"That's queer!" said Andy, staring round. "At some time or other there must have been people living here—and they grew potatoes. Some have seeded themselves and grown wild. But the thing is—if people lived here—where did they live? They must have lived somewhere!"
"How queer," said Tom, looking all round as if he expected houses to spring from the ground.
And then Jill gave a shout. "I believe I can see the chimney of a house! Look! Where the ground dips down suddenly over there."
The others looked. They saw that the ground did suddenly dip down into a kind of hollow, well protected from the wind—just the place where people might build a house. They tore over the rocky ground to the dip, expecting they hardly knew what.
And what a surprise they got when at last they reached the hollow and looked down into it!
Chapter 6
A Queer Little Home
The four children stood at the top of the steep dip. The hollow ran right down to the sea—and in it was a cluster of small buildings!
But what strange buildings! The roofs were off, the chimneys were gone, all but the one they had seen, the walls were fallen in. and everything looked forlorn and deserted.
"Nothing but ruins!" said Tom, in astonishment. "Whatever happened to make the houses and shed fall to pieces like that?"