They looked across the cove, and there, coming in with the tide, was their own boat, with brave Hawk-Eye in it waving his hand to them. They could see three other heads beside Hawk-Eye’s, but neither Limberleg nor the Twins could tell whose heads they were. They left the basket of clams on the side of the bluff and tore down to the water’s edge.
As the boat came near the shore, they saw Grannie, looking scared to death, sitting in the bottom of the boat, and holding on to each side with all her might. Behind her were Blackbird and Squaretoes!
The moment the boat came near shore, the two boys tumbled out of the back end of it, nearly upsetting Grannie, and splashed through the shallow water to the shore.
They butted Firetop in the stomach and knocked him flat, and spun Firefly around in the sand to show how glad they were to see them.
When at last the prow of the boat grated on the sand, and Grannie and Hawk-Eye got out, the four children ran round them in circles like puppies, screaming with joy. Even Limberleg danced. Grannie clapped her hands over her ears.
When the noise had calmed down a little, she seized Firetop and Firefly and shook them soundly.
“You little red-headed wretches,” she cried. “Here you are alive and well, and fat as rabbits, and all this time I’ve worried the heart nearly out of me wondering what had become of you!”
It had been such a long time since the spring morning when the Twins had stolen away out of the cave that at first they did not know what Grannie was talking about. They had never thought how she must have felt when she found that they were gone.
Hawk-Eye laughed. “I’ve brought Grannie back with me on purpose to give you what you deserve,” he said. “She told me she was going to take a stick to you as soon as she saw you, for playing such a trick on her.”