Sam the Stolen Puppy

Chapter Six

Emily threw a quick glance back over her shoulder as she set off out of the park. Jack was being difficult again, and Dad had his hands full. Good.

The couple with the pointer were about halfway down the road, walking quite slowly, and talking to each other. Bertie was plodding along beside them, his tail drooping between his legs. Emily had never tried to follow anyone before, and she didn’t really know what to do. She was pretty sure that they would recognize her if they saw her, so she needed to keep back out of sight. She jogged up to a nearby postbox and hovered behind it, jigging from one foot to the other nervously. As soon as Bertie’s black-and-white tail disappeared round the corner at the end of the road, Emily raced after them, skidding to a stop just before the corner, and peering round, helpfully disguised by a large but prickly rose bush.

She went on following them, lurking behind lamp posts and parked cars. Luckily not many people were around, and when someone did walk past, she just pretended to be doing up her trainers. It was weird. Emily felt silly hopping about behind trees, but scared at the same time. If she really was following the dog-nappers, what would happen if they noticed her? They weren’t going to be pleased to see her.

After about five minutes, Emily spied round the next corner and got a shock. They’d gone! Her heart thumping in horror, Emily dashed into the next street. She couldn’t have lost them. This was her only chance, because once Dad caught up with her, she was going to be grounded for life.

Suddenly, she heard voices.

“Come on, you stupid dog,” someone said crossly. It sounded as though they were in one of the front gardens.

Emily took a deep breath, trying to keep calm. Maybe the couple lived in one of these houses. Yes, that had to be it, because this was quite a long road. Unless they’d started running, they couldn’t have got that far ahead of her.

The street was full of big, old houses, and most of them looked neglected and shabby, some with boarded-up windows, as though they were empty. The gardens had quite high front walls, about shoulder height for Emily. She ducked down and scurried along to where she’d heard the voice coming from. It was a house on the end of a row, with a path running down the side, full of old rubbish. The garden was overgrown with bushes, so she peeped round the gate, hardly daring to breathe in case someone heard the air hissing in and out of her mouth. It was only now that she was so close that Emily started thinking about what might happen if she got caught. The grumpy man yelling at poor Bertie, who’d stopped to do a wee and have a sniff around halfway up the garden path, made her realize how much she did not want them to know she was there. The houses nearby looked as though they might be empty, with broken windows and gardens that were even wilder than this one. Emily shuddered. No one was around to help her out.

At last the man and woman went inside and slammed the front door. Emily was left crouching by the gate, feeling a bit stupid. She’d done it – found where the couple lived. But what was she supposed to do now?

In the back garden, the dogs heard the slam of the front door, and started to bark – wanting someone to bring them some food, wanting to go out for a run, wanting someone to stroke and cuddle and fuss over them. Woken from a miserable sleep on the ratty old blanket that was his bed, Sam barked too, calling Emily to come and find him. It had been at least five days since he’d seen her, but he was still sure she was going to come and find him. Almost sure, anyway.

The people who’d taken him weren’t exactly cruel, but they didn’t seem to like dogs very much. Sam couldn’t understand why they wanted so many, when they never even stopped for a pat or a hug. The man just shoved the food bowls down twice a day, scowling, and the woman with the red gloves never came into the dogs’ shed at all.

Sam missed Emily desperately. He was used to being loved, petted, talked to. Even when Emily was at school he had her mum and Jack. Now he had no one, and it was miserable. Surely Emily would come and find him soon?

Emily slumped down on to the pavement. “I’m so stupid,” she muttered to herself angrily. She felt tears burning her eyes. She’d got all this way, and now she didn’t have a clue what to do next. She was never going to get Sam back!

But just as she was rooting in her pocket for a tissue, Emily heard barking. Lots of barking, from the back of the house. There was no way that was just Bertie. It sounded like five or six different dogs, and one of them had to be Sam!

Emily took a deep breath and stood up slowly. The house had an alleyway running down the side, and the fence looked really old and wobbly. Perhaps there was a way she could get round to the back garden and find those dogs. Maybe she could even squeeze through the fence? She couldn’t give up now she was so close!

Just as she was creeping along the fence, making for the alley, someone grabbed her shoulder. Emily froze, unable to move.

Then an irritatingly familiar voice chirped, “We found you, Emily!”

Jack!

And, more to the point, Dad. It was Dad who’d caught her, of course. Emily drew in a deep shuddering breath, and turned round. Dad was glowering down at her, the expression on his face half furious, half worried.

“Emily, what on earth are you doing?” he hissed. “You know you must never, ever go off on your own like that!” He sounded as though he was really having to hold himself back from shouting.

“Dad, please listen! I think I’ve found Sam!” Emily burst out. “That’s why I ran off, I was following those people with the pointer, they live here.”

Dad just stared at her, then at last he shook his head wearily. “Emily, how many times have Mum and I told you that those people had nothing to do with Sam being stolen? Look, I know you’re desperate to find Sam, but you’ve just picked this silly idea out of nowhere. Now come on, we’re going home.”

It would have been better if he had yelled at her. Somehow, Dad’s quiet, sympathetic, sad way of putting it seemed awfully right. It was just a silly idea. All her clever detective work suddenly seemed so babyish.

“OK,” Emily muttered miserably. Then she looked round. “Where’s Jack?” she asked.

