“I suppose so,” Anna murmured. She was glad Mum and Dad hadn’t come to the boat before they set off with the posters. She was pretty sure that a LOST poster with Fred’s photo on it would have turned her into a wobbly, crying mess. And she’d be no use to Fred like that. She shook herself briskly and sniffed.
“If I take a piece of toast with me, can I go and look for him now? Just one more quick look before we have to move the boat? Please? I’ll be back soon.”
Gran and Grandad exchanged glances, but then Gran said, “If you’re careful. Stay on the path, Anna, though, won’t you?”
Anna nodded eagerly, snatching up the toast and heading for the door. Sunny thumped his tail against his basket as she went past, and Anna stopped to pat him quickly. She’d felt furious with him last night, while she was lying there worrying about Fred. But it wasn’t really his fault. He just liked things his own way, nice and quiet, without a big, bouncy puppy jumping all over him.
She leaped from the boat to the towpath, and headed back into the wood. It looked so different this morning, with sunlight pouring in through the gaps in the trees. It wasn’t the eerie, almost frightening place it had been the night before. There were birds singing, and as Anna hurried down the path, a tiny rabbit suddenly turned tail and disappeared into the bracken.
Anna’s mouth twitched into half a smile. Even though she felt awful, the rabbit’s surprised expression had been so funny. Then she stopped and looked around thoughtfully. Fred would have chased that rabbit, if he’d seen it. He would have jumped after it, barking so loudly that the rabbit and all of its friends and relations would be hiding in their burrows in seconds. That rabbit hopping calmly around on the path made Anna think that Fred wasn’t anywhere near.
She gulped and swallowed. Maybe he was long gone, then. Maybe he had gone out on to the road, and Mum and Dad had the right idea to go there first.
Anna turned and headed back to the boat. Maybe if Mum and Dad weren’t too far away, she could go and find them and help them look while Gran and Grandad moved the Hummingbird. She couldn’t bear the thought of going further away and wasting all that time.
“Hello!” Grandad waved to her from the towpath as she came out of the trees. “I’m just going to walk up and ask the people on the other boats to watch out for Fred. Do you want to come?”
Anna nodded. She didn’t want to, actually. She hated the thought of telling people that Fred was lost. Like the posters, it made it seem as though he really was. But she’d do anything to get him back, she told herself.
The people on the next boat were sitting on their bow deck, drinking tea, so it was easy to talk to them.
Anna liked that about being out on the canal – everyone seemed very friendly. Even when someone had made a mistake and messed up going into a lock, people would always come and help instead of getting annoyed.
“What, your lovely Irish Setter?” the lady asked, as Grandad explained.
“Yes,” said Grandad. “We’re especially worried as we’ve got to move on from the mooring this morning. We’re going to stop a little bit further on and walk back, but just in case we miss him, it would be great if you could keep an eye out. Here’s our mobile number.”
“Of course we’ll look out for him,” said the lady, taking the piece of paper. “Oh dear, how awful for you.”
The man frowned thoughtfully. “I don’t think the people on the next boat are up yet,” he said, glancing over. The boat at the end still had its curtains drawn and there was no noise from it at all. “Want us to tell them for you?”
“Please.” Grandad nodded. “Thanks, you’ve been really helpful.”
Anna tried to smile at the friendly couple, but she just couldn’t make her face do it. “Are we going now?” she asked Grandad, as she climbed back on to the Hummingbird.
Grandad nodded and headed for the stern to start the engine. “Yes, I think it’s best. We can come back and spend the whole day here looking if we need to. But I’m sure we won’t,” he added quickly.
Anna could tell he didn’t believe that at all, but she was just grateful to him for saying it.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we had a call from your mum and dad really soon,” Gran said comfortingly. “I’m sure they’ll have news.”
“The engine’s warmed up enough now,” Grandad called from the stern, and Anna took one last, hopeful look along the bank, but no feathery, darkred dog came running out to her.
“Let’s go,” she said. Then she coughed to clear her throat and said it again, loud enough to be heard over the engine this time. “The sooner we go, the sooner we can come back and start looking for Fred again.”
Grandad nodded, and Anna hopped over on to the towpath to cast off the mooring ropes. Then she climbed back on to the bow deck. Gran had gone into the cabin, but Anna decided to stay out on deck. She felt like being on her own for a bit.
“We’ll be back really soon, Fred,” she whispered. “I’m not leaving you behind. We’re coming back to find you.”
Chapter Eight
Sunny felt the boat start to move away from the bank. He climbed out of his basket and came to stand next to Anna, putting his paws up on the bench seat that ran round the side of the bow and peering over the side.
Anna stroked his black head and sighed. “I wish you could help us find Fred, Sunny. Couldn’t you sniff him out for me?” Then she frowned. “I wonder if you could? I’ll have to ask Grandad. If you did, I promise we’d take him straight home – no more Fred trying to make you play chase. Honest.”
Then she sniffed. She’d give anything to be chasing around the park with Fred now. She wouldn’t even mind being stuck at home, bored, while Mum was working, just as long as Fred was there with her.
“I shouldn’t have said yes to coming on the boat, should I?” she said to Sunny, tears rolling slowly down her cheeks. “It wasn’t fair on you or Fred.” She gave Sunny a last pat, and then climbed up on to the little bench. She lifted her hand to shield her eyes from the sun, scanning the bank eagerly as they drew away into the middle of the canal and began to sail slowly around the bend. The other boats hid the bank, and Anna suddenly couldn’t bear that they were leaving. Fred was still there, somewhere! “Fred!” she yelled, again and again. But he didn’t come. Anna put her hands over her eyes and cried.
Fred felt the thrumming sound of the engine more than he heard it. He was so tired after his frightened dash away through the woods, and his hours cramped up underneath the tree, that he’d slept far later than he usually would.
His first thought when the engine growled was that he was very, very hungry and why hadn’t Anna come to find him for some breakfast? He would go and look for her right now. He twitched and stretched under the canvas awning, pushing his front paws out along the deck. But the feel of the heavy canvas over his head and shoulders was wrong, and his legs still ached a little. As he began to wake up properly, he had the feeling that something wasn’t right.
Then he remembered.
He wasn’t with Anna. He was on the other boat, hiding. The wrong boat! And that growling loudness was the sound that boats made when they moved! He had to get off, now, before this boat took him away from Anna!
Frantically, he scrambled out from beneath the awning and dashed to the side of the boat. Then a great shudder of relief ran through him, and his tail swished gladly back and forth. The boat was still moored up against the bank. It hadn’t moved, even though he’d heard the engine noise.