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sloping lawn towards the large wooden building at the bottom. Suddenly, the door opened and Claudia came out, her lips pressed together in a firm line. Antonia had never seen her look so angry before and she felt a little scared.
    “What’s the matter?” panted Cai. “Who was that man? What did he want?”
    Claudia’s nostrils flared as she struggled to control her anger.
    “He came from the city,” she said at last. “He’s bought a motorboat and he wanted to launch it from my beach.”
    “I thought all the beaches were closed,” said Antonia.
    “Not the beach at the end of my garden. The police can’t close that as it belongs to me,” said Claudia. “As you know it’s only a small area. That man wanted to use my beach as a base to scavenge from. He offered me a percentage of anything he found and got very nasty when I turned his offer down.”
    “Are you all right?” Antonia touched Claudia on the arm. “Shall I make you a cup of tea?” There was a kettle in the Sea Watch building.Antonia’s mum always made a cup of tea when there was a crisis. Antonia wasn’t sure why, but Mum seemed to think it helped.
    Claudia smiled. “No, thank you. One of you could
go
and close the gates for me, though. I leave them open for my adult volunteers who drive here, but I think I’d better keep them shut to deter any more strangers from coming in.”
    “Let’s chain them together with a huge padlock. That’ll keep people out,” said Cai.
    “I don’t think we need to
go
that far.” Claudia smiled at him. “I don’t want to keep everyone away. Come and find me on the beach when you’re done. You can help me to take some sea samples. I’ve been checking for oil, but we seem to be all right so far. The oil hasn’t reached our beach.”
    Claudia strode towards the beach and Cai raced back up the garden to close the gates. Antonia stayed rooted to the spot, relief flooding through her. She could hardly believe her good luck. She hadn’t realised Claudia owned her patch of beach. So she could swim out to Spirit if he called her. Then a new thought struck her and Antonia’s mouth widened into a huge smile. Why wait for Spirit to call? She would go and visit the dolphins again, as she’d done yesterday. Only this time, purely for fun. She knew Bubbles would be pleased to see her and maybe she could persuade Dream to play with them too. Antonia really wanted to make friends with Bubbles’s big sister.
    “What are you grinning at? You look likeyou’ve had some really good news.” Cai was back from shutting the gates.
    “Nothing, I mean it’s just I love being at Sea Watch,” Antonia blustered. “It’s much more fun than school.”
    “Lauren’s not getting to you, is she?” asked Cai, his brown eyes narrowing.
    “Nothing I can’t handle,” said Antonia lightly. “Come on. Let’s
go
and help Claudia to collect samples of sea water.”
    There was so much to do at Sea Watch. After collecting the sea water they gave a second bath to three birds who’d been very badly oiled, and then cleaned out the pens of the recovering birds. The time sped past. With a start Antonia realised she didn’t have time for a private chat with Claudia if she wantedto see Bubbles before she had to go to her swimming club. Quickly she finished topping up water bowls, then washed her hands in the sink.
    “See you tomorrow,” she said to Cai as she shook her hands dry.
    Cai raised his eyebrows. “You’re going early.”
    “Swimming club,” said Antonia, her eyes searching the room for Claudia. “I’ve been moved to the Wednesday class. Can you say goodbye to Claudia for me?”
    “Sure,” said Cai. “See you tomorrow.”
    Antonia checked the garden was empty before heading down to the beach. Inside she was bubbling with excitement. She couldn’t wait to see Bubbles’s face when she turned upagain. She knew he’d be pleased and surprised to see her. Claudia’s boat was tied to the wooden gate that opened on to