Dad looked down at his hand, as though he expected Jack still to be holding it. “I don’t believe this,” he murmured, looking around wildly.

Suddenly Emily saw a flicker of bright green through the broken fence panels – Jack’s coat. He was heading down the alleyway she’d been about to investigate. “He’s there!” she said, racing after him before Dad could stop her.

Jack was crouched down by the fence, further down the alleyway. He was listening, with his ear up against a hole in the wood.

Dad grabbed him, but Jack pulled out of his arms. “No, Daddy! I’ve found Sam! I’ve found him!” He jumped round and round as Dad tried to hold on to him.

“Jack, it’s just a dog barking, it’s not Sam.” Dad was trying hard not to sound too cross, as he knew how much Jack and Emily wanted to find Sam, but he was losing patience.

“It is! Emily, it is, isn’t it? You won’t be cross with me now, will you?” Jack grabbed Emily’s hand and tugged at her hopefully. “Listen!”

Emily crouched down by the hole in the fence. “OK, I’ll listen,” she said, more to make Jack shut up than anything else.

On the other side of the fence, Sam barked with all his strength, hurling himself against the side of his pen. It was Emily! She’d come for him at last! The miserable tone of his barking changed to delight.

“Right, we’re going home, now!” Dad snapped. “This is ridiculous. What if the people who live here come out and see you upsetting their dogs?” He took both their hands and started to walk back to the street. “Emily, I’m sorry, but this has to stop. Come on.”

No! They were going! Sam scrabbled against the wooden shed with his claws, fighting to get out and chase after them. How could they leave him now when they were so close?

“Dad, it really does sound like Sam,” Emily said desperately, pulling back. “Please! Listen, don’t you think it could be him?”

“It is Sam!” Jack put in crossly. “You’re not listening to me. I told you it was.” He wrenched his hand out of Dad’s and shot back to the fence. “Just listen.” He started to sing loudly, “Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream… Come on, Sam!”

And from the other side of the fence, Sam joined in gladly, “Ruff, ruff, ruff-ruff-ruff!”

“It is! It is him! Oh, Dad, we’ve found him.” Emily flung her arms round her dad and hugged him, then she ran to join Jack by the fence. “Sam, it’s me! We’re going to get you out!” Then she hugged Jack and lifted him off the ground.

Dad was looking at the fence as though it had just exploded. “I don’t believe it,” he muttered. “Emily, I’m so sorry, I should have listened to you before. That has to be Sam, it just has to be.” He shook his head in amazement. “OK, well, we’d better see what we can do. We can’t exactly walk up to the front door and ask for him back.”

Emily looked up at him worriedly. “What are you going to do?”

Dad smiled down at her. “It’s all right. We’ll get him out. We just need some help, that’s all. I’m going to call Mum and get her to call the policeman who was in charge of the dog-napping case. I wouldn’t be surprised if those other dogs we can hear were stolen too.”

Ten minutes later, a police car drew up outside the house, and Emily and Jack ran to meet it. “Can you get them out? Please?” Emily gasped.

“Hey, stop! You! Come back!” Dad was still standing in the alley by the fence, and he waved at the policeman. “Look, there are people climbing over the back fence!”

He was right. The dog-nappers had seen the police car arrive and were trying to get away, struggling over the fence that led into another garden.

The policeman got on his radio at once, calling for backup to come and chase after them. “Well, they’ve definitely done something they don’t want to be caught for,” he said. “So, how did you end up here?” he asked Dad curiously.

“Emily.” Dad gave a sort of resigned shrug. “She wouldn’t give up, and I have to admit, she was right.”

“Me too!” Jack shouted indignantly.

“Well, we had our suspicions about these people. They’ve been trying to sell puppies to a pet shop not far from here. But you beat us to it,” the policeman said, grinning. “I’ve got a search warrant for this house. Know what that means?” he asked Emily.

Emily shook her head.

“It means I can go in and look around. I think we should start just about here, don’t you?” he asked, walking up to the rickety old gate at one end of the fence. He picked up an old brick that was lying on the path, and broke the lock. “Back in a minute,” he said.

Emily could hear the barking from inside the garden getting louder and louder. She was sure the dogs knew they were about to be rescued. “You remember Sam, don’t you?” she asked anxiously, pulling a photo out of her pocket. She’d been carrying it around with her all week, and it was bent and grubby, but Sam was still unmistakeable.

“Don’t worry,” the policeman assured her. “I’ll get him for you. Not that you need much help!”

Emily and Jack stood by the gate, craning their necks to see into the garden. There was a big old shed up against the fence, and they watched as the policeman shoved the door open.

Then Emily gasped as a golden blur shot out of the door, hurtling towards her. Sam!

She sat on the grass, crying and laughing at the same time as Sam jumped all over her, not knowing whether to bark or lick, and trying to do both. At last he stopped, out of breath, and just curled himself into Emily’s arms, his head tucked under her chin. He sighed contentedly. He was back where he should be.

Emily hugged him tightly. It was so wonderful to breathe the sweet doggy smell of his fur, and feel the warmth of him nuzzled in her arms. The strange tight feeling in her middle, all that fear that she’d never see him and cuddle him again had completely gone.

Emily stood up shakily, and smiled at Dad and Jack over Sam’s head. “Come on. Let’s take Sam home.”