uff.

"How did you get to the cave?" he asked Firetop.

"We went part way down the bluff and fell in," said Firetop.

Hawk-Eye laughed. "I'll see if I can't find a better way," he said.

He crept cautiously down the steep slope, and when he reached the cave,
he held his torch above his head so as to light the inside of it, and
with his other hand he held his spear, ready to kill any wild animal
that might be living in it. It was just the sort of cave where one
might expect to find wolves at least.

The owls came hooting out again just as they had when Firetop visited
them, but nothing else stirred, and Hawk-Eye went boldly in. The cave
was quite large, and as it was in a chalk cliff, it was white and clean
except where the owls had made their nests.

Hawk-Eye didn't like the looks of owls. He didn't like their staring
ways. So he tore up their nests and threw them down the bluff.

Then he came out of the cave and began to climb about on the slope, as
if he were searching for something. It was not long before he gave a
shout of joy and beckoned to Limberleg and the Twins, who were watching
him eagerly.

They came bounding down the hillside at once. Hawk-Eye met them at the
cave-entrance. "Here's our home," he said, pointing to the cave.
"Nothing could be better. I have found a spring of fresh water near by!
It is safer than any place we have ever found. Go in and see!"

Limberleg went in and looked all about. She was just as pleased with it
as Hawk-Eye was. She didn't even say, "Let's see if we can't find
another cave that suits us better."

She just threw her deer-skin down on the floor of the cave and laid her
spear on one of the shelving rocks and began to live there right away.
They always had their weapons with them, all of them. So there was
nothing more to do but start a fire at the cave-mouth and begin to get
supper. It was just as easy as moving into a furnished flat.

Hawk-Eye went back to the top of the hill and brought down the deer. He
also brought some live fire-brands from the fire he had kindled. With
these he started a new fire at the cave-mouth.

While Limberleg cut up the meat and the Twins broiled great pieces of it
over the coals, Hawk-Eye took his stone axe and cut a rough path through
the underbrush from the cave-entrance to the spring, and another to the
hill-top. The paths were so hidden by tall weeds and bushes that they
could run through them without being seen.