"It's full of old fishing nets and shrimping nets," Jon called from inside, "and there's lots of rubbish on the floor... There's something hanging on the wall, though - I've just banged my head on it... It's a hurricane lamp... and it's got oil in it... And, here are some matches on the edge close by it..."

They all crowded in and got in his way, but eventually he lighted the lamp and they could see at once that the hut was nothing more than a fisherman's unsavoury store.

"I shall be sick if I stay here," Mary said. "It's disgusting'!"

"Didn't you say that this hill was marked on the smugglers' map, Jon?" David asked. "Maybe the treasure is hidden here somewhere. P'raps this hill is a burial place and full of earthen vessels."

"Perhaps it is, but I'm not looking for it tonight! I'm getting cold and Dickie's teeth are louder than the waves now... I vote we build a fire just outside here - there's lots of rubbish and wood shavings and old planks on the floor - and try and keep warm."

"Lovely," Penny agreed. "And we'd better take our shoes and socks off to dry. Mine are wet through."

This did seem to be the best plan, for none of them relished the inside of the hut and they soon got a fire burning on the landward side. David held his jacket over Jon as the latter crouched down with a match and blew some glowing shavings into flame. When Jon emerged, breathless with blowing and with streaming eyes, he walked round the hut to get out of the smoke and suddenly let out a wild yell.

"Come and look... Beach View is on fire!"

The others came rushing round and Dickie pranced a triumphant war dance as flames burst out through the shutters of the back room of the hated bungalow.

"I s'pose the wind blew the lamp over when we opened the front door," David said, "and the heat and flames have taken all this time to melt the glass and set fire to the bungalow."

Even if the sea water had forced its way up through the floor of Beach View it was not wet enough to stop the fire, and there had been plenty of inflammable material in the back room. There was still enough wind to fan the flames to fury, and within a very few minutes they could see that nothing could save the bungalow.

After a little Mary said, "I'd rather sit by our fire, thank you. I don't like houses on fire even when they belong to beastly people... Come on, twin! Bring some more wood."

David said: "Come and sit down here and keep warm."