The Lost Puppy (4 page)

Chapter Four

The wood was full of birds calling, and squirrels racing up and down the branches. Toby was so little and so light-footed that on his own, without Mum and the girls, he hardly made any noise at all – only the quiet shushing of his lead, trailing behind him through the leaves. So he saw far more of the wildlife than he had before. A robin
fluttered from tree to tree – almost as if it was leading him on – and Toby followed, fascinated.

The wood was old, and some of the trees were very large, with odd twisted roots that made little bridges and holes along the path. It was natural for such a small dog to try to wriggle through these rather than going round them, but unfortunately Toby forgot about his lead. He was hurrying after the robin when he was pulled back with a sudden, horrible jolt. He yelped and turned round, thinking that Ruby had caught up with him and grabbed the end of his lead. He looked up crossly. Why hadn’t she called him, instead of grabbing him like that? But Ruby wasn’t there.

Instead, his lead was caught on a sticking-out root – stuck fast, as he found out when he tried to pull it away like he had earlier. Toby wriggled, and whined, and whimpered, and pulled, but it was no good. The lead wasn’t budging this time.

Toby sat down, panting wearily. This was just the same as before – he was stuck, when he wanted to explore. He tried pulling again, but the other way, squirming backwards to pull off his collar, instead of trying to free the lead.

As usual, Ruby had checked Toby’s collar before they set out, to make sure there was enough space so it didn’t
rub him and hurt. But that also meant that if Toby didn’t mind squashing his ears and wriggling very hard, it wasn’t actually that difficult to get the collar off.

He burst out of it like a cork from a bottle, rolling over backwards and landing in a pile of leaves. He picked himself up, and sniffed curiously at his collar and lead. He didn’t like to leave them, somehow. But he was sure Ruby would come along soon, and she could unhook the silly lead for him. He’d let her put it back on him if she’d come and run with him, instead of standing around and spoiling a good walk.

He trotted off through the undergrowth. He’d lost sight of the robin, but now there was an interesting
grey-furred creature that was scampering through the branches above him. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it bounced and sprang very temptingly, and he was hoping it might come a bit lower. He barked at it, but that made it go faster and climb higher, and he had to run flat out to keep up.

“Toby! Toby!” came a far-off cry. That was Ruby calling him. He stopped for a second, but the squirrel stopped too, looking down at him so cheekily that he couldn’t bear to let it go. He’d try to find Ruby in a minute, once he’d caught it. He set off at a gallop again, and the squirrel leaped through the trees ahead of him.

He was chasing it so desperately that he almost ran into an old lady, standing
in the middle of a clump of bracken holding a pair of binoculars.

“Ssshh!” the lady whispered crossly.

Toby pulled up short, staring at her in surprise. She’d been so quiet, he simply hadn’t noticed she was there.

There was a beating of wings and a pair of birds fluttered away, squawking in fright. Toby watched them go, and barked again excitedly.

The old lady sighed. “You’ve scared them away, you silly dog.” Then she seemed to realize for the first time that he was all alone. “Where’s your owner, hmm?” She looked around, expecting someone to come chasing after him, but the woods were silent. “You haven’t got a collar! Who do you belong to? They shouldn’t be letting you race
around here on your own, there’s a road close by. Come here… Here, dog…”

She stretched out a hand to him, but Toby had heard the irritated tone in her voice after he scared the birds, and now he didn’t trust her. He backed away nervously, and as she took a step forward to grab him, he raced off.

He hurried back through the bushes to the path, suddenly wishing that he was with Ruby. He’d find her, and then maybe they’d be able to catch the strange furry grey animal in the trees together. Toby scurried down the path, expecting at any moment to come to the big trees where he’d lost his lead, and then, a little way on, to find Mum and Anya and, most importantly, Ruby.

But as he went further and further along Toby realized that this might not be the path he wanted. He looked around, and suddenly the trees all seemed so much larger and darker, and different. He had no idea where he was, or where Ruby was. He was lost.

“But we can’t just leave him!” Ruby stared at her mum in horror.

“Ruby, we have to go, I’m afraid. We’ve been searching for ages.” Mum was holding Anya in her arms, who was crying miserably, the graze on her face still bleeding a little. “I need to get Anya home and clean up her face. It’s filthy, and we’ve left it nearly an hour like this.”

“If we go home now, we might never find Toby! Just five minutes more, please, Mum.” Ruby looked around, desperately hoping Toby might spring out of the bracken suddenly, and everything would be all right again. But they had searched everywhere, calling and calling. Toby seemed to have totally disappeared.

“I’ve phoned your dad, and he’s going to leave work early so you can both come straight back and look. I’m really sorry, sweetheart, but we have to get home.” Mum set off down the path, carrying Anya.

Ruby stood in the middle of the path, looking uncertainly one way and the other. She couldn’t bear the thought of leaving Toby. Maybe he’d been frightened by something, and was hiding. He might come out in just a minute, if they were quiet.

“Ruby, please!” Mum called, heading for the bridge over the stream.

Ruby trailed after her, trying not to cry. But by the time they reached the car, the tears were streaming down her face.

Toby pattered down another path, sniffing hopefully. He was sure he could smell Ruby, but the scent was all
over the place. It was very confusing. It didn’t help that he was so hungry. He wanted to be back at home with Ruby, eating his tea.

Just then, he heard the rushing sound of the stream, and he trotted forward, peering down the steep bank at the water. They had come over the stream, and that had been before Anya had fallen over, he remembered.

He sat down at the top of the bank. Should he cross over again or not? He whimpered miserably, wishing he had run back to Ruby when she called him. No. He wouldn’t cross over again. Ruby would wait for him where he’d left her, he was sure. By those big trees, where Anya had fallen over. He only had to find them. He turned away from the
stream, and nosed along, trying to find the path. But so many dogs had walked through the woods that he was quite distracted, and kept losing Ruby’s scent.

It was starting to get dark, and the woods were gloomy, and full of strange noises, rustlings and odd bird calls. For the first time, Toby began to wonder what else might be in the woods, as well as that grey creature he’d chased. He wondered if there was anything bigger.

The late afternoon shadows meant that Toby didn’t even notice when he pattered over the stream further along its course, where it ran under a fence in a huge metal pipe. Toby was small enough not to pay much attention to the fence, he simply went under it, and he didn’t see the pipe buried in
the bank. So he was surprised to find himself almost back at the road.

He came around a corner of the path and pulled up short, staring at the wider verge at the edge of the little lane that led into the woods. He knew this! He was sure of it, even though he hadn’t crossed the stream again. This was just a little way along from where they had left their car. But the space they had parked in was empty.

They had gone without him!