Free They Found a Cave by Nan Chauncy

padded about her feet grew cold on the chill floor, and suddenly she felt lonely and utterly miserable. ‘It’s horrible, this living in a cave,’ she told herself furiously, as she stubbed her toe against her own stone table in the dark. ‘I would never have come if I had known what it would be like!’
    The wind mockingly whirled in and tossed hair into her eyes, then it went on to blow down a pile of bark and have more fun with the ashes. ‘Ough! Get out!’ muttered Cherry, cross and shivering in her thin pyjamas.
    â€˜Hullo?’ The saplings of Brick’s bed creaked as he sat up. ‘What’s the matter?’ he whispered.
    â€˜M ATTER !’ Cherry raged, standing on one foot and nursing the other. ‘Can’t you see—I mean hear— what’s the matter? The milk all spoiled with ashes! Of course nobody cares but me—and the lot of you just snore away.’ She knew this was not true, since there had been no sound from the other beds, but now she didn’t care if she woke the whole lot. ‘And I’m cold, and I’ve hurt my toe—oh, no! Nothing ’ s the matter! ’
    A burst of laughter greeted the end of her woeful tale. ‘Ha! ha! Poor old Cherrystones. She must have trodden on a thorn. Go on, then, spit it out and you’ll feel much better.’ This together with other ill-timed advice.
    Cherry returned to bed nursing both her toe and her wounded dignity, and lay watching Brick blow on the embers till he had a cheerful blaze. Nigel, although he had laughed the loudest at her, did his best to close the cave mouth a little from the gale with a pile of bags and bundles, and was also the one to light a precious candle. He even found a warm stone on the hearth which he wrapped in a scarf and offered to her to warm her feet. She cuddled down with it and her bad temper vanished.
    â€˜Now,’ said Nigel, settling down himself, ‘since Cherry has managed to wake everyone but Nippy we might as well talk.’ He played with the candle spiked to a board as he spoke.
    â€˜Blow out first, then. We can talk in the dark, can’t we?’
    â€˜Yes, but I’m watching to see if Nippy wakes, Tas. I don’t want him to hear.’
    â€˜Oh, Nippy ! Nothing ever wakes him !’
    Almost as Tas spoke there came a sudden curious creaking, and Cherry noticed that the night was quiet again. The wind had died almost as quickly as it came. By the time Nigel had told his news about Jandie, the creaking sound came again even louder. Then there was a sudden roar, and a violent CRASH outside, followed by complete silence.
    â€˜Air raid I suppose?’ called Brick, a trifle hoarsely.
    Cherry tried to make a little joke, too, for they all struggled against a nameless fear. ‘I do believe Nippy’s awake at last,’ she said feebly.
    â€˜What’s happened? Time to get up?’ he asked, and they were able to laugh more freely.
    No further sounds came from outside, and Tas, who was investigating with the aid of the candle, called back that it was raining softly. ‘It’s what I thought,’ he said. ‘A big gum-tree has gone over right bang in front of the cave. Wasn’t it a crash!’
    â€˜Glad it wasn’t our cave collapsing, anyway.’
    â€˜Yes, Nig, I made sure the roof was falling in.’
    They chatted away to restore confidence, peering into the misty night and round the stone walls where the guttering candle threw grotesque shadows.
    â€˜Funny thing,’ said Tas, ‘trees almost never fall in a gale of wind in Tassie. It’s the cold still nights of winter what bring them crashing down. Reckon the wind loosens the roots, and then later on the frosts complete the trick.’
    â€˜Look out for yourself! Do you want to go over, too?’ called Nigel. ‘Can’t you wait till morning to see what’s fallen in our basement?’
    To this they all agreed and