lower level and worked their way
through the bushes and vines which covered the sloping side of the
bluff.

"It must be somewhere near here," said Firetop, "but I can't see it.
It's hidden behind the bushes, whatever it is."

"Maybe it was a bear and he has moved," said Firefly, looking fearfully
over her shoulder.

Of course they could not be quite sure there were no such creatures on
the island.

"Pooh," said Firetop, "I'm not afraid. Come along."

They hunted up and down and sideways for some distance along the bluff,
and were almost ready to give up, when a branch that Firetop was holding
broke and he fell backward down the slope. He rolled over two or three
times, and when he stopped rolling and sat up he was looking directly
into the mouth of a great dark cave. A lot of stones and dirt came
tumbling down with him, and, with that and some noise that Firetop made
himself, there was quite a disturbance.

The cave was full of owls, and when the stones and dirt and a boy
dropped in on them suddenly, they were very much surprised. No fewer
than six of them flew out of the cave, and as they were blinded by the
light, they bumped right into Firetop.

Those still in the cave flew about and beat their wings against the
rocks. This made a terrible sound in the hollow cave, and besides that,
they hooted. Firetop had never met an owl at such short range before,
and his red hair stood straight up on his head, he was so scared. He
beat the owls off with his arms and yelled at the top of his lungs.

Firefly heard him and came plunging through the bushes after him. In
another minute she too had fallen through the same place and landed
beside Firetop. By the time they had picked themselves up, the owls had
flown to a shelf on the rock, and there they roosted in a row, staring
solemnly at the Twins.

They neither moved nor spoke. Somehow the Twins expected them to speak
and say something very reproving. They looked just that way. The Twins
didn't wait to find out what it would be, however. They went crashing
through the bushes and back to the top of the rock as fast as they could
go.

That afternoon, when Hawk-Eye and Limberleg came home, bringing a young
deer on their shoulders, the children told them about the cave and
pointed it out from the top of the rock. Hawk-Eye at once threw down
the deer and made a fire. Then he took a flaming torch in one hand and
his spear in the other and started down the bl