“Just you wait until I get a stick,” cried Grannie. She looked fierce as she said it, but the Twins knew very well she was just
as glad to see them as they were to see her. They seized her hands, one on each side, and began to pull her up the hill. Blackbird and Squaretoes pushed from behind.
“Go along with you,” screamed Grannie, holding back with all her might. “I can’t run so fast; I am all out of breath.”
“We’ll run you, then,” screamed the children, and they pulled and pushed until they got her panting and breathless to the top of the hill. Hawk-Eye had drawn his precious boat high up on the beach out of reach of the tide, and he and Limberleg followed more slowly with the basket of clams.
At the top of the hill, the Twins, with Blackbird and Squaretoes, ducked into the hidden path that led to the cave, just like mice diving down a mouse-hole.
Grannie was left standing alone on the hill-top. She couldn’t see what had become of the children. She could hear their voices, and down the bluff she could see a thin column of smoke rising. She knew the cave must be there, but she didn’t know how to get to it.
When Hawk-Eye and Limberleg came up, they took her with them through the little green alley that led to the cave. When they reached it the children had flung a great pile of dry sticks on the fire, and the flames
were leaping high in the air to welcome them.