“You don’t think they were asleep, do you, Dolly?”
“No, I’m sure they weren’t. But they just didn’t have a chance to do anything. What happened was this. Margery and Mary were sitting back to back, so that one could watch the yacht and the other the path that leads up to the spring on top of the bluff, where those two men we had seen were sitting.”
“That was a good idea, Dolly.”
“First rate, but those people were too clever. They didn’t row ashore in a boat–not here, at least. And no one came down the path, until later, anyhow. The first thing that made Margery think there was anything wrong was when she smelt smoke and then, a second later, the big living tent was all ablaze.”
“It might have been an accident, Dolly, I suppose–”
“Oh, yes, it might have been, but it wasn’t! They were here too soon, and it fitted in too well with their plans. Miss Eleanor thinks she knows how they started the fire.”
“But how could they have done that, if there were none of them here on the beach, Dolly?”
“She says that if they were on the bluff, above the tents, they could very easily have thrown down bombs that would smoulder, and soon set the canvas on fire. And there was a high wind last night, and it wouldn’t have taken long, once a spark had touched the canvas, for everything to blaze up. They couldn’t have picked a much better night.”
“I don’t suppose that can be proved, though, Dolly.”
“I’m afraid not. That’s what Miss Eleanor says, too. She says you can often be so sure of a thing yourself that it seems that it must have happened, without being able to prove it to someone else. That’s where they are so clever, and that’s what makes them so dangerous. They can hide their tracks splendidly.”