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.
One summer evening, as they sat looking at the moon, Limberleg said: “You see I was right about the water gods. There haven’t been any more earthquakes, and we have everything we want to eat, and plenty of warm skins and a fine cave to live in. There is just one thing more I want. I don’t care much for society, but I should like more people to talk to.”
“I wish Grannie and the rest were here,” said Firetop. “I should like to show Squaretoes our rabbits.”
“And I should like to show Robin my necklace,” said Firefly.
“It’s no use wishing,” said Firetop. “There’s all that water.”
Hawk-Eye, as usual, said nothing, but all the time he was thinking hard about the floating log that the Twins had crossed the river on, and the raft they had made of the two floating trees.
It was not long after this that Limberleg began to notice that though he was gone all day every day, Hawk-Eye often came home without game. One day she heard the sound of his stone axe, as if he were cutting down a tree, but she thought nothing more about it.
After that she heard the sound of the axe every day for many days. It seemed to come from the bay behind the point of land. At last she said to him: “What in the world are you doing with your axe? I hear such a pounding everyday.” Hawk-Eye did not tell her what he was making. He only said, “Maybe some day, when I get it done, you will see.”
The Twins heard the axe too, and they made up their minds they were going to find out what was going on. The next day, as they were playing in their cave back of their bluff at low tide, Firefly saw a little column of smoke rising out of the woods near the place where a small stream flowed into the bay. She also heard the axe. The sound seemed to come from somewhere near the smoke. She pointed the smoke out to Firetop, and the two children ran swiftly around the beach and up the little stream for a short distance.