l, what shall we do?"

"The first thing to do," said Hawk-Eye, "is to go down to the beach and
see what we can find to eat."

Beyond the steep cliffs on which they stood there was a bay with a wide
beach. Beyond the bay great rocks extended in a chain out into the
water. If you have been to England, you may have passed those very
rocks. They are called "The Needles."

Hawk-Eye and Limberleg and the Twins climbed down to the beach. They
were so hungry that they were almost ready to eat sand and pebbles, like
chickens, if they could find nothing else.

But there was plenty of seaweed on the beach and they found little
mussels clinging to it. They ate both the seaweed and the mussels, as
they walked along.

"See all the little holes in the sand," cried Firetop, when they were
quite far out on the beach. "Water spurts out of them every time I
step."

"Let's dig down and see what does it," said Firefly. "Maybe it's
something good to eat."

They took a large shell and scraped away the sand. They had never seen
clams before, and Firefly got her finger pinched. Hawk-Eye opened a
shell and ate one. He smacked his lips, and then he said, "Dig as many
as you can, while I make a fire. Our supper is right here."

The Twins worked like beavers, while Hawk-Eye and Limberleg made a
drift-wood fire far back on the beach in a sheltered place near the
cliffs.

Then Limberleg made a bed of seaweed in the coals and put in the clams
as fast as the children brought them up from the sand. They must have
steamed at least half a bushel! They ate every one, and I am quite sure
this was the very first clam-bake that any one ever had in this world.

As they rested beside the fire after supper, warmed and fed, they began
to feel more cheerful. Hawk-Eye said: "Anyway, we shall never be hungry
while we stay here. Perhaps we shall like it just as well as we liked
our forest cave."

Then Limberleg had a happy thought. "Do you know," she said, "I believe
the water gods were lonesome and are glad that we came! They don't want
us to go away again, and so they made the piece of land fall into the
water to keep us here! You remember about that fish! I'm not afraid.
I think they mean to take care of us."

And that was such a comforting thought that they went to sleep and slept
soundly all night beside their drift-wood fire.

The Cave Twins--by Lucy Fitch Perkins

CHAPTER SEVEN.

THE ISLAND.

One.

If I were to tell