“We’ll find a way out of this soon,” he said, comfortingly. “You just watch your uncle Teddy.”
Billie tried to laugh but she could not, her teeth were chattering so.
“You said that before,” she told him hysterically. “And we—we—went over the cliff!”
CHAPTER X—THE CAVE
The next minute Billie was sorry for what she had said. Teddy’s face clouded over and he looked at her unhappily.
“You ought to know that I didn’t get you into this on purpose,” he muttered.
“Oh, Teddy, d-dear, I didn’t mean it, you know I d-didn’t,” she stammered, trying hard to control the chattering of her teeth. “I’m a bad, mean, horrid girl. T-truly I didn’t mean it,” and she put her cold little hand penitently over his great big one.
“I know you didn’t,” said Teddy, his face clearing instantly. “You’re cold and tired and all upset. Poor little kid, I wish I could do all the feeling.”
“Well, I’m glad you can’t,” said Billie, snuggling up close to him for warmth. “For you have troubles enough of your own. Teddy!” She drew up suddenly and stared at an object that caught her eye. “What is that thing over there that looks like a tangle of twigs and leaves? No, not that way. Over there—to the left.”
Teddy followed the direction of her pointing finger and his face lighted up with excitement. The “tangle of twigs and branches,” as Billie had described it, was close to the side of the fifteen-foot “precipice” over which he and Billie had plunged a little while before.