'd better get," she said, "'cause it's rainin' hard now. I've
got about ten splashes on my nose."

The big drops were beginning to fall faster. The clouds had quickly
spread over the sky, which was now very dark, and the wind kept on
blowing.

"Where can we go out of the storm?" asked the little girl.

"Huh?"

"Where we goin', Freddie?"

"In there," answered her brother, pointing.

"What! In that dark hole?"

"It isn't a hole--it's a cave. An' maybe we'll find gold and diamonds in
there, like in the book Momsie read to us. Come on. We can go into the
cave, and we won't get wet at all. I'll take care of you."

"I--I'm not afraid," said Flossie slowly. "But I wish Snap was with us;
or Whisker. I guess Whisker would like a cave."

"So would Snap," said Freddie. "But we can't get 'em now, so we've got
to go in ourselves. Come on. And look out, 'cause the boat's goin' to
bump."

And bump the boat did, a second later, against the shore of the island,
close to the open mouth of the black cave. It was raining hard now, and
Freddie helped Flossie out of the boat, and then, holding each other by
the hand, the children ran toward the cavern. No matter what was in it,
there they would be sheltered from the rain they thought.

The cave, as Freddie and Flossie saw, could be entered from either the
land or the water. At one side it was so low that a boat could be rowed
into it for a little way. On the other one could walk into it by a
little path that led through the trees. The water of the lake splashed
into the cave a short distance, and then came to an end, making a sort
of little bay, or cove, large enough for two or three boats. And the
cave, as the children could see when their eyes became used to the
darkness, was quite a large one.

"I wonder if anybody lives here," whispered Flossie, as she kept close
to her brother.

"We live here now," he said. "Anyhow, we're going to stay here till the
rain stops."

"Maybe a bear lives here," said Flossie in a whisper.

"Pooh!" laughed Freddie. "There are no bears on Blueberry Island, or
daddy would have brought a gun. And he said I didn't even need my
popgun, 'cause there wasn't a thing here to shoot. But I did bring my
popgun."

"You haven't got it here now, though," said Flossie.

"I know I haven't. I left it in the tent by the go-around bugs. I mean
before the go-around bugs got away. But my popgun is there. I saw it.
Only I haven't it now, so I can't shoot anyth