to limp.

The Cave Twins--by Lucy Fitch Perkins

CHAPTER FIVE.

THE TREE CLAN.

They walked a little way along the bank, looking for a good place to
cross the flat, green meadow that lay between the river and the forest.
Soon they came to a sort of path which led back into the woods.
Hawk-Eye looked at it very carefully. He even got down and examined the
wet ground at the water's edge. In the mud there were foot-prints.

"Isn't it a drinking-place for the wild creatures?" asked Limberleg.

Hawk-Eye grunted. "Like ourselves," he answered briefly. "There are
people living in these woods. That's the print of a man's foot."

Limberleg looked just as she would have looked if he had said, "There's
a pack of hyenas living in those woods." There was reason for it in
those days. The different groups of people in the forests had nothing
to do with one another, and when they met, they were much more likely to
fight than to be friendly.

"Can't we go up the river-bank and not go into the woods at all?" asked
Limberleg. For answer Hawk-Eye pointed down the river. Far away in the
green meadow they saw two mammoths feeding. Even at that distance they
looked like giant rocks looming out of the grass. Their long ivory
tusks gleamed in the sun.

"We can't go that way," said Limberleg, "and it's no use to go back."

"We'll go up the path to the edge of the wood, then follow the river,"
said Hawk-Eye. "Maybe no one will see us. It's the best we can do. Be
quiet and be quick."

He set off at a swift trot, his spear in his hand. The two children
followed with their mother.

"I see shadows moving in the trees," said Firefly. Both twins wished
very much that they were at home with Grannie just at that moment.

"They are following us, higher up on the bluff," Limberleg answered in a
low voice.

Hawk-Eye had seen all that they had seen, and more, but he said nothing.

He trotted on. Just then a chunk of mud and dirt came flying through
the air and struck Hawk-Eye on the head. Stones, sticks, and all sorts
of missiles followed.

"Keep on running," said Hawk-Eye.

They were terribly frightened, but they did as they were told. If they
had looked up, they would have seen a terrifying sight. On the edge of
the bluff there was a strange group of people. At least we must call
them "people," though they looked more like monkeys than like human
beings. They were grinning horribly and dancing about and chattering