When a courtroom triumph ends in tragedy, eight-year-old Dicky Bowen is left an orphan with one guardian in the world: Uncle Jenico, a limping, lovable inventor whose patents—from a twenty-cow milking machine to an 'infallible' lifebelt that floats upside down—have never made him a fortune.

Their search for a fresh start leads them to Dunberry, a forgotten Suffolk fishing village beneath a ruined abbey and a strangely twisted hill. Locals whisper that an earthquake swallowed a gang of smugglers, kegs of brandy and all. A zealous young parson preaches a new era of respectability, a sharp-tongued London landlady believes none of it, and a hoarse, pious-sounding fisherman is very anxious to keep the boy away from the ruins.

Part treasure hunt, part village mystery, part boyhood memoir, Bernard Capes's 1903 novel mixes genuine suspense with warm, eccentric humor: a treasure-hunting uncle armed with a potato sack and boundless hope, a boxing match arranged by a sporting clergyman, and a hill that is plainly keeping something to itself.

Some secrets don't stay buried forever.