then, and it was the best we could do, but now,—why, see! Delbert is stretching up nearly as tall as I am; Jennie and Esther take up as much room as all four of you did then; we spread out so we can’t keep ourselves covered from the mosquitoes; and I am sick and tired of camping out forever; I want a home.”
“But, Marian,” said Jennie, “don’t you think some one will find us now before long?”
“I think,” said Marian, “that there is no likelihood of any one but Indians coming into San Moros. There is nothing to bring any one else here, and, as you know, we have seen very few canoes in all the time we have been here. I don’t understand it; it seems as if they would all know about there being bananas and good water here and be coming all the time, but evidently there are no settlements anywhere near, and the poor Indian is not going very far from home in his canoe. Clarence must have found out about the place from some old Indian who, I suppose, had happened to stumble on to it somehow, and, as far as I know, Clarence was the only white person who ever came here, but”—she paused and looked impressively at the children—“some day, when we can sail the Muggywah a great deal better than we do now, when Davie is big and strong enough so that I dare risk him out there on the Gulf waves, and when the rest of you are bigger and stronger than you are now, we’ll stock the Muggywah up with provisions and we’ll go back to the Port ourselves. I don’t dare risk it overland and I shall not try it by water so long as there is any risk in it, but if no one comes for us before then, the time will come when you children will be so big that we can go in safety, and then we’ll go.”
“I’d be willing to take some risk,” said Delbert moodily.
“I’m not,” said Marian. “Four children mother left in my care when she went to Guaymas that time, four I shall return to her. Your lives are safe here. If I lost one of you in trying to get back, I should never be happy again.”
“How well shall we have to swim?” asked Esther.
“Better than any of us do now,” said Marian. “We must be able to swim so well that if the Muggywah should swamp or turn turtle out there, we could all get to shore if we had to. It is a good deal, but we can do it in time. Clarence could have done it, but it may take us several years yet. We don’t dare go out of the bay yet, and we all get tired out if we have much hard paddling to do; but to go to the Port in the Muggywah would take several days. Unfortunately, she doesn’t go as swiftly as the launch did.”