And once assured that the owner of the cave, whether man or animal, was at that moment not at home, Billie began to feel a sense of exquisite comfort. Her teeth had ceased to chatter, they were safe from the bitter north wind, and she had Teddy to take care of her. What more could any girl want?
As for Teddy, he had evidently found something over in one corner of the cave that interested him immensely. He had stumbled by accident over what seemed to be a pile of old junk, and now he was down on his hands and knees trying to satisfy his curiosity by the sense of touch.
“Now aren’t I the idiot!” he exclaimed suddenly, and Billie started at the sudden sound of his voice in the darkness. “Here I go feeling around like a blind man when I have some perfectly good matches in my pocket. Come on over, Billie, and see what I’ve found.”
Guided by the flare of a match, Billie made her way across the cave and kneeled down beside the boy. Then they both stared in utter amazement at what they saw.
Heaped up carelessly in the corner was a mass of so many and such queerly assorted articles that it is no wonder the boy and girl were puzzled.
There was an old alarm clock, rusty with age and disuse, a mirror, several gaudy articles of jewelry that looked as if they might have been found in ten-cent prize packages, a telephone receiver, a broken fishing rod that stood lamely against the wall as though ashamed of its own decrepit state, a sawdust doll, an empty tin can that evidently had once contained bait, a talcum powder box full of scented violet talc—Billie smelled it—and—but it would take too long to name all the strange things that Billie and Teddy found there in the corner of the funny little cave.
“Teddy,” murmured Billie as the boy’s match burnt out and he struck another one, “what do you think these things are for? Who do you suppose owns them?”
“How should I know?” asked Teddy, getting to his feet and looking eagerly about the place, illumined fitfully by the flare of the match. “Somebody comes here often, that’s a sure thing. And judging by those things,” he waved toward the conglomeration of junk in the corner, “he must be pretty simple.”
“Oh, Teddy!” breathed Billie, moving closer to him. “Suppose he should come and find us here?”
Teddy looked down at her with a grin.