“What are you doing, Sunny?” Anna giggled.
“He wants everybody safely back on the boat,” Grandad said, chuckling.
“He rescued Fred,” Anna murmured. She could feel her cold, damp dog shivering against her legs. She was almost sure that Fred wouldn’t have made it out of the canal on his own. And she was only realizing now how amazing the rescue had been. “Sunny doesn’t even like Fred!”
Grandad nodded thoughtfully. “He may not like Fred fussing at him, but Fred’s part of his family, I suppose.”
“I’ve got towels,” Gran called. “I’ve tied the boat to those trees, just for the minute. Come inside. We’ll get the dogs dried off and I’ll make some tea.”
Sunny stood watchfully by as Anna helped Fred back on to the boat. Then she and Grandad dried the dogs with the old towels Gran had found.
Gran passed Anna a mug of sweet hot chocolate, and looked down worriedly at the two dogs. “I wish we could give them a hot drink, too.”
“Fred looks a lot better now he’s drier,” Anna said, sipping at her hot chocolate. Fred was leaning against her lovingly and she could feel that he wasn’t shivering so much. “Oh! We have to call Mum and Dad! We have to tell them we’ve got Fred back. And that Sunny’s a hero dog.”
Sunny shook his way out of the towel that Grandad had wrapped round him and stood up, shaking his ears as though they still felt watery. Then he nudged Fred with his muzzle again.
Fred wriggled back to his feet. He licked Anna’s cheek lovingly, but he followed Sunny into the saloon, towards Sunny’s big wicker basket. Fred stood looking at it uncertainly, his tail waving a little. He knew he wasn’t meant to go in Sunny’s basket. But the bigger dog pushed him gently into it and climbed in after him, curling up round the Setter puppy as though he was trying to keep him warm.
Sunny glanced at them all, and then let out a deep, huffing sigh and closed his eyes, as though he was finally happy with where everyone was.
“Look at them!” Anna whispered, crouching down to see. “You’re right, Grandad. Sunny’s decided that Fred’s his family now.”
Fred peered over the edge of the basket, making sure Anna was still there. He stretched, and wriggled a little, and licked her hand. He was back, and Anna was with him, and everything was all right. Then he snuggled up against the big dog and went to sleep.
Glossary
Awning – a sheet of material that you put over a boat to stop it getting wet inside
Bank – the side of a river or canal
Bow – the front of a boat
Canal – a manmade waterway for boats to travel down
Cast off – to untie a boat so that it can sail away
Hull – the main part of the boat that sits in the water
Lock – a section of a canal with gates at each end, used for raising or lowering boats
Moor – to tie up a boat to the side of a river or canal
Stern – the back of a boat
Tiller – a lever used to steer a boat
Towpath – a path beside a river or canal, originally used as a pathway for horses pulling boats
Wake – waves made by a moving boat
Other titles by Holly Webb
The Snow Bear
The Reindeer Girl
The Winter Wolf Animal Stories:
Lost in the Snow
Alfie all Alone
Lost in the Storm
Sam the Stolen Puppy
Max the Missing Puppy
Sky the Unwanted Kitten
Timmy in Trouble
Ginger the Stray Kitten
Harry the Homeless Puppy
Buttons the Runaway Puppy
Alone in the Night
Ellie the Homesick Puppy
Jess the Lonely Puppy
Misty the Abandoned Kitten
Oscar’s Lonely Christmas
Lucy the Poorly Puppy
Smudge the Stolen Kitten
The Rescued Puppy
The Kitten Nobody Wanted
The Lost Puppy
The Frightened Kitten
The Secret Puppy
The Abandoned Puppy
The Missing Kitten
The Kidnapped Kitten
The Scruffy Puppy
The Brave Kitten My Naughty Little Puppy:
A Home for Rascal
New Tricks for Rascal
Playtime for Rascal
Rascal’s Sleepover Fun
Rascal’s Seaside Adventure
Rascal’s Festive Fun
Rascal the Star
Rascal and the Wedding
Copyright
STRIPES PUBLISHING
An imprint of Little Tiger Press
1 The Coda Centre, 189 Munster Road,
London SW6 6AW
Text copyright © Holly Webb, 2013
Illustrations copyright © Sophy Williams, 2013
First published as an ebook by Stripes Publishing in 2014.
eISBN: 978–1–84715–472–9
The right of Holly Webb and Sophy Williams to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work respectively has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved.
Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any forms, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
www.littletiger.co.uk