"Do you think we ought to have our sandwiches before we get to Bury Fields?" Jenny said.

They agreed to eat first and eventually they found a little hollow on a hill-top. The cold wind whistled over their heads, but they were protected from it, and as the hollow was a sun-trap, they lay back on cushions of heather. Penny broke off a sprig and put it in her hair.

"Do you realize how dry this is?" she said. "I bet it's as dry as it is in summer and with this wind it would burn more quickly."

They talked for a little, and then not surprisingly they went to sleep. They all slept so soundly that the motor-cycle carrying a man wearing dark goggles which bumped along the track not many yards away did not wake them until he was out of sight. Then Penny looked at her watch and found that it was nearly two o'clock.

"We'd better go. Come on."

Within quarter of an hour they were at the top of the hill overlooking the farmyard of Bury Fields.

Peter strained her eyes.

"There's something black against the wall of the barn just inside the gate," she said. "I'm sure it wasn't there yesterday, or else it's something that's been moved."

When they got a little nearer they saw that the black object was a motor-cycle, and then suddenly they noticed a figure, which was probably the rider, cross the yard. There was something furtive about the way in which he walked that made the girls quicken their pace and then start to run down the hill. The man disappeared round one side of the house and then reappeared by the back door just as they reached the farmyard gate. The door must have been open, for they could hear Mrs Denton's agitated voice.

"You get out of here, Sam Quickset. You wouldn't dare come into the yard if Mr Alan was at home, and you know you wouldn't... What are you doing in these parts I'd like to know...? And don't you dare to threaten me either... Just get off these premises."

Even while she was speaking, Penny, followed closely by the other two, dashed into the kitchen. Mrs Denton was standing with her back to the fire facing a man in a dirty cycling suit and leather helmet. He wheeled round to face the girls as they ran in. Penny's temper was up and she faced the intruder as if she was as big as he was.

"Just you get out!" she stormed. "Get out now before Mr Denton catches you here. Don't you worry, Mrs Denton. Alan is on his way down. We were talking to him just now."

The man turned and brushed past Peter and Jenny and dashed out into the yard. The engine of the motor-cycle started into life with a roar, and then they watched him wobble out of the gate and disappear round the corner of the house